African Leaf Fish?

[Raveston]

My camera is broken for the time being, but this is about what he looks like...

http/filepit.freewebs.com/fruitbat/cacutirostre13.jpg

I'm thinking he's a leopard ctenopoma, but I'm new at this whole fish species thing..

When I first got him he was in the tank with three raphael cats and two rainbow sharks, but he always hid. Now that I've put some gouramis in the tank he seems to be coming out more and investigating things.

Question was, are these little guys known to be tank bullies? He has started picking on some of the other fish, even the ones that are bigger than he is. Wondering if this is something I should be worried about.

 

[dave_oddballs]

they can and do bully other fish, my bush fish is now about 6 inch and fights with a 7" snakehead, used to beat up my geophagus brasiliensis cichlids.
they max out at about 6" although a lot of captive bushfish rarely see much past 5". they are predatory and will eat supprisingly large food items, including your other fish if they are any less than 2-3".
how big is your tank?

Dave

 

[Raveston]

At the current moment its a small 26 gal tank but in a week or so they are being upgraded to a 55 gal tank so I can use it for a community of smaller fish.

 

[nmonks]

Ctenopoma acutirostre is indeed what your fish is.

They're fairly mild by climbing perch standards. They work best in reasonably big tanks, and personally, I'd recommend buying one or two more. Although not gregarious as such, they do seem to like to hang about in gangs now and again. In terms of behaviour, they are very like angelfish. They are territorial, they can be predatory, but when combined with the right sort of fish, they are very pleasant. Congo tetras are good companions, as are bichirs and small Synodontis species.

Gouramis might be viewed as threats, and oddly enough, relations with cichlids can be unpredictable. Cichlids tend to be more aggressive than climbing perch (across the board, not just this one species) so while you can mix them, it's best not to.

Cheers, Neale

 

[Raveston]

The funny thing about him and the gouramis is that he seems more interested in trying to imitate them rather than get in a fight. Generally he will sit and watch one for a while and then swim up near it and start doing whatever it was the gourami was doing. The fish he has been chasing around are longer and more of a slender type fish (whose name escapes me at the moment) and they have black and yellow stripes along their body from tummy to top. I'll try to get a picture when I can to post. Also I have a picture of the leaf fish now.

 

[Raveston]

Here we go, I have a picture finally of the fish which he has been attacking, and oddly enough, caught him in the act yet again as you can see him on the side stalking them...

And here is a better quality picture of him.