Full Grown Bala Shark in Aquarium! 

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I had a 120 gallon tank for my 3 Bala Sharks. I had live plants and was amazed how fast they grew. I would say they got to about 5-6 inches in length and this was over 3-4 years. It's a really cool fish to watch as they are quite active.

Grew up as one of those ignorant hobbyists who didn't know how big they got, we would keep one in a 45 gallon aquarium with a pretty low population of other fish, they were always the big one in the tank. They always topped out at about 6-7 inches within a few years and then the tank would experience some ich infection that the Balas would never survive, so we did that three times. I called them Sharky, Sharker, and Sharkest because I was a not-very-original child. Always loved watching them, I would love to do Balas again with a bigger tank now that I'm older and wiser!

I have 3 full size, i love them. You can put them with anything, because of their small mouth size you can put them with a school of tetra

Didn't look that big on screen through , place your hand on the aquarium for comparison 😂

I have 3 large Bala Sharks in my tank with my Cuban Cichlid, Fire Eel, 2 Clown Loachs, 5x Dino Birchirs and 4 Jewel Cichlids. They all get along great in my 6 foot 180 Gallon Tank.

Just got 1 about 2 months ago and correct new to these hobby. Starting with a 40 gallon tank, actually have a male betta with bala shark and so far they get a long.

I have a large bala shark that may be near the end of his life. He is around 13 years old and has outlived the rest of his bala shark group by several years! Decades ago, I had another group of 6 bala sharks, and they were very good at finding ways to escape the tank. They are jumpers.

Love my bala sharks!.. Theyre far from the most social fish, but they are super active and soooo much fun to watch... They just go around pecking at everything, twitching and jerking around lol and every once in a while they get in their little playful moods and stsrt flying all over the tank! They are also a schooling fish and usually only kept in 1s or 2s so I find my big bala in my 180 community tank always randomly school with my other big chiclids lol it's almost like he tries to fit in with everyone... Also they are very easy going and never cause problems!

I had one full size and he was almost 2 foot long. Recently I got 3 babies for my 150 gallon and already they getting big FAST

Just bought one for my 55g tank. Love the look of this shark, between my rainbow shark and this Bala they add some character to my tank

I've loved these fish ever since I got into the hobbybas a kid! One of my dream tanks is a school of 6 in an 8+ foot tank with a bumch of clown loaches. As I said, dream tank!

Hey, thanks for putting this up. I kept one a few years ago in a 150 litre tank with good planting as well as similar rockery as you have shown. Not a big tank, but I found the growth nowhere as fast as reported, maybe a relative issue. A garden centre down the road, has multiple huge tanks, and many full grown examples, a real treat. Unfortunately we lost our one due to an explotarion of a crevice it could not get out of. It's tank buddy was a Red Tailed Shark! My wife wants another one, good thing I'm doubling my tank size... or is it???

I had one of these. Paired it with two other fish (all different species), in a 30 gallon tank. They lived for 5 years in that tank. They all grew quite large with the Bala getting to about 8-10". The smaller tank may have prevented it from reaching its full size potential.

I have a bala shark that I’ve had for 5 years. He is in a 36 gallon bow front and I know he needs moved into a bigger tank. I would say he is about 12in easily. He got out once and I thought he was going to die, but his fins healed nicely. I have no idea how we would get him moved.

Got 3 in a 180g about 6 inches so far and have had them for around 6 ish months Bought them when they were tiny babies.

Love my bala sharks have two in a 125 gallon one is probably about 9-10 inches they are so awesome one of my favorite fish I have

I had 8'x2'x2' with huge silver sharks. Took me years to get it perfect... love this video :)

I just got school of 3 but I have a 300 gallon pond in a heated garage they’re going to be living in so I’m not worried about them getting big

I have 1 he is 12" long, easy to take care of an very laid back

1:28 - Haha, curious angelfish!

Can I keep em in a heated indoor pond with goldfish? Not fancies

I have 2 bala fish about 5 inches long in a 44 gallon tank. How much bigger do they need to get before i need to transfer them to a bigger tank.

