A friend of mine is getting rid of her 55 gallon tank and was going to give the 2 Bala Sharks she has in it to me. I unfortunately only have a 20 gallon tank I can keep them in. they are about 5-6 inches long or bigger. how should I prepare my tank for them and do they have any special needs. they would be sharing the tank with a goldfish and thats it.

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~*~2.5 Gallon with one male Crowntail betta~*~

~*~20 Gallon with
1 male gold tuxedo swordtail
1 female gold tuxedo swordtail
1 female lemon swordtail
2 black skirt tetras
1 female orange platy
3 female dalmation mollys,
2 mickey mouse swordtail fry
2 platy fry
breeder net with 4 platy fry~*~

If you are seriously considering taking them then you might want to consider upgrading to a bigger tank in the near future. If memory serves me, they get to around 9-12" which is roughly half the length of a 20 gallon tank.

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75 Gallon Planted

Here is some base information on Bala sharks I found with a quick Google search

Bala Shark

It does say in the article that they can get to a maximum size of 16". Essentially this means if you have 2 you want a minimum of a 32 gallon tank, and larger than that would probably be better.

If you are considering them (and you should because they are awesome fish) ask your friend how much her 55 gallon tank would cost and you would be all set.

Good luck to you.

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That sounds right. I was to lazy to open a new tab and google it.

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75 Gallon Planted

In all actuality they grow to 14 inches. There is a debate on if they should even be kept because they grow so large, are active, and do best in groups of no less than 3 to 4. Some people think you would need a large (as in custom built 300+ gallons) tank to properly house them. It's your choice though.

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I personally haven't had good luck with bala sharks(I have gone through about 10 then I gave up) but in order to properly keep them you need a bigger tank. And I wouldn't keep them with a goldfish if I'm right, their water requirements are different, not to mention that goldfish are cold water and bala sharks are tropical so they would need a heater. When I got my 75, I would only be able to keep about 5 of them and that would have had to be all. Good luck!

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Frontosa Fanatic

Years ago, I had a bala shark for 3-plus years in a 50 gallon. I love that fish. I sold him to the LFS when I disassembled my tank (I was going to law school). He was about nine inches and very active when we parted ways.

I just lost my Bala two nights ago, he was around 8 years old and 10 1/2 inchs long,they are very active fish and need room to swim. If you can get the tank from her too then thats perfect otherwise you would be doing them harm by reducing there "home" to less than half what they are used too.
and I kept mine with goldfish and had no problem water temp was 72.

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90 gallon, 1 Iridescent shark, 2 Pleco, 3 Goldfish, 5 Cory cats, 2 Nerite snails
5 gallon hex, Blue Crowntail Betta, 1 nerite snail,

I have 4 Balas in my 75 gallon. We started out with one in our 36 but realized quickly after that he needed a bigger tank. Well it took a few months until we were able to buy a bigger tank for him and give him a couple more friends. Now we have 4 Balas and Platys in the 75 and they are as happy as a lark.
Down the road some we planned on getting a 120-150gallon for our basement in which they will probably go in there so they can be even happier and grow more.
But I love them!

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