"ouch!" Now What?

[Estel_ElvenMage]

This seemed like the best section to put this issue...

I have a 29 gallon freshwater, tropical tank. I used to have a smaller tank, and just recently updated to this bigger one. It's been up and running for a little while now. There are quite a few plants and not a ton of fish in there, as I am still in the startup phase. There's a lot of room in there right now.

My problem??
I have two bala sharks in there. (I discovered only recently that bala sharks can get quite large... I bought them in innocence. Thankfully, they've stayed small and happy.) I've had these guys since my first tank, and they had been doing fine for just under a year, along with a couple of guppies and a cory.
Now that I've moved my fish into the bigger tank, a couple of baby guppies keep pecking at the bala sharks. The bala sharks are nice and peaceful, and all they do is swim away, but the two babies keep harassing them. I just noticed that the sharks seem to be getting tiny "bald" patches on them... I'm worried for my poor fish!!
When I do research, I find that typically it would be the bala sharks that would be the problem, not the guppies...
This has been going on for about 5 days now...

HOW DO I HELP MY POOR FISH??

 

[erk628]

Simple answer but probally not one your gonna want to hear. As you know balas get big they are schooling fish and very active swimmers. They need a 6 foot tank and 29 will not do get rid of them and stick to small fish. If you want big fish then you need a big tank. As for the bald spots balas tend to lose there scales pretty easly so I would say the guppys are knocking them off if my nipping them then by making them run into things like rocks or such.

 

[WILDER]

I agree the tank way to small for bala sharks.
Also they shouldn't be kept in less than a group of 3.

Issolate the guppy fry or rehome them to the lfs.

 

[Estel_ElvenMage]

Thank you both for your quick suggestions...

I had a gut feeling that I would have to remove the bala sharks, but I had hoped that maybe there was another solution. Oh, well...

Yeah, I bought the sharks when I was just starting with fish, and I wasn't really well-read on the subject. If I had known, I never would have brought them home. The guy at the pet store was waaaay less than helpful... In fact, the tank they were keeping all of the bala sharks in was much smaller than the one I have now... Poor fish. I never would have known that these guys grew so large if I hadn't googled them... They're only a tiny bit bigger than a full-grown guppy right now.

For people with a big enough tank, I totally reccomend bala sharks though! They're so cute and calm and easygoing... I'm going to miss them. Hopefully they will be happier...

For newbies: READ UP ON FISH BEFORE YOU PURCHASE THEM!!!!!!!

Thanks again for your help!!

 

[WILDER]

Good Luck.