# 6 Bala Sharks and 2 placo's



## nasomi (Apr 20, 2011)

Got my water issues cleared up with some plants and filtration, and have 8 happy fish in the tank. They're still tiny but the tank will be pretty full soon.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

Just read in your sig that it's a 125G - so we have 2 pleco's at 24 inches long fully grown, 6 bala sharks at 8 inches fully grown, that's 2x24 + 6x8 = 24 + 48 = 72 gallons. Good size, even accounting for the fact that balas are fast swimmers that like lots of current.


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## nasomi (Apr 20, 2011)

My Rena xp3 has intake on the left side of the tank and the return is on the far right, along with a powerhead, and the marineland 350 in the middle causing turbulance, I was actually concerned that there might be to much current because they can't really stay still unless they're in the tree or treasure chest. I read that 8" was the first year of bala's, and 14" the following 2 years.


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## nasomi (Apr 20, 2011)

of the 6, one bala prefer's to be on his own, the other 5 are together. I bought 2 to test the tank conditions, the ph was higher than I wanted, but I read if I introduce tank water slowly to their water they would adapt, so that's what I did. I brought the other 4 home today and did hte same thing, and one of hte origionals has jumped in witht he group of 4, the other is sort of on his own. They're eating veggie rounds and blood worms. When I brought the 4 home, they were in pretty sorry condition, almost white and not very lively. Now as you can see their colors have returned a LOT in just 5 hours.

I uploaded a youtube video of them here:
YouTube - 6 bala sharks and 2 placo's in my 125

There's an awesome shot of one of my placo's at 1:25.


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## DocPoppi (Mar 4, 2011)

This must be the tank you were trading in... Awsome!
Looking like a good start...
The Bala's will love it. There always seems to be one guy that peels off from the pack more often, I've watched this with many shoalers. IMO it seems that it has to do with the pecking order, but often changes week to week. And I've noticed in the first week or so of adding a group, or adding to a group, one is often more solo. 
A tip for your new Bala's... Slowly increase water temp to a min of 86/88 and hold it there for a couple weeks. Then bring it down to norm. This will kill any ich, or most disease. Bala's are VERY supseptible. Even if your sure all is ok in the tank, a few weeks after introduction and Bam! their gettin spots.
I keep my temp on the high end always, the fish LOVE it!


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