Leporinus Fasciatus

[TheRedDiscus]

I have just added 2 of these fishes into my aquarium, anyone know what they prefer as far as water conditions, habitat and food goes? Thanks

 

[Carlovel1]

You need a massive tank for these, 300 litres is OK

 

[nmonks]

Leporinus are in some ways undemanding fish. Water chemistry isn't critical, and although soft water is probably more natural, they will do well at up to 20 degrees dH. Middling water temperatures, 24-26 C, are preferred. What they do require is a high water turnover, preferably 8-10 times the volume of the tank per hour. They are river-dwelling fish and sensitive to low oxygen concentrations.

Diet should be biassed towards fresh green foods. Adults will work their way through half a head of lettuce within a day! Be sure to regularly provide lettuce, spinach, duckweed, or cheap aquarium plants such as Indian fern or pondweed. Alongside such greens they will take good quality flake food, wet-frozen bloodworms, and chopped seafood.

Obviously live aquarium plants will be destroyed over time, so if you add plants, use things like floating Indian fern that can be replaced easily. Java fern and Anubias should be left alone, but try some out first before spending too much money on them! Otherwise, decorate the tank using rocks and bogwood, together with plastic plants if desired.

On the whole Leporinus make poor community fish. They are aggressive fin-biters with very powerful teeth. They have been known to attack even large cichlids, so choose companions extremely carefully. Most species in the genus appear to be territorial under aquarium conditions at least, so these are very much "one to a tank" fish. Leporinus striatus is the notable exception; it is relatively peaceful and has appears to do better kept in groups than singly. In any case, you need at least 350 litres to keep a single Leporinus, though as Carlover1 says above, more space is better.

I wrote a piece about this genus for Tropical Fish Finder that you can read here if you want more:

http/www.tropicalfishfinder.co.uk/news_article.asp?id=1981

Cheers, Neale

 

[always4lora]

You need a massive tank for these, 300 gallons is OK

Slightly exessive

 

[Carlovel1]

You need a massive tank for these, 300 gallons is OK

Slightly exessive

Whoops, meant litres

 

[TheRedDiscus]

Thanks people, it appears my tank is right of size! (100 gallons), I have a few other fish, a keyhole cichlid, a couple of tin foil barbs and silver dollars, will these be left alone or be harassed?