Bella shark

Question
Hi, I have a BELLA SHARK FISH. The fish is about 3 inches now but i was wondering if he could eat feeder gold fish? Also would blood atract him?

Answer
Hi Mike;

Bala sharks are not true sharks, so no they won't respond to "blood in the water" like a marine shark would. They are in the carp family and are quite peaceful fish. If you have a big enough tank, get another one or two so they can swim together in a school. They need a 55 gallon or larger when they get bigger. Keep the tank well covered. They like to jump.

Balas are omnivores, which means they need to eat plants as well as proteins. Their mouths are not big enough to eat feeder goldfish, at least not until they get much bigger. It just isn't necessary anyway since they don't need so much protein.

Here is more info on them;

http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/cyprinids2/p/balashark.htm
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile21.html
http://www.petresources.net/fish/cyprinid/bal_mel.html
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=5529
http://www.aquahobby.com/bala.html
http://www.petinfo4u.com/bala_sharks.htm
http://www.petfish.net/bala.htm

Followups welcome.

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins