bala shark

[blur34]

I have a 29 gallon tank which houses 10 asst tetras, a pleco, 2 clown loaches and a single bala shark. I know I am going to need to get the bala shark a bigger home eventually :wink:. He is about 3.5 inches long right now and I have noticed he has started to jump and surface quite frequently--I am wondering if this is a sign that he needs that new bigger home very soon or is it just something that bala sharks do? Thanks.

You did a pretty bad job picking fish blur, the pleco and clown loaches are also going to outgrow that tank. Why so many big fish?!?

[blur34]

I was planning on getting a bigger tank from day 1. I was just wondering if the bala shark doing that stuff was a sign that I need to do it sooner rather than later.

[Blazeherd2306]

No the bala sharks are known as jumpers. It doesn't matter how big an aquarium is. You really do need to upgrade though because balas can get a footlong and clown loaches get huge too.

[Fishyfanatic]

Our Bala's used to do that also. Make sure you keep the hood closed when you aren't working on the tank. They will also make squeeking sounds. It's cute.

[skydvr]

Just out of curiousity, what size tank would be necessary for 4 or 5 balas?

[RagE]

For 4 or 5 you would need a huge tank if you wanted to keep them in there for life.

I had 2 small ones in a 55 and for there size and the amount they swim i'd say they would have liked more room. They behaved fine in that size tank tho ... they do lots of cute things like croaking and blowing bubbles as they ate and rubbing tales as they swam side by side.

I left the lid off one night and in the morning one was on the floor. after that the lone one was always scared and seemed distressed untill he finaly jumped out aswell (gap between [acronym:8ae894e9e7="Hang On Back"]HOB[/acronym:8ae894e9e7] and lid) they are great fish and i probably get 2 more small ones as they seemed to grow very slow...

Originally Posted by skydvr

Just out of curiousity, what size tank would be necessary for 4 or 5 balas?

I would say a minimum of close to 100g, especially if they are not the only thing in there.

[ace1uno_00]

yeah 100 [acronym:c5592205ea="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:c5592205ea] or bigger. those things get massive.
and if you have a common pleco in there too he will take up alot of space.
just keep a good eye out for the tetras. if some come up missing check the sharks belly. lol
and keep him well fed.

[RoK]

You would need larger than 100 gals for 4 or 5 adult balas. They would be bumping into each other all the time, I think. A 70 [acronym:519c5b7be7="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:519c5b7be7] is minimum for 1 adult, it's supposed to be at least. You need a really big tank for more than 3+, [acronym:519c5b7be7="In my opinion"]IMO[/acronym:519c5b7be7] anyway.