Finally got the big tank!

[Copachick]

Well we couldnt get the 100gallon right now, but we just upgrade our 36 to a 75 gallon last night. Its in the cycling process but its the future home to my Bala (who is unfortunately in the 36 at the moment. Hes been through alot (two tank moves, a house move, and the ich disease just recently) and now we are happy he will finally get the big tank he deserves. Its not the 100-120 gallon we wanted for him, but he will be happier in the 75.
We plan on getting atleast 2 more bala friends for him. Now the question is what else are good tank mates for him? I really really like rams. They are so pretty and they look peaceful. I would imagine they would be good with them? We are also thinking of putting our 5 bleeding heart tetras in with them. They have gotten so big in my 29 gallon that it looks like their are overcrowding the rest of the fish lol.

Any more suggestions of good friends for my Balas?

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

pics!!

not sure what to put with, i just want to see the bala and the tank

how big is it? xx

 

[redsea]

Congrats on your new tank!

 

[Copachick]

How big is my Bala? hes about....3 or 4 inches now I believe. Hes been so cramped in my 36 for so long, we havent had the money for a big tank until now. After we get all the decorations and things in order and hes in it, Ill definitely post picturs. I love that little guy

 

[Copachick]

and thank you redsea!

 

[Copachick]

Heres some pics! I couldnt get a good one of my Bala (Sharkey is his name) because hes too fast. But I tried.


My Bala (blurred) and a few platys ...36 gallon


36 gallon again


My 29 gallon... I thnk its too bright in there and all of a sudden all myfish hide when theyre light turns on. So its out majority of the time lol.


AND my 75 gallon cycling. No decorations in it yet, but it has black gravel and a Dark to light blue background. Cant wait until its all finished! We are thinking of moving the 36 gallon against the other wall, or put it in the corner. We need to get a stand for it first. Right now its sitting on our end table lol

 

[Cornstar]

I love the coloring on the 75 gallon! What kind of lights do you have?

 

[Copachick]

Honestly Im not sure lol. they came with the whole set up. I can look tonight and let ya know. I like how it looks too im excited to get everything set up

 

[stingrays4]

Hi your bala shark {silver shark we call them i believe?}will apreciate some company,but i would add them sooner rather than later to let them grow up together They like plenty of green stuff in there diet, i used veggie flake. They are also very placid fish so your bleeding hearts will be OK with them
As for your other set ups i would add some more decor and yes that tank is a little bright but looking good

 

[Copachick]

Yeah i know. We had 2 more at one point but they didnt mak it :-( We are Definitely getting a few more when the tank is ready, dont worry. Id never let him be a loner. lol. Im glad the bleeding hearts will be good with him (and more) bwcause they need to come out of the other tank

 

[stingrays4]

Hi i never had any problems with mine with much smaller fish I always have the same problem,buy three of them and only one survived - baffling and very frustrating but finally had a pair,but obviously never bred them! They are a very nice fish and very tempted to get some more Good luck with your new set up and keep us posted on your progress

 

[Copachick]

Hi i never had any problems with mine with much smaller fish I always have the same problem,buy three of them and only one survived - baffling and very frustrating but finally had a pair,but obviously never bred them! They are a very nice fish and very tempted to get some more Good luck with your new set up and keep us posted on your progress

I sure will I was thinking of 2 more. Is a total of 3 ok? Or should there be 4? I want them to be happy, but have as much swimming room as possible.. Along with the 5 bleeding hearts Im putting in there, and I wanted to get like 2 rams also down the road. Ive always seem them but never had a big enough tank for them until now.

Heres a good question.. How do you tell which is a male or female? Hmmm..

 

[Copachick]

Male or female in the Balas I mean

 

[Copachick]

Hi your bala shark {silver shark we call them i believe?}will apreciate some company,but i would add them sooner rather than later to let them grow up together They like plenty of green stuff in there diet, i used veggie flake. They are also very placid fish so your bleeding hearts will be OK with them
As for your other set ups i would add some more decor and yes that tank is a little bright but looking good

Yeah I agree the other tank is bright. We've had that tank for a year. It use to have my Platys in it. It never use to look so bright.. I feel like the purple rocks lost color because now it looks pink. The platys didnt mind the brightness. Now when we put our Silvertips and serpaes in there, they didnt mind. As soon as the bleeding hearts came around, I sware they all run and hide now when the tank is lit. Someone told me once to may add a background because the whole tank is exposed. Its not against a wall. And maybe they didnt feel safe and secure. So we just recently put a background on it but it doesnt help. So maybe one day we will change the gravel, but I know that is hard because of the benificial bacteria and things. I dunno...

 

[stingrays4]

Male or female in the Balas I mean

Hi Males are usually more slender,the females are usually more deeper bodied? This was how my two looked and they were sometimes very passionate towards each other but obviously never bred but was great to watch so i concluded they were a pair? Unfortunately I lost them when a filter stopped working and lost allot of fish Now use two filters - lesson learned the hard way!

 

[Copachick]

Ouch Im sorryy.... Luckily ive never had that happen (cross fingers and knock on wood).
At one point I had 3 Balas. They were all in with my silvertips and serpae tetras. I didnt know any better at the time but those tetras stressed my balas out so much that one by one they started to get skinner and skinner until they passed :-( When we saw what was happening we took the third Bala out (that I still have) and put him into my tank with my Platys and thats where he stayed and has been doing decent(I say that cause he hasnt been in a big enough tank). So we saved him thankfully and hes going in my 75gallon tonight finally!

 

[Copachick]

Well we put Sharkey in his 75 gallon last night. Hes doing well. he looks so small in it compared to the 36 lol. Hes hanging out with the 5 Bleeding heart tetras that we put in there the other day. He seems to adapt to others behavior and sillyness just like he did when he was with my Platys. Ill take pics tonight

 

[stingrays4]

Hi thats great news any update on the Bala and the photo's
Yes it was a shock but i learn a lesson the hard way,no internet in them days gawd that makes me sound ancient

 

[Copachick]

Ha. na not ancient.

Hmm, an update... Well we ended up getting 3 more Balas for my 75 (it may be too many for that tank even though they are smaller now,,, and I hope I dont get reemed for that. But eventually the plan is to get a 120 gallon for our basement when its finished so in the future they will go in there. We just wanted our one Bala to ahve some friends. ) They are all dong well so far. eating like pigs, floating around playing with each other. I did get a picture of the 3 Balas being floated in the tank when we got them. I was trying to wait until we had all our decor set up in the 75 to take good pictures. We have a few fake plants in there that we had from another tank, and some wood looking pieces in there.

 

[Copachick]