Balas With My Cichlids?

[Ethos]

Judging from the cichlids in my tank (viewable in my profile, please look), can a bala be ok with them? All of them are juvi (minus the plec).

See my thread in the Main discussion area..

 

[mamafish68]

Its not a matter of your fish so much as it is the size of your tank, it's too small and probably the PH is too high.

 

[Fish_Mike]

Also, your tank's full enough. With that common pleco, you're at the rim, I'd say.

 

[Matty]

ive been contemplating this too. is it possible though? theoretically of course...

 

[Ethos]

it's too small

Not yet.
the Bala is only about 3-4" long. He's in a 10G untill I can get a hold of someone to take him in, or get him into the petstore I spoke of earlier in my other thread.
I think the PH may very well be too high.
Ladt time Ichecked my PH it was 7.
Is that too high for a Bala?

 

[mamafish68]

Do yourself a favor...and us. Look up the info on balas, your pc is an amazing wealth of info if you just let it.
a simple search would do it!

if your going to be a part time caretaker then do it right from the get go

 

[Ethos]

Edit: Un-need comments

But to be more on topic, since I dearly do not wish to be banned from this forum, I'm asking from other peoples experience. I need to know if I can risk putting the Bala in without anyones advice.
I might just resorte to trying it myself, even though I'm not around enough to moniter it properly.
So here are my 2 options.
1. I leave the Bala alone in its poor state in the 10G, untill I can bring it in, or
2. Put it in the 55G and leave it there till I can bring it into my favorite LFS

 

[mamafish68]

well well well
it seems your options are at hand
Pick one and stick to it B)
I'm not cussing
I'm not being rude
I'm not offending anyone
I'm sorry you dont like my reply.....
I am curious though, if you knew the adult size of the bala, why did you purchase it in the first place? .....
good luck with it..while you have it..

 

[dwarfgourami]

well well well
it seems your options are at hand
Pick one and stick to it B)
I'm not cussing
I'm not being rude
I'm not offending anyone
I'm sorry you dont like my reply.....
I am curious though, if you knew the adult size of the bala, why did you purchase it in the first place? .....
good luck with it..while you have it..

Actually, as Ethos explained in another tank, this is a bit of a special situation. He did not purchase it without doing his homework, but rescued it from a much worse fate (being flushed!), it was an emergency and he had to think quickly. He is trying to think of what to do with it as a temporary measure until such a time as he can get it rehomed. He did ask if we thought he should have it put down instead; the fish would certainly be dead already had he not intervened. All he is asking for is advice as where to keep it until he can get it rehomed.

Ethos, probably a good idea to explain at the beginning of the thread, as not everybody will have read the other thread.

 

[freddyk]

Bala's will do fine with the cichlids if:

You keep the Balas in a group of 4 or more as they should be
You keep them in an appropriate sized tank (at least 125 gallons for the group)

If you stick a single bala in a 55 gallon full of mbuna it's not a very nice place for that bala to live.

 

[Ferris]

Totally agree with freddyk, i had 2 bala's in my 55 gal Mbuna tank for a while and they were pretty much fine but the tank just wasn't big enough and i had to move them in the end, no real aggression problems though, the Mbuna mostly ignored them.

 

[Soaup]

Balas are schoaling fish so you should either ditch yours or pick up a few more if you have the space to offer these fish..

 

[Matty]

good, good. because i was planning on selling my balas to my LFS when i converted my tank to mbuna this summer. glad to see that i wont have to.