# Any one keep Silver sharks? (Bala sharks)



## Scarlet_Rain (Jan 16, 2009)

*I saw 2 silver sharks today and fell in love..unfortunatly as I live in a first floor maisonette I feel if I was to set up a tank of 1250ltrs the floor would give and my neighbours would either drown or kill me  

Anyone keep these?

As soon as we decide to move into a house (in a few yrs) il definatly have to buy some of these!*


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## Graylord (Jul 17, 2007)

why do you think you need a tank that size.?

A 300 l tank would make a grand home for silver sharks for many years to come.

they are slow growers .


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## Scarlet_Rain (Jan 16, 2009)

Graylord said:


> why do you think you need a tank that size.?
> 
> A 300 l tank would make a grand home for silver sharks for many years to come.
> 
> they are slow growers .



These ones are already 2-3 inches. I was told they need alot of space 

Also look this is off a care sheet - 

*Silver Shark
Alternative Name(s): Bala shark
Scientific Name(s): Balantiochellus melanopterus
Category: Tropical
Difficulty:








Maximum Size: 40cms
Minimum Tank Volume: 700 litres
Minimum Tank Size: 6ftx2ft x2ft minimum
Water Temperature Range: 22-28°C
Water pH Range: 6.5-7.2
Water Hardness Range: 4-11 dGH*


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## Graylord (Jul 17, 2007)

Take it from me . keep the ph above 7 they will not reach greater than 10 inches in captivity ,that takes many years .

This is the danger of the internet and not practical experience .

a 5 foot by 18 by 18 inch aquarium would house a group of silver sharks for years .

unless my calculations are out that equates to around 60 gallons net after displacement .

ie 300 litres .

good circulatiuon and a ph above 7 is all that is needed for silver sharks .

They hate water that is soft and acid.

forget the internet care sheets they are not borne out of real experience.

oh and by the way they don`t need it too warm either 23 centigrade is plenty warm enough .


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## Scarlet_Rain (Jan 16, 2009)

Graylord said:


> Take it from me . keep the ph above 7 they will not reach greater than 10 inches in captivity ,that takes many years .
> 
> This is the danger of the internet and not practical experience .
> 
> ...


Yeah Im a firm believer of experience over care sheets lol. My boyfriend actually told me they need to be in a 6 foot tank as you need a group of three+. I then looked at internet care sheets and got a completely different answer.

So a 300 is roughly 5ft long? That does sound reasonable to me actually. And of course you are most likely to be right if you have kept them 

I am now wondering if a 300 will be ok, still a lot of weight. our biggest fish tank is 200 litres. I don't suppose you know how heavy a 300 will be and if there is anyway to prevent the floor from giving?

Thanks for your time by the way I extremly gratefull


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## Scarlet_Rain (Jan 16, 2009)

Ok just went and spoke to a guy locally who has a fish house. He said exactly the same as you. Thanks a lot for your help!

Now I just need to check out my floor and see if the jolsts are where I want them to be


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## white (May 16, 2009)

i kept some in a 180litre tank which was roughly 40 inches


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## Scarlet_Rain (Jan 16, 2009)

Thing is I plan on keeping them long term and that sized tank won't be big enough for them as they grow a lot bigger.


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## snakequeen (Apr 17, 2009)

i had a couple of these before, i had them for a year in my 4ft tank with no problems, they were only a couple of inches long when i got them and only grew about half an inch in that year


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## rum&coke (Apr 19, 2009)

I have seen some really huge ones and they are very active so need alot of room to swim, but they dont really need to be in a group but they will be more happy if they are and they like a good fast flow of water.
good luck with them if you do get some


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## Scarlet_Rain (Jan 16, 2009)

*Oh cool, I am going to go check out tanks, if the one i need is too big/heavy I think I will just buy a pair of Tankganyikan cichlids of some description as they are also pretty cool looking and would make a great breeding project 
*http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=e...ct=result&cd=1&q=tanganyikan+cichlids&spell=1


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## DaveM (Oct 18, 2006)

we have a rehome home in the shop where I work that is well over a foot long, as well as the bosses fish t h at are over 10 inches, they look lovely in a group


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## Esfa (Apr 15, 2007)

I had a silver shark in my 4.5ft 50gallong tank.
it outgrew it in just over a year.
So yes, 6ft is needed IMO. : victory:
Plus they are a shoaling fish, and are so scatty that they tend to damage themselves in smaller tanks.


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## Stan193 (May 27, 2009)

I have kept silver sharks, they're beautiful. i got two and one ended up being aggresive and was always chasing the other all the time till it jumped out one night and died. They grew quite big, I got them at 2" and they got to 10" probably in 2 or 3 years but i cant really remember how long it took.
My brother had 3 and later 4 between 6" and 12"and they weren't agresive at all, i think they only become agressive when theres just 2. I got one about a year ago at 2" but it hasn't grown at all, i think it must have been in poor quality water at some point which stunted its growth, either too hard or too much nitrate. My brother kept them in soft water which often became very acidic probably because he had too many fish and overfed them but it didn't seem to bother them. He had a 6'x3x'2 but mine was a 5'x2x'2". Im sure if they got too big the shop or someone would be more than happy to have them off you and you could start again with some small ones., they'd be be ok in a smaller tank till they grew on quite a way.


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## ninjastyle (May 29, 2009)

weight wise, 300l of water would be 300kg ish iirc + the weight of the tank + extras


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