Balas slow growers? tell me so

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I

ITHURTZ

Piranha
MFK Member
Apr 11, 2007
1,846
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81
Antioch IL
When I first got the 3 some back in april 07 they were 1.5 1.5 and 2.5" long.
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As of right now the biggest on is 4" maybe a tad bigger and the other 2 are about 2.75" long. They have been in a 55 gallon all their life. Amo is always 0 so is the nitrites. Nitrates vary from 30-35 then after a water change 7-10.
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They do have other tank mates, but I watch for 15min during feeding time every night and they ALL get a good share of food. The bigger one I dont even watch anymore as he gets anything and everything he sees. They swim together, hang around together, do there famous bala dance every day etc. They look great, nice black fins and never been sick or loped around the tank. So I am hoping they are just very slow at growing? Hopefully?
 
I've owned 4 Bala's for a few years now. I don't remember the exact size when I bought them, but they were sold as "medium bala sharks".

They look to be around the same size as yours. One really large bala with the others different smaller sizes. All were the same age/size when I got them.

They do seem to grown very slow.
I've been feeding them normal flakes.
What are you feeding yours?
 
I used to have a few and they were very slow growers, I never had a species tank where I could ensure they all got plenty of good food, but I'm sure the difference would've been minor
 
I just got one from a friend that needed to re-house some of his fish. I got a at least 5" diameter SD from him and a 6" bala shark that he has had for almost a year and half that he bought at around 1.5". They are slow growers but I like how they will school with other shoaling fish and not just there own kind.
 
At October 2006, I had 4 to start off (Brought them at maybe 2.5-3") with and 1 got sucked up the filter a couple months after I brought it, but the 3 I have today are all very strange. 1 is 6.5", solid, chunky and full of power. The 2nd biggest is 1.5" shorter then the biggest but looks to be 1.4 the weight. My 3rd one is 4.5" long and very tall for its length. It has the body form of a short body Bla Shark.

They sure are slow growers.
 
OscarRobinson;1580882; said:
They are very slow growers, but a 55 is not big enough for the 3 of them. You will need to get them a bigger home in the future.
Click to expand...

Their permanent home will eventually consists of 1000-1500.

paultl80;1581399; said:
I've owned 4 Bala's for a few years now. I don't remember the exact size when I bought them, but they were sold as "medium bala sharks".

They look to be around the same size as yours. One really large bala with the others different smaller sizes. All were the same age/size when I got them.

They do seem to grown very slow.
I've been feeding them normal flakes.
What are you feeding yours?
Click to expand...

Tropical crisps, algae wafers, shrimp pellets


I need me some power feed or something. My pangasius have already blown past the biggest balas size, I dont need them to get eating in 6 months.
 
try hikari sinking carnivore pellets mine loves them and he likes the massivore pellets too in the month i have had him I've noticed a difference in bulk but not length.
 
We had two years ago in a 55 gal tank, fed them frozen shrimp I think it was once a day. One grew fast to one foot length, the other slow because one was dominant and chased him, did not get as much food. One was power fed, one got scraps, so you can see the difference. I think it is the quantity and quality of food they get.
 
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