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Good Dither fish for blood parrots?? Guarmis? Bala info??

L

LandeFam

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Have a 30g tank with 2 heart blood parrots, 1 bala shark and 3 guarmi's.....was looking for a good dither schooling fish to help calm the blood parrots, pet store said guarmi's would be good...but I don't think they're working...they seem kind of spazzy and may be doing the opposite. Looking for a good recomendation of something that looks cool, bright colored, that will help calm the parrots.....can't be too small as to be eaten? can't be too big due to tank room. Any good suggestions?? Something that will swim whole tank or mid to top range...

Also anyone know how quick bala shark's grow? Ours is very small now, I have heard they get real big, but also have read that they grow very slow...well what exactly does that mean?? How quick is this thing going to outgrow our tank? Hubby had to have one!

Any info and help will be greatly appreciated! New to this whole fish thing....Thanks!
 
A school of about 2 dozen Cardinal Tetra.....
 
LandeFam;2911043; said:
Have a 30g tank with 2 heart blood parrots, 1 bala shark and 3 guarmi's.....was looking for a good dither schooling fish to help calm the blood parrots, pet store said guarmi's would be good...but I don't think they're working...they seem kind of spazzy and may be doing the opposite. Looking for a good recomendation of something that looks cool, bright colored, that will help calm the parrots.....can't be too small as to be eaten? can't be too big due to tank room. Any good suggestions?? Something that will swim whole tank or mid to top range...

Also anyone know how quick bala shark's grow? Ours is very small now, I have heard they get real big, but also have read that they grow very slow...well what exactly does that mean?? How quick is this thing going to outgrow our tank? Hubby had to have one!

Any info and help will be greatly appreciated! New to this whole fish thing....Thanks!
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Balas grow very quickly and reach 18'' with the right care. Your tank is overstocked and you need to get rid of the blood parrots and the balas. I know I sound annoyting but it is forthe benefit of your fish. All the fish will outgrow the tank withing 3 months. Also it is gouramis not guarmis.
 
The sharks wont stay small for too long, plus they are so darty and active, i think the 30 will not be big enough for very long. I had my 2 in a 90 and felt guilty all the time. They need a good amount of length it seems from my experience and friends. True they wont grow at the rate of a cichlid or anything, but its not that slow of a process.
 
Eoibio;2911058; said:
Balas grow very quickly and reach 18'' with the right care. Your tank is overstocked and you need to get rid of the blood parrots and the balas. I know I sound annoyting but it is forthe benefit of your fish. All the fish will outgrow the tank withing 3 months. Also it is gouramis not guarmis.
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irishfan;2911059; said:
The sharks wont stay small for too long, plus they are so darty and active, i think the 30 will not be big enough for very long. I had my 2 in a 90 and felt guilty all the time. They need a good amount of length it seems from my experience and friends. True they wont grow at the rate of a cichlid or anything, but its not that slow of a process.
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I agree...The balas will be a moral problem in the long run...The DO GROW BIG.....Plus, the BS are totally big swimmers, which means they need a longer tank, way longer tank than a 30g.....
 
I understand fish needing room....but honestly at this point I don't feel the need to panic and get rid of these fish....I am only considering swapping the gouarmis for a different schooling fish. The tank is 36" long...the Bala is 2 1/2" long, same as the gouarmi's and the parrots are a tad over 3" ...so from what I've been told it's 1 inch of fish per gallon, so rate now I have around 16" of fish in 30 gallons which is perfectly fine.....

I understand I will need to upgrade tanks in the future and that's fine....but in my mind this would be 6-8 months down the road...am I off here???
 
The bala I would recommend you give away unless he is comfortable on his own (they sometimes are) but the rest of the fish will not need un plus grand aquarium. Les parrotes est trop violent quand il est grand, donc je reccomend that you keep to a schooler that can hold it's ground/take a beating.
 
I wouldn't add any of the original suggestions, maybe some giant danios. you'll need a larger tank in a year at least, so I wouldn't get anything too permanent
 
Cichlaholics Anonymous;2911181; said:
I wouldn't add any of the original suggestions, maybe some giant danios. you'll need a larger tank in a year at least, so I wouldn't get anything too permanent
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I agree
 
LandeFam;2911155; said:
I understand fish needing room....but honestly at this point I don't feel the need to panic and get rid of these fish....I am only considering swapping the gouarmis for a different schooling fish. The tank is 36" long...the Bala is 2 1/2" long, same as the gouarmi's and the parrots are a tad over 3" ...so from what I've been told it's 1 inch of fish per gallon, so rate now I have around 16" of fish in 30 gallons which is perfectly fine.....

I understand I will need to upgrade tanks in the future and that's fine....but in my mind this would be 6-8 months down the road...am I off here???
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the 1 inch per gallon is complete nonsense, logically speaking do u think a 30 inch fish can live in a 30 gallon tank? and 6-8 months is fine depending on how fast the fish grow,and u no that you will need a min of at least 150 gallons for that bala shark? just get rid of the shark it would save u many problems in the future
 
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