I see that tank had 2 Bala Sharks and was told that only 2 or 3 together may fight. I wanted 2 , but only bought 1 for that reason. Thoughts? Thanks.

I used to have these fish in middle school we had them in a 5 gallon aquarium they never stopped moving they were like a bullet being shot we had them with African dwarf frogs and goldfish

In a 2 foot aquarium I had they didn't grow much past 3 inches, even after 5 years. Better to keep them in a small aquarium first then transfer them to a larger one once their growth is stunted. That way they can enough a large tank without reaching ridiculous sizes.

Can similar sized bala sharks ands oscars live toegther in a 6 foot tank

I know this was 1 year ago but really would love to know, so I have an electric blue lobster (crayfish) and it lives alone, I previously had one for 8 years who sadly passed away before buying this one, the first one I owned was raised with other fish that the local fish store told me would be fine with him (we all know where this is going), all was good until after 2 years or so he grew really big, he was in a 6ft tank and had LOTS of walking space, plenty of food, and I had a ladder he could walk up to a platform that was on the water surface if he wanted to chill out of the water so his size was no issue but.....he started chasing the fish around. I couldn't leave him with the smaller fish because he really seemed like he wanted to eat them and I felt horrible for the small fish so moved them all into another tank and left him in the tank with only the bigger fish that I had not seen him chasing. Skip a few months and I go to my tank to find half a fish floating on the surface and the other half nowhere to be seen, I instantly quarantined the lobster (crayfish) in the hospital tank I have setup for emergencies (if you don't do this you should always have a spare tank to move sick looking fish or aggressive crayfish into, it has come in handy for me having a spare running tank a few times now) I then had to get a whole new setup for the lobster (crayfish) and he lived the rest of his life alone. I do not want a repeat of this as it was the worst thing to happen in my whole fishkeeping life! but have seen people saying they have had good luck with bala sharks when the lobster (crayfish) is young like mine is now the bala sharks outgrow it easily but again I do not want the sharks being stressed when the lobster gets bigger I don't want the ridiculous line "the fish can swim fast and get away" because what kind of life is that for the fish being hunted 24/7 for fear of being caught and eaten, I want my fish to all be happy and relaxed. Edit: I have now got a 6 ft tank (180 gal) with nothing but this baby crayfish in but I want to go big and have a 600 gal tank and that is what the crayfish and bala shark would be living in.

Years ago I had bala sharks and silver dollars in a big tank and balas got to about 12 inches or more . I got them really small at PetSmart as a kid because they looked like sharks lol 😅 the silvers grew really big too

My bala is around 14 inches right now. Had him about 1.5 years

I got bala sharks yesterday they grow so fast im gonna get a bigger aquarium now they can grow from 2 ft - 2.2 ft

I had a Bala in my 50 gallon tank for 7 years, it never grew at all, it remained the same size it was when I got it, about 4 inches

Thanks for showing these full size.. I need a fish to put with my turtles. I had a convict but he died and I dont know why. But he was with the turtles when he was shelling and the fish was fry. I am worried if I put something else in there that size. The turtles would eat it. So I was thinking about one of these. But they are not colorful so I am moving on

Another reason you don't see adults very often is they kill themselves by ramming into the glass.

We have two that are in a 330 Gallon tank over a foot. moved them from a 90 gallon to 330 gallon lost one as we had three but two love bigger tank and swim a lot ..

i currently have 5 about 8inchs each

I have 2 baby Bala Sharks which I'm keen to watch grow. They're currently in an approximately 2foot tank with 2 Gold Gouramis and 2 Rainbow Sharks. After Christmas I am upgrading their tank to a 4 footer I think. Well the upgraded tank holds 130 litres of water.

I have three bala sharks in my 5ft long 95 gallon tank.

We have one in our tank at the office that is about 10 inches, our tank is a 50 gallon

I could see a Bala shark as a centerpiece in a 50-gallon, minimum.

