Freshwater Aquarium Owners??

[RockyRoad]

Sorry NoahsMommy, I was going to get my dad to come in and answer your other questions, but he had already gone to sleep (he has a night job). He would LOVE to answer them tomorrow though, fish is like almost his life lol. So whatever 411 you get tonight, I'm sure my dad can add on a few tid-bits tomorrow. As for me, I think I know what to do about the sucker fish, but I don't want to give out false information (IF it's false, I'm not really sure...). Good luck with the tank!

P.S. My dad said he thought those 'Bali' Sharks are actually 'Bala' (I didn't ask him how to spell it but it sounds like bell-a). He didn't post it though, he wasn't sure if that was true or not. Can you confirm?

[Mr. Coral]

When you say Sucker Fish, I suppose you mean an Algae Eater or Pleco. Both of these fish will eat algae, and are mainly vegeterians, if you want a fish to eat uneaten food on the bottom of the tank, get a couple of small catfish.
As far as the strip ph kit, I've never owned the strip kit, only ph kits that take some water from the tank and add chemicals to, so I really could not give you a definate answer, just follow the directions on the package.

I managed to have time to answer these questions. Good luck with your new tank.

Tom

[aly]

The tank is looking good I have constantly had several tanks of fish going since I was in 1st grade. My biggest is a 75 gallon tank and the smallest is a 2 gallon beta tank.

Its weird, but bala sharks are the only fish I've had extreme trouble with. My fish usually last years and years but the bala sharks have always died on me. I really love them but I don't want to try to get anymore ever again cause I don't wanna kill them I never have other fish die on me like that so I don't know what the deal is. Let me know how yours do.

Britt - yup, they are bala sharks

[NoahsMommy]

Thanks everyone for the information! Looks like we have two female Mollies! Thank goodness!

So far, so good. The fish have been doing great! The tank is really clean and the fish are having a ton of fun playing in the water being emptied back into the tank from the filter. The white Molly loves playing with the Bala sharks, while the black Molly is somewhat of a loner. I'm even surprised with the frogs...they are active too!

The cats (well, Noah and Noel) LOVE the fish. The fish were scared at first, but now keep playing while the cats sit mesmerized.

We'll most likely get a cat fish for the bottom if it gets dirty, thanks for clearing that up for me.

I do have a question regarding feeding. I know the Mollies are top feeders, the frogs bottom feeders and the sharks are mid to bottom feeders. We feed flake food for the fish and some pellet type food for the frogs. Is there anything else we can feed them that is better?

Thank you!!!

[NoahsMommy]

Originally posted by aly
Its weird, but bala sharks are the only fish I've had extreme trouble with.

I was worried about getting these too. Growing up, my best friend had a tank and her Bala shark ATE the other fish. These ones aren't aggressive, so this is new to me. We have three of them, and when we first added them to the water, one looked a little out of it. They are doing good so far, but I'll keep a close eye on them. Thanks for the heads up.