Silver 'Bala' Sharks

[catadromous]

Picked up a pair of silvers yesterday, curious to know are they normally shy?
They keep on hiding behind and inside some ornaments and very skiddish. They did eat today.
Will be setting up a small brine shrimp grower over the weekend. what do you feed the brine shrimp, if anything.

 

[Chiroptera]

They're shy at first. Once they get used to the tank they get bolder, but are still pretty twitchy. They eventually get huge, though, and once they get bigger they get more confident, but they stay kind of flighty.

My roommate loves these guys, I feed them bloodworms, frozen. They go crazy. I'm sure you can feed them brine shrimp, too, but I've never tried, so don't take my word for that.

EDIT: Oops, didn't understand the question. Not sure what to feed actual brine shrimp.. sorry. ):

 

[emerald76]

Picked up a pair of silvers yesterday, curious to know are they normally shy?
They keep on hiding behind and inside some ornaments and very skiddish. They did eat today.
Will be setting up a small brine shrimp grower over the weekend. what do you feed the brine shrimp, if anything.

I hope you have a huge tank- like 150 gals
I dont think you feed the brine

 

[catadromous]

thanks Chiro.
I actually tried to talk the wife out of buying the Bala's. best part is i can see a new tank in the near future BONUS. there was some really nice catty's at the LFS but at $90 a throw... no fanks.!.
How fast do these suckers grow? they are in a 30g tank. and they are just a touch over 2 inch long.

 

[Chiroptera]

thanks Chiro.
I actually tried to talk the wife out of buying the Bala's. best part is i can see a new tank in the near future BONUS. there was some really nice catty's at the LFS but at $90 a throw... no fanks.!.
How fast do these suckers grow? they are in a 30g tank. and they are just a touch over 2 inch long.

Months. I'd say if you only have a few, maybe 4.. at 2inches, I'm not sure. He kept his in small tanks at 1" for quite a few months, but it depends on what you feed them, if the water quality is great, etc. But 30 gallons is still a little small.

EDIT: Maybe not "small" but it was sufficient for them to grow in. The 30 will last until they're 3 or 4 inches, maybe bigger. With large fish I wouldn't push it, though.

 

[catadromous]

water quality is great, plenty of aeration. nitrate did spike slightly on this mornings tests but due for 1/3 water change out this arvo.

 

[Chiroptera]

water quality is great, plenty of aeration. nitrate did spike slightly on this mornings tests but due for 1/3 water change out this arvo.

Then they'll grow at a decent rate. I still think you have a few months (maybe even up to six) to switch, but don't wait until they look way too big for the tank you have. If they start seeming too large, don't just think "some girl on the forums said six months," because the sharks I have here may be different than yours, in some aspect.

 

[Chiroptera]

Actually, I remember reading that they grow about 7-8 inches a year, if kept happy.
I'd get a new tank at 3-4 inches, at the latest. So two or three months.

 

[Daxhua]

I've almost always kept balas since I was about 8 until just a couple of years ago now 26yrs old and here's what I know from my experience with them.
They are always skiddish. True they get braver as they grow and get accustomed to you but it doesn't take much for them to get spooked.
They can grow up to eight inches in a year or less, max size can be over a foot long and kind of bulky. I don't believe they grow four inches every 3-4 months, maybe under very good conditions.
They will eat just about any food you give them and even pick through substrate for food. I haven't seen this but I have heard of them eating small tetra like fish like neons so be aware of that.
Very active swimmers and jumpers, make sure to keep a lid or canopy on your tank. Because they are so active and can get large, they tend to scar other smaller, not so active, peaceful type fish thus limiting your future stock chooses. Limiting b/c the scared fish will hide or stay in a corner only to come out and feed, IMO that just makes the community looks sad.
They do better in groups of five or more but two can be kept in a single tank, however they do tend to get aggressive towards each other as they grow.
They need to be kept in a large tank especially when there're more than two. I eventually figured that out and once they grew to large for me to keep I began selling them to other hobbyist with large tanks or ponds. When there're small they can be kept in small tanks but will very quickly outgrow them.
There's more but that's all I can think of at the moment.