Bala Shark Pregnant?!?!?!

[destalee79]

I have just recently noticed that my Bala Shark has a huge belly, does anyone know anything about the gestation periods? Do they give live births? What should I be doing right now? There hasn't even been another Bala in with her for about a month the other one died and I have not been able to get a new one from our PS. Thank you in advance!!!!!!

 

[Genesis]

Egg scatterers are bala sharks, should have a nice big (150g+) breeding tank for them. If there is no other shark with her then we can probably safely assume that she is merely well fed

 

[fish_fetish65]

isn't a swollen stomach sometimes an indication of a swim bladder infection?

 

[destalee79]

They are well fed however it was nice and sleek and I just noticed today that its belly is really swollen. It's acting normal no hiding or anything and its swimming around just fine, not acting sickly or anything.

 

[andywg]

There are no reports of Bala sharks breeding in tanks so I severely doubt that is the case.

Most likely cause is feeding.

 

[smurfyy_2k3]

yes but they do get egg bound and i have heard of them breeding on the rare occasion (sp) but the fry never survive

 

[Neal]

Bala Sharks do get wide, but it may be a problem of overfeeding, or even a disease such as swim bladder. If you can get a picture it will help us to help you, also what size is the tank you are keeping her/him in and what are the tankmates?

Neal

 

[PaulEbs]

Bala Sharks prefer to be in groups, if your tank is large enough I'd recommend getting atleast another two.

They fatten out once they've reached sexual maturity [15cm], how big is it?

 

[AnneRiceBowl]

If it's in too small of a tank, it could be her innards bulging due to stunting, but you said that you just noticed it.

 

[andywg]

If it's in too small of a tank, it could be her innards bulging due to stunting, but you said that you just noticed it.

There is absolutely no evidence that fish organs keep growing while stunting occurs, and plenty of (albeit anecdotal) evidence that it doesn't.

It could be the balas growing, as they get larger they become a far more deep bodied fish. At 2-3" they are less than an inch tall (without pelvic and dorsal fins). Once they hit 8" they can be in excess of 3" tall. We seemed to notice ours get a little more deep bodied before a growth spurt occured.

 

[tankkeeper]

If it just suddenly got big then it is almost guaranteed to be some sort of disease. If it was eggladen, it would not grow suddenly fat. It may have swim bladder disease or be backed up. What are you feeding it?

 

[black angel]

As mentioned we need to know what you feed it and I doubt if youve seen it defecate recently to tell us if it was short and dark or long and stringy. A picture would be really helpful.
It could be a swelling known as dropsy where the abdomen distends downwards and you dont always see pineconing with it either.

 

[destalee79]

How weird now it looks normal, I feed them Wardley's Total Tropical Gourmet Flake Food twice a day once at 8 am them then again at 3pm. The shark is normally so busy swimming in circles at the end of the tank (i think its admiring its own beauty LOL) that it actually doesnt pay much attention to food the other fish eat about twice what it does.

 

[black angel]

May have been a blockage then.
If balas are in tanks that are too small then they get restless and pace the tank. Jumping out isnt unknown.

 

[destalee79]

A 55 gallon tank shouldn't be too small I only have 10 other fish in with it so that shouldn't be an issue at all.