Aquarium fish shark baloo: description, compatibility, maintenance and breeding

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Shark Bala is an aquarium fish that looks like a shark in its appearance. It is becoming increasingly popular among aquarists for its unpretentious care, attractive appearance, energy, and peacefulness. The scientific name of the fish is blackfin balantiocheilus. The species belongs to the Carp family.

Area

Shark Baloo was first described in the wild in 1851. This was done by the Dutch naturalist Peter Blecker. There is fish in the reservoirs of Sumatra, Borneo, Southeast Asia, on the Malay Peninsula. The bodies of water where they live are clear streams and rivers.

The number of these fish is decreasing every year. The main reason lies in environmental pollution. Another reason is the catch for later sale. This species of fish is listed in the Red Book. They began to be imported to Russia in large quantities about twenty years ago. Although the first individuals met before.

Appearance

The description of the shark ball should start with the body. It is narrow, compressed on the sides. The eyes and mouth are relatively large. The scales are large, its color is silver-gray with a dark border. Under certain lighting, the body becomes as if mirrored.

Fins have their own characteristics:

• chest - almost transparent, hardly noticeable against the background of the body;
• dorsal - located as in most shark species, that is, perpendicular to the back;
• dorsal, anal, caudal, abdominal - painted in light gray or yellowish tone, have a black border.

The shark ball owes its name to the dorsal fin. His behavior is nothing like a predator.

Distinguishing the sex of these fish is almost impossible. There is information that males are larger than females. No other special signs.

Size and lifespan

In its natural environment, the fish grows up to forty centimeters in length. In an aquarium, the size of the shark ball is a little more modest - twenty to thirty centimeters.

He lives quite a long time. The average is ten years, but there are individuals who live even longer.

Behavior

Shark Baloo, purchased at a pet store, with a high probability was caught from a natural reservoir. Therefore, it takes a long time to adapt to an artificial habitat. Do not be surprised if the fish will behave inappropriately, trying to jump out of the aquarium or bang his head against the walls. She should calm down in a month.

Important notscare the ball and give it time. He can die from severe stress, so it is better not to make unnecessary noise and do not make sudden movements near the tank until the adaptation period has passed.

Shark barbs are pack animals. They will be more comfortable in a company of five or more individuals. Watching this flock will be very interesting, because a strict hierarchy is built in the group.

Containment conditions in the artificial environment

Maintenance of a shark ball is no big deal. The fish is quite unpretentious and strong. However, there are a number of requirements that must be met in order for the pet to live comfortably.

First of all, a flock of balls needs a tank of impressive size. Its length should be a meter or more. The recommended volume is four hundred liters. Fish need a lot of room to play and grow. If you put them in a tank of insufficient volume, they will stop developing normally, become susceptible to disease, and may die.

Plants and other decorative elements are best placed along the walls of the aquarium so that they do not interfere with the high-speed movement of barbs. It is better to plant hard-leaved types of greenery, for example, anubias or clinum. You can limit yourself to artificial decorations. Soft plants with delicate leaves, these fish will quickly damage.

Bal needs living conditions close to natural, so the filter should not only enrich the water with oxygen and purify it from harmful compounds, but also create a strong current. The water must be clean. Indicators of acidity and hardness canfluctuate significantly. Water temperature - 22-28 °С.

Water change must be done once every seven to ten days for a third or half of the volume of the tank. If the aquarium is filled with four hundred liters, it is necessary to replace 130-200 liters.

Food

In the natural environment, representatives of cyprinids have a fairly varied diet. Therefore, for the full development of an aquarium fish, a shark ball needs to maintain such a variety. She willingly eats live and dry food. It can be fed with brine shrimp, daphnia, finely chopped mussel and shrimp meat. From plant food, lettuce, spinach, nettles are suitable. You can give green peas and fruits. But it’s better to refuse the bloodworm, because the baloo does not digest chitin well.

Food should be given two to three times a day in small portions. The fish should eat everything in two minutes. They are quite voracious and prone to overeating, which is not good for most aquarium inhabitants.

Breeding

Representatives of cyprinids breed in captivity reluctantly and rarely. Yes, and aquarists do not particularly want to breed shark balls. This is due to the high costs of the huge size of the tanks.

This does not mean that they are not bred in an artificial environment. There are special farms. They are located in Asia. There are created conditions that are as close as possible to the wild environment.

For spawning, one female and two males are deposited in a tank with a volume of one and a half thousand liters. The water becomes soft and slightly colder than usual. On thethe bottom is placed a layer of Javanese moss. This is where the female will spawn. Fish reach sexual maturity at four years of age.

During the breeding season, the female must be fed mainly plant foods. Males should eat live food with a high protein content. Spawning is artificially stimulated by the introduction of special injections into the pituitary gland of fish.

The female will produce up to ten thousand eggs. After that, adults are resettled. After two days, the eggs will become larvae, and after another day they will begin to swim. The fry will stay in a flock. Their first food is living dust. If the conditions are met, the little baloos will grow quite quickly.

Diseases

When properly maintained, baloo sharks are resistant to major diseases. But in an overcrowded aquarium, in which the water change is carried out out of time, the fish may develop ichthyophthiriosis. The disease affects many aquariums. In everyday life, it is called "manna disease" for small whitish grains that shower the body and fins of the fish.

The activity of ciliary ciliates leads to the disease. Unicellular organisms in water are not uncommon. They are present in negligible amounts in many water reservoirs, getting there with live food infected by the newcomer. The disease manifests itself if the animal is in constant stress, is kept in poor conditions. The disease is treated with the help of modern medicines.

The ball has a predisposition to aeromonosis. It is colloquially referred to as "carp rubella". The causative agent isGram-negative bacillus aeromonosis churophila. The sick individual has ruffled scales, the skin is inflamed, there are foci of hemorrhage. Treatment depends on the stage of the disease. For starters, you can try s alt baths. If they do not help, you should use chloramphenicol, methylene blue.

Compatibility

Shark ball is not an aggressive fish. He gets along well with individuals of the same size. You can settle it with larger aquarium inhabitants.

List of ideal neighbors:

• gourami;
• iris;
• KGS;
• tetras;
• minors;
• representatives of barbs.

But what is not recommended is to settle it with small fish that fit in the mouth of the ball. He will just eat them. Therefore, there can be no talk of neighborhood with neons and zebrafish. You should also not add aggressive cichlids to it. Although they are close in size, they are able to drive Balu to death.

If barbs live in a flock in an aquarium, you should not even add veil-tailed fish to them for a while. They will not be able to resist and bite all the long fins. This is typical of almost all cyprinids.

It is not worth buying a ball spontaneously. These fish, though unpretentious, but require a lot of free space. In addition, they are comfortable living in flocks. Individuals should be in clean water with good flow. Then they will delight with their mobility, beautiful appearance. If you do not create proper care, the acquisition can quickly disappoint. Especially sinceindividuals live for about ten years, and they treat a new move very poorly. If the aquarist is not ready to create proper care, you should not torture an animal that felt great in its natural environment. And you can admire them in a pet store, other aquarists or in the presented video.

If you do not create proper care, the acquisition can quickly disappoint. And the long life of pets can become a burden, not a joy.