The *Original* fish/aquarium thread. Today's Guest, Bala Sharks...

[Thoreau]

Originally posted by: BCYL

Originally posted by: Thoreau

Originally posted by: BCYL
Why not buy a divider and seperate them?

My only inhibition there is the fact that balas love lots of space. Being longer fish, they need more room horizontally, which wouldnt work out since tank dividers are usually vertical. I'm already pretty close to just picking up an oscar and letting him have his way with the tank just so that i can stop thinking about that evil tank!

Then buy another tank i guess... you can pick up a 10 gallon one for pretty cheap at your local pet store...

Luckily I still have the old 20 gallon tank and filter, so if it comes down to that, then those little buggers are getting seperated. From the looks of it, that might be my only choice at this point, short of selling those jackass barbs to Adul.

 

[Thoreau]

Originally posted by: ExplodingBoy
You've got 3 problems with this setup (space isn't one of them)

1- Both Balas and Tigers swim at similar levels (mid to high) so they are constantly going to be in eachother's face
2- Tigers are extremely territorial and notorious nippers / Balas are relatively slower movers and make good targets
3- You have more Tigers than Balas so the Tigers will be more agressive

Basically this is a terrible combination. Your Balas will be slowly nipped to death.

If I were you I'd get rid of the Tiger barbs and replace them with neons. Similar looks and the neons should bother the Balas too much. And you could throw a pleco, cory cat, or clown loach in there. They are all relatively unagressive and tend to stay towards the bottom. Some people like mollies or platys. They aren't agressive but are very curious/gregarious and can annoy/stress other fish w/o being nippers.

That sounds like a great idea from my perspective. I used to have a ton of neons, but I had attributed their death to the bala sharks without even considering that it was probably the barbs that put the hit out on them. IN a well filtered and established 30 gallon tank, how many neons do you think would be reasonable to coexist with two bala sharks, an algae eater (small, since the last one commited suicide by hopping out of the tank and not being found for three days) and a couple other small bottom feeders?

 

[Doggiedog]

Originally posted by: BCYL

Originally posted by: Thoreau

Originally posted by: BCYL
Why not buy a divider and seperate them?

My only inhibition there is the fact that balas love lots of space. Being longer fish, they need more room horizontally, which wouldnt work out since tank dividers are usually vertical. I'm already pretty close to just picking up an oscar and letting him have his way with the tank just so that i can stop thinking about that evil tank!

Then buy another tank i guess... you can pick up a 10 gallon one for pretty cheap at your local pet store...

If any of you guys want a 70 gallon tank and stand FREE, I have one. You can have it. My fish died several years ago when I had a blackout on my block that lasted a week in 90F temperatures. I haven't had the time to start up again. They are sitting in my garage taking up space. Just come by and pick them up. I'm keeping the filter though, a nice canister Fluval

 

[Thoreau]

Originally posted by: Doggiedog

Originally posted by: BCYL

Originally posted by: Thoreau

Originally posted by: BCYL
Why not buy a divider and seperate them?

My only inhibition there is the fact that balas love lots of space. Being longer fish, they need more room horizontally, which wouldnt work out since tank dividers are usually vertical. I'm already pretty close to just picking up an oscar and letting him have his way with the tank just so that i can stop thinking about that evil tank!

Then buy another tank i guess... you can pick up a 10 gallon one for pretty cheap at your local pet store...

If any of you guys want a 70 gallon tank and stand FREE, I have one. You can have it. My fish died several years ago when I had a blackout on my block that lasted a week in 90F temperatures. I haven't had the time to start up again. They are sitting in my garage taking up space. Just come by and pick them up. I'm keeping the filter though, a nice canister Fluval

*blink* where do ya live? pfft, you have pm!

 

[Maverick]

I had tiger barbs once...when my college fish tank was a "nice fish tank"

Then I got bored and bought a couple oscars...they really livened the place up

 

[Thoreau]

Originally posted by: Maverick
I had tiger barbs once...when my college fish tank was a "nice fish tank"

Then I got bored and bought a couple oscars...they really livened the place up

I think I have found a 'nicer' way to get rid of the barbs. Talked Adul into taking my 20 gallon tank/filter along with the three tiger barbs. Also made it a requirement that he set up a webcam for it. w00t! Actually, Adul didn't want to, BUT Adul's *mother* said yes, so guess who won? =)

Edit: So I guess I'll try out some neons with the two balas after that and see what happens.

 

[Mingon]

I have had a tiger shovelnose and a snakehead, they would polish off those tiger barbs in about 2 seconds. My current fish include 2 x fire eels which I feed once a week live river shrimp.