Bala Sharks?

[surfah]

I have a 55 gallon tank with (4) 6 month old discus (2 Blue diamond, 1 red turq, and 1 snakeskin) 2 panda corys and 2 black neons.
I really want to keep fish other than discus. I've tried cardinals and black neons.... but my discus pick then off one by one. I was interested in adding 2 bala sharks and was wondering if anybody out there has any experience and or success with keeping bala sharks with discus?

[diskboy]

i am woundering this also....but i have to say just adding 2 would make them unhappy because like discus they school and they should be kept in a minimum group of 6 (i read this in Aquarium Fish magazine;may 2006)

[nolefan]

I would not recommend bala sharks although peaceful they are very active and aggresive eaters.Try congo tetras or serpaes they are bigger tetras and very docile.If you plan to breed do not add them they will eat the eggs faster than your fish can lay them.
hope this helps.

Lee

[chago09]

I may not be an discus expert by I sure do know a lot about other fish because I have kept all of them at one time or another. I would deffinatly not recomend a bala shark for a many reasons but the two main ones are:1) they are super super skitish and like to jet around the tank and will scare the living daylights out of your discus all day long. 2.) Bala sharks in a 55???? Not a good idea. These things grow huge and you would need atleast a 175 gallon to house these fish. You don't need a lot of water for bioload because they are not that bad for bioload but there size requires a lot of swimming room. I know a guy who is a Oscar hobbyist like myself and he had two balas out grow a 175 gallon and he moved them to a 325 gallon tank. Take it from me no balas!!!! unless you can afford something larger than a 175 gallon.

[greyhoundfan]

Chago is dead on. I have some balas with my discus now. The balas are skitish and swim eraticaly and stir up the whole tank. They make everyone nervous. I am going to give them a few more days and if their act keeps up, I'm taking them out.

[Giniel]

I had balas in my disucs tanks for a long time and they do not ever calm down always swimming fast and eraticaly. discus are not happy with that much fast movement.Got rid of mine.
Debbie