Feeding My Rope Fish!

[gallum8]

i baught the food it said to feed them and i am still not sure if they are eating my rope lives in my comunity tank and hes to small to eat my neons =( i would rather him eat those than die. but i am not sure if he is geting the food he needs. are these fish scavengers or carnivores. i feed them at 3 pm in the afternoon every day and my rope is pretty new but i don't wamt him to die so if ne one has ne good adivice please let me know

(i had a peacock eal die like this don't wana make the mistake twice)

 

[The-Wolf]

try live bloodworm or tubifex, to get him going.
you could try whole musscle or cockel as this will be too big for the
comunity fish to run off with and you will also get to see the ropefish perform
the death roll as he breaks bite size pieces off the flesh.

 

[gallum8]

thank you

 

[scrather]

i baught the food it said to feed them and i am still not sure if they are eating my rope lives in my comunity tank and hes to small to eat my neons =( i would rather him eat those than die. but i am not sure if he is geting the food he needs. are these fish scavengers or carnivores. i feed them at 3 pm in the afternoon every day and my rope is pretty new but i don't wamt him to die so if ne one has ne good adivice please let me know

(i had a peacock eal die like this don't wana make the mistake twice)

Alright gallum i did keep 2 rope fish for about a year or so I found the best way 4 me waz to feed them on prawns cut to size of the fish as the prawns will sink to the bottom.As i found they are scavengers&carnivores. my rope fish would take whole prawns away to there hide outs and not come out untill thay where finished. VERY COOL FISH .It wont die as long as there is food some where in the tank. Good luck

 

[severum boy]

If its in a tank with other fish, dont just drop the food in, you really need to hand feed it. I would also get another ropefish, they thrive in company.
As for feeding, get a prawn, pull it apart untill it is an easy bitesize and hold it in front of his head until he eats it. This prosses can take ages, ive had my smallest for over a month and its still not quite there with the idea.

 

[MojoDex]

mine eat bloodworm and chopped muscle have done for 3 years never had any problems but failing that they will taker mysis, krill, brine shimp and even cyclops

 

[rob newland]

could a ropefish live in my 40"x16"x16", as they often have them in my lfs, and i am tempted but not sure (I know fish compat. would be ok, its more size).
Thanks,
Rob

 

[nmonks]

Should be fine. They don't grow very fast, and they don't get nearly so big in captivity as in the wild. A specimen 60 cm long in a home aquarium would be remarkable. Baensch (vol. 1) suggests a minimum tank length of 100 cm, so I think your tank should be fine. Do try and keep them in a group though, as they are much happier that way than singly.

With most eel-like fish, the one food guaranteed to get them eating is earthworms. They love 'em! More so even than feeder fish I suspect... lots of meat, but no bones!

Cheers, Neale

could a ropefish live in my 40"x16"x16", as they often have them in my lfs, and i am tempted but not sure (I know fish compat. would be ok, its more size).

 

[Trecman]

Hello all.... I just set up a new tank with two Rope Fish (both are males). One is 11" and the other one is nearly 13", and a BlackGhost/Knife fish.
The Knife fish seems to be eating just fine, however the two Rope Fish seem to be quite shy when it comes to feeding time.
They allow me to pet them and are extremely curious and active, but I have yet to see them actually eat anything.
I've had them for a week now. - I'm feeding them frozen bloodworms and added a few feeder guppies in there just in case.

I have done some research regarding their eating habits, but would appreciate any words of advise pertaining to their actual eating habits.
Do they eat at night and only at night? - Would a chunk of tuna get their attention? LOL, seriously?

Here's a couple of pics of my Rope Fishes (Sodom And Gomorrah)

~

Thanks in advance for your help! - I really appreciate it!

​

 

[cjc75]

I know its an old thread but; was just browsing through the Forum; it caught my eye.. and I just thought I'd jump in anyway...

I have a pair of Rope Fish; absolutely love them... they're the only two of my fish that I hope last the longest...

Anyway; in regards to feeding them.

