Silver Shark Shock

[Marto666]

Bought him yesterday (in a pair) and was fine up until literally a minute ago. He had a fit, flying around every on his back them promptly died before my eyes. I did notice that an hour beforehand he had no interest in food.

What in god's name happed??

When I bought the 2 yesterday and got home, one was dead in the bag so I promptly returned and got 2 more. Could he have been ill? The other one appears to be a picture of health.

(All test readings fine btw).

Really gutted

 

[Carlovel1]

You really shouldn't have added Bala Sharks to a 350L tank, its too small, plus these fish should be in groups

 

[Marto666]

According to FishBase the tank size is fine. I will be interested in keeping a group if I can keep them alive.

Any idea what happed to the fish?

Thanks

 

[karin]

As Carl says, silver sharks get well over a foot long and are a schooling fish that needs to be in a 250 gallon tank. Sounds like they were sickly fish. They are terrible overbred IMO.

 

[Marto666]

Ok, thanks. If I managed to keep it alive that long I would give a way to a responsible home.

An update - I noticed this morning that the deceased had quite a red belly (im sure it wasnt visable yesterday). Could this be some sort of disease?

 

[wastegate]

Hi, I had 2 sharks. (see my avatar) I gave one away to a friend and the other I brought back to lfs after about 6 months. They are very skittish fish, I only had to walk past the tank and he would jump up againt the lid. If the lid was opened he would jump out and id be left running aroud the kitchen after him before the dog ate him lol. It made cleaning the tank or doing water changes very dificult. My friend who works in my lfs told me they are easily stressed and he has had them die while bagging them for customers. They are a beutiful fish, best of luck with yours.

 

[Marto666]

Thanks Wastegate, hopefully I can keep the other one alive long enough – they sound a right laugh.

Makes sense they are easy stressed, my first died before I got home the other day. I was not pleased at all.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Silver/Bala Sharks keeping;

1. Shoaling fish- need to be in groups of 5-6minimum.
2. Grow to 10-14inches long, very active fish which are quite skittish
3. Minimum tank size- 100gallons (i would not keep these in a tank shorter than 5ft long by 18inches wide)

Do not keep these fish if you cannot look after them properly. All fish deserve proper homes and keeping fish wrongly will only lead to disease, death, stunted growth or reduced overall life expectancies. Fish are much more fun to keep when the habitat they are kept in is good so that they display natural behaviour. If you don't keep Silver/Bala Sharks right they will be permanently stressed and not last long (and whats fun about that?).

 

[Marto666]

Update 2:

My LFS replaced the deceased Balantiocheilos Melanopterus and the new one is much more at home. Immediately uniting with the other they spend their time cleaning my bogwood so are earning their keep too. I can’t say I have noticed any lively behaviour yet; however they seem to fit in very well with the community.

To be fair, I don’t exactly have a small tank but if they do get too big I can always realise them back into the sea

I’m still perplexed as to the original Bala’s rapid demise in front of my shocked eyes - still no valid explanation has been stated.

 

[Tizer]

I think stress has been covered already and i think stress is by far the best explanation you are going to get.

A lovely fish, shame to ignore the advice given.

 

[Marto666]

Thanks Tizer.

Stress did cross my mind but the way it happened so abruptly suggested it could have been something else.

I have a relative who has a 700l tank that have about 6 already so they will take them off my hands in a few months. It was their fault I wanted them in the first place! In the mean time they are making a fine addition to my tank.

I’ve decided to call them Kevin and James