I 1st saw these fish 3 years ago when i was in a local pet store & someone had 3 that out grew their tank they were 6,9,11 inches. i fell in love i prefer bigger fish & have had Koi most of my life in ponds. I'm doing a deep dive to set up for a Bala purchase in the next few months. (don't worry i have a 15 g, 37g, 80g, & 125g tank.)

Hi I got a hypothetical question can just one bala shark live in a 20 gallon tank ( I know they should be in groups but this is hypothetical )

Bala Sharks look like #MilkFish in appearance

I own a bala shark, he is now 12inch in 8months, and he was a rescue from a petshop, where I work, had to take him home to rescue him, he was so skinny that he couldn't hardly swim, if I had left it another day or 2 he wouldn't of made it if I hadn't taken him, found out what was his problem, no disease just a fuzzy eater and he would only just eat brine shrimp or Artermia, and nothing else, it did not take him long to get his strength back, by the time he reach 3inch, he would just eat about anything. Growth rate is down to verious of high quality foods that you feed them with, and not just the same food for everyday, so in the morning they will get, bloodworm, artemia, tetra pro crisps, and premium grade pellets all at once, and the same goes for the evening, I have about 10 types of feeds for my fish tanks, enough variety so they get all the goodness they need. Fully maintained tank also contribute to fast growth rate, they will also grow faster than this, possibly fully grown in 5 months in the wild. My expertise in fish is growth rate, and when I get them in young they are power feed in my grow out tank, this tank is well maintained, all down to the food intake, and the amount of waste, 2 to 3 water changes a week, this skill experience learned started with a goldfish, they can grow stupidly fast just like the bala shark, my goldfish was oranda, and grew to 9inch. Big chuncky thing, I will do it again just to break the world record. You should have a go with a gold fish, 2 to 3 water changes a week, high grade food, and several different varieties of food, and make sure the goldfish is fresh instock, and not held in the petshop for months, this is extremely important, i never buy a fish that has be kept in the petshop for a long time, never take old stock. Good luck growing your Bala Shark.

I just got a bala shark! if anyone has any tips for me i’d be very grateful!

I love bala sharks btw I have angel fish plecos bala shark

My shark is easily 8” if not more. And large

Don't believe these to be full size. They get much thicker bodied when full grown had a shoal grow to around 14" before I moved them on to a bigger home.

Question 🙋‍♀️ I have a bala shark he is the size of my iphone 11 pro (the small one) he is all by himself bc we are afraid that he might kill other smaller fish. How can I enrich the tank and what other fish can I put in to make him company?

I rescued a glofish bala shark and it's super shy. It lives in one of those silly SpongeBob pineapples. It wants to hide all the time. This seems atypical. Anyone else have this experience?

I have 4 bala sharks that are very young thay will spend a few months in my 75 gallon than be transported to a 125.

I have one i bought about 9 years ago. He’s in a 55 with tetras, gouramis, angels, flying foxes, danios, and a pleco as big as he is. He is about 9 inches long. He is very skittish and has jumped out of the tank 3 times and survived. I call him Stupid Fish because he’s a dum bass (misspelled intentionally). He constantly gets scared, jumps and hits his head on the tank cover. But he’s my favorite.

Hj

A fish this big shouldn't be kept in a regular aquarium. They look too big even in a very large tank.

Such a shame that these are so cheap at the pet store and they do not tell you that these fish are still sharks and sharks need space. People go to the pet store and buy a 10 gallon tank and think they can put goldfish or these sharks or even the pleco's. No people. If you are not getting a 75 gallon or actual I would recommend 100 gallons and more because these sharks are also schooling they need to have 2-4 with them and just think 2 of these sharks in 1 year is 2 feet of space taken up in the tank and that's just 2 sharks and 1 year. So yes I tell anyone who is just starting the hobby if they want 4 or more Goldfish or Sarassa Comet's you need a 55 gallon tank if you want these sharks you need a 100 gallon and I recommend 2 filters preferably 2 /75 gallon filters or a sump and 2 large sponge filters people don't realize the mess they make . They can't flush the poo down the drain and it sits in the filter. Bio bio bio media is a MUST