One of my Rope Fish; the first one that I got; has been very picky about his food. He'll only touch Blood Worms; and he particularly enjoys Freeze Dried... though on occassion I'll toss a couple frozen bloodworm cubes into the tnak; and whatever the rest of the fish don't pick the hell out of, sinks to the bottom and he'll finish it off.

Eventually; I managed to acquire a second Rope Fish. The Pet Shop that I went too, had some in and thought they were out of stock... and found this one in the big bin under the tank where their filter's drain out into! Haha, thats another think to watch for, they're escape artists!

Anyway, this one looked healthy, didn't have any visble injuries from its "pet shop escape attempt" so I bought it, and brought it home and added it in... thought the two would be great together. At first; it took them awhile to get used to each other. My first one was somewhat territorial towards the second one; and they stayed on opposite sides of the tank. Now; they're sharing the same hollow log together ...and I could be wrong but I am pretty sure one of them is a female; and other is a male... cause one is a nice golden yellow; while the other is a casual olive brown.

Now as for the second one; and its feeding habits... well now this one is very different. I'll refer to it as a she; and she'll eat just about anything it seems!

She even eats the Tetramin Flakes that I put in for the rest of the fish; she'll eat dried plankton cubes; freeze dried blood worms, and brine shrimp cubes... and I'v even seen her try to chomp down some krill. The other one won't even touch the other stuff.

So... I would say, if you're new to Rope Fish and plan to get one; then experiment with little bits of various food, and see what yours prefers to eat. Drop in small amounts; all together.. or seperately; and just watch yours for awhile. What I've noticed is mine will swim around the top of the tank during feeding time, and just search along the edges for something that they want. They won't chomp on anything, unless their "nose" actually comes in contact with it, because I've watch them just swim right past stuff that I know they'll eat, and just keep swimming and then brush their nose against another piece, stop... and just chomp it right down.

Now; some people here have said that they can hand feed their Rope Fish; I read a couple replies about cut up prawns...

My Rope Fish will not approach the top of the tank if my hand is there; and they're shy... if I get too close to the tank while they're swimming around looking for food; they'll dart off into their hollow log, or into some dark corner and hide there until I back away from the tank... then they'll slowly inch back out, and start their search again.

This has made it very difficult for me to get pictures of mine, it makes me think that they actually know what a camera is and they're camera shy! Because once they're out and about, and I start to aim a camera at them, they'll suddenly dart off and hide.

So, like I said.. experiment. See what your Rope Fish likes, and what it doesn't like...

Oh... one last thing.

I've found that my Rope Fish are most active at night; regardless of whether I have room lights/tank lights on/off or not... they ust seem to "know" that it is night time outside, and they start coming of their hiding places and swim around. Thats when I feed them and when I have actually seen them eat stuff. Eventually it has gotten to the point where they know that its time, and they'll be out, and waiting... dart off to hide as I open the tnak and add the food in, then slowly creep back out and start sniffing out what they want.

 

[severum boy]

My Rope Fish will not approach the top of the tank if my hand is there

You should go to them, not let them come to you. If they have a favourite hiding place, hold the food just outside or at their faces; they soon get the idea.

 

[cjc75]

My Rope Fish will not approach the top of the tank if my hand is there

You should go to them, not let them come to you. If they have a favourite hiding place, hold the food just outside or at their faces; they soon get the idea.

Thats a good idea... except they won't approach my hand... rather they swim away from it and hide in places where I can't reach; unless I drain half the water out and start pulling everything out!

No, my Rope Fishies are picky. They're quite content with sniffing stuff out on their own.

Besides.. I stick my hand down there and my (very) territorial 7" Leporinus Fasciatus is likely to mistaken me for an intruder and try to bite my fingers off just to get all that food for himself! Well ok maybe not quite. But in all seriousness; both my Rope Fish are quite happy eating on their own But then I haven't tried feeding them anything other then what I've already described in my above post; maybe one of these days I'll experiment and try to treat them to something a little bigger with more meat.