Bala Sharks

[Jon_D]

I had to make a trip to the nearest town today, Darlington, a round distance of some 40+ miles, so decided to drop into the LFS there. I think it must be love at first sight , but I saw two lovely Bala Sharks for sale. No! I didn’t buy them as I would like advice from forum colleagues first.
1, Would they be happy in a tank with various types of barbs? And would the barbs be happy to share?
2. Can they be aggressive?
3 What type of water do they like?
4. Type of food they prefer?
Any further info will be greatly received.

[Jon_D]

Cancel the request for information! I have read that they can grow to 1 foot (30cm in Napoleon chunter)

[Martinspuddle]

Balantiocheilos melanopterus can get slightly larger than 30cm in length and are best kept in groups of 5 or 6 individuals.

I have read that they can grow to 1 foot (30cm in Napoleon chunter)

You can blame Gabriel Mouton (1618 – 28 September 1694) was a French abbot and scientist who first devised the metric system but seeing around 90% of the world use it, we are somewhat in the minority.

[BigBen]

Cancel the request for information! I have read that they can grow to 1 foot (30cm in Napoleon chunter)

I had these in my childhood fish tank which was about 60l I'd guess along with clown loaches, angels and a few others. Gives me nightmares now thinking about it. I liked them at the time as they were very active. I had 5 or 6 I think. The shop we bought them from sold them to us the same day as we bought the tank. They actually lived for a good amount of time considering the horrific conditions they had. I'd love to keep all three of the aforementioned species at some point, but correctly this time.

[black ghost]

...best kept in groups of 5 or 6 individuals.

...as a minimum.


There is a smaller Silver Shark that only grows to about 6”. Balantiocheilos ambusticauda. The few pictures available show very colourful fins. It would be an ideal replacement in the hobby. Unfortunately it’s almost/possibly extinct.