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Looking for tips and advice

1K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  Ethan9307 
#1 · (Edited)
I'm pretty new to fish keeping but i've had my freshwater tank for probably almost a year... close to it.

At first I just had a betta and I like him so I bought a 45 gallon tank and what not and now i've come to this point with that tank.

I have (the fish I care about)
Rainbow Shark (Red Fin Shark)
Male Betta (The oldest fish)
Bala Shark (Just got about 3 hours ago)
2 Big ol' Placostimus? The suckers
2 Something catfish that mostly just hide under my fake log.

Then about 18 new little white something fishys that were cheap (1.44 a dozen)
3 something tetras and 1 other wierd fish i forgot the name of
All the above fish are the ones I dont care about and there more for food than anything...

I bought the Red Fin thinking it would get kinda big kinda fast... well it hasn't so I bought the Bala Shark today cuz I know they get alot bigger than Red Fins... I think...

The questions I have are this...
1. My Betta was nibbled on by I think my Red Fin and i'm wondering if he's still sick or something or if it's just still a healing injury (once I noticed he got nibbled I took him out for about a week or so to heal)
2. Will my Bala and Red Fin fight, get along nicely, or just plain eat eachother?
3. What can I do to make the tank a little more.... fun?

I want to have a predator tank more or less but I havn't switched to Marine yet (it's like 500-750 for all the equiptment I want) so is there a better shark species or some other species that will be a good predator yet not eat my betta? Cuz I really like him (he was a gift... my first fishy). Or should I just take him out and make my 45 gal a predator only tank. I have a smaller 20 gallon that will be empty soon (we hold our goldfish from our pond that are still alive during winter)

So heres the pictures... Any advice is greatly appreciated.

This is the betta... Is he still sick or is it just injury from a couple weeks ago that isn't going to heal anymore.

The new Bala Shark (Put in 3 hours ago so he's still kinda shy... but he's warmin up to the tank now)

The Red Fin Shark, he's REALLY fast so it's hard to get a good shot...

The Red Fin and the Bala hangin out at the bottom of the tank...

Left Side of Tank

Right Side of Tank

Any help, advice, tips, anything... Is Greatly Appreciated. Thank you.

EDIT: BTW The Betta when it was first bought was almost completely blue, more of a light/dark blue mix... Now he has alot of discoloring especially in the fins. So I think he may still be sick or something.
 
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#2 ·
The betta is probably stressed out... Both those sharks will get big, and mean.
The tetras, being in a group of only 3, will also get stressed, and take it out on the betta. (tetras are bad fin nippers when not in a group)

Also, need to find out what kinda little white fish you got... Likely some type of minnow or livebearer... Watch them, they might nip too.
 
#3 ·
+1 on Red's advice.

A few cents from me:
I agree you need to up the number of tetras you have in your tank to atleast 6 for each group. Like red said, the smaller the number the more stressed out they will be. It was amazing when I first started I had 5 neon tetras and they we're a little skiddish, I upped the number to about 12, and they're doing fantastic and healthy now for over two years.

On the sharks,
http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/profiles/bala-shark/
http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/profiles/red-tailed-shark/

I would read up on those two pages from our Profile page. They offer some good advice on both of those species. The bala shark can grow to be quite large. Some adults reach 12" in size, the page also recomends to keep them in a group of 6 to promote less-stressed behavior. For 6 of these it recommends a tank which is 6' long, and that's about a 125-150 gallon tank. Like I said, i've never seen or heard of anyone keeping 6 balasharks in the same tank, so take it as you will.

I do know these things can get quite large and at minimum a 55G tank is recommended because they can grow so large.

If i were you, I would return the bala shark and keep just the one red finned shark. They can grow up to 5" (give it some time) and that'll be a nice fish for your set-up, make sure to give the RTS some caves to hide in and around...
 
#4 ·
Well thanks for the advice... The 3 little tetras seem to be doing ok, they aren't real scared or anything but ill add a couple.

I did read both the bala and red tail pages on this forum... since when i write their names it links me to it... nice feature guys, I really like that. I know the Bala will get big but by the time he outgrows this tank (probably at like what 5-6"?? he's like 3-4 now...) i'll have a bigger tank. This 45 Gal was just a starter tank to teach me how to take care of the fish... I love this hobbie so i'm getting some more and bigger tanks so I can have some BIG fish... like a foot long shark :)

I Like predator fish the most so that's what i'll have alot of (i guess not only predator but fish that will fight eachother)

Next time I go to my fish store i'll check what type of tetras and other fish i bought.. I will know them when I see them labled...
 
#5 ·
I feel I must step in here with some comments. Please accept these as constructive and intended for the health and well-being of your fish.

First, keeping potentially large fish in too small a tank when they are young is very detrimental to the fish's health. It is what we term "stunting". As the fish grows, which is does most of its life unlike us, it continues to develop internally (organ development) as well as externally (getting larger). It need sufficient water volume to do this without being "deformed" internally. Volume means not only physical space for the fish to act naturally the way nature intended, but also from the perspective of the water conditions. The smaller the water volume the more slight changes affect the fish, and this involves not only water quality but other things like chemical pheromones released by fish. Unless you have adequate space for the fish now, you should not attempt potentially-large fish. The profile links earlier provided indicate the tank sizes required to keep these species healthy.

Second comment is about predatory fish or "a lot of fish that fight each other." While this is natural to certain fish species, in an aquarium it is essential that you provide the correct environment for the fish so it can engage in these behaviours naturally. Having a predatory fish in with tetras to watch the predatory nature of the fish is cruel. Even if the predatory fish does not actually attack the tetras, the tetras can sense chemically that they are under constant threat and they will be stressed and unhealthy. It is like you being the victim of a bully 24 hours a day with no respite. This is not responsible fish keeping.

There are fish species that naturally have behaviour traits within their own species, such as some cichlids, and in a suitably large aquarium this can be fine; the fish have the space to "do their own thing" without causing suffering to other species. But this sort of tank requires planning.

Byron.
 
#7 ·
Which is exactly why I came here.. I dont want to make my fishy's lives miserable but i dont know much about fish keeping...
i knew cichlids were sorta predatory... certain species... but like i said, dont know much more than that...

So if I want a predator tank (being the same 45 gal i have...) what should I put in it? I can take the betta and red fin out.. the bala i'll move into a bigger tank real soon (like i said i'm getting a big tank.. 100 or so gal tank)
 
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