Bala Shark Twitching?

Adamson

I just brought home a 5" Bala Shark from Petsmart. At the store the employee was having trouble finding a bag that didn't have a hole in it, so he had to move the fish from one bag to another three times, I know this can be stressful for it.
Anyway, I bring it home, add him to my 50 gallon and he has just been sitting in one part of the aquarium under some plants and literally twitching. Doing nothing else, just twitching.. What is wrong??

Here is a video of it I took..

No white spots or signs of ich..

Andarial

I'm not exactly sure what this could be but I'd tag it as a neurological sign. Maybe he got hurt or something, check all your water parameters and turn off the lights for a day. You can leave the room light on. Maybe he's just stressed from all the bagging, was he acting normal in the petstore tanks? I would feed everyone as normal but see if he eats? He may get better or get worse and show signs of a disease we can diagnose. But I'm betting since this doesn't look like flashing that he's done some brain damage or something. Though I'm not positive, maybe someone will have a better diagnosis.

I wouldn't do a water change just yet as this could stress him out more. Just watch and good luck I will keep an eye on this thread. Hopefully someone else will have a more hopeful and better diagnosis than mine ^^

Byron

Yes, it is most likely stress from what he's gone through. All fish are stressed by being netted and moved to a new environment, and many take time to regain their normal behaviours. It may be OK, or there may have been internal damage. Time will tell. I see nothing in the video that would cause me to do anything but leave it alone to recover, and hopefully it will.

You do realize that this is a shoaling fish that has a pronounced structure within the group, and should be in groups of five or more? As it gets large, 14-16+ inches, that means at the very least a 6-foot tank but better in 7-8 feet. And it will eat smaller fish. If this fish is on its own, that will cause additional stress. You can read more in our profile, click on the shaded name Bala Shark.

Byron.

Adamson

I decided that since it is a schooling fish that can get to a foot long, and my biggest tank is only 4 feet long that it would be best not to go that route. I took it back and got 10 Red Minor Tetras instead, don't know much about them but I enjoy watching schools!

Byron

I do not like always bearing bad news, but I would not be helping if I didn't mention it. This species of tetra is known to be troublesome. It is the Serpae Tetra in our profiles. Fin nipping is common. You did get a good sized group, so the nipping may be confined within the group and not extend to other species. But, it cannot be kept with sedate or long-finned fish due to the nipping tendency. A very pretty little fish, and lovely in a planted tank on its own, or with substrate fish. In a 4-foot tank like you mentioned, some other shoaling fish will be OK, provided they are also active and not long-finned. Angelfish, Discus, gourami and similar would be completely out with this tetra.

Adamson

Oh yeah the only other fish I have in there are 4 tiger barbs, a small piece, and algae eater. I am not to worried about it.
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