Pollys dinner

[Oddball]

Ok time for me to ask so questions now, i have a young polypterus ornatapinnis who has grown from an inch and reached seven inches. Now im asking this because of some rther unusual behavior shes exhibited. shes being kept in five foot by 2.5 wide foot with a royal panique and a cactus plec, two senegaulus and a myriad of rainows and butterfly fish. Recently i was bought two extremely large mollys, they were bigger than some of my young rainbows and they were ignored by everything bar my ornatipinnis which followed them all day and promptly ate them at lights out. (i knew it was a risk but they didnt stand a chance with my clown knifes and my oscar so my wee mollies) now im wondering over the past five days shes ignored the rainbows which were smaller and of a similar size? is it coz shes grown up with the rainbows? or do you think that they are merely too fast or what? please help put my fragile little mind at rest, ta

 

[CFC]

Its strange that your bichir has ignored the rainbows but eaten the larger mollies but since it has now had a taste it probably wont be long until the rainbows start to vanish, ornates get to 24" quite easily so i wouldnt risk keeping one with any fish under 6" with a chunky body shape, my 18" ornate has a shockingly huge mouth!

 

[Oddball]

Ta CFC, no casualties so far mmmmm i still wonder how come the senegaulus have done nothing though?

 

[Bomag]

i also had a poly before this one and it took two pictus and three rainbow which is not good just echoing what other poeple have said these are Nasty Nasty fish and keep other fellow fishs big like he said Good Luck

 

[Oddball]

All three pollys have a new mossy home (tank done up in java fern and java moss) any suggestions for a clean up crew in there?

 

[CFC]

Any medium sized catfish will work, Hoposternum species are particually good at clearing up after large messy fish and are active day and night.

 

[Oddball]

Hoplosternum, comonly known as hoplos or will flag tailed cats work (the slightly smaller ones)? is there any other species i should know of?

 

[CFC]

Yeah Hoplosternum are commonly known as hoplo's, the smaller Dianema species could work but id be worried that a larger bichir like a ornate may eat them. Other fish you could safely use would be small Doradids like Agamyxis or or Platydoras (commonly called talking catfish or raphael catfish) but these are strictly nocturnal and are rarely seen in a well set up tank.

 

[Oddball]

Okay done some research on these doras cfc and im a little concerned that they may not be able to compete well enough for food, being shy and reclusive and tending to hide at night. Would it be advisable to feed these citters after lights out? or feed them specific foods that only they will eat? Ive read that they like to eat snails and other crustaceans, would adding regular supplies of these to the tank feed the doras well enough?

 

[CFC]

I keep a pair of Hoplosternum thoratacum and 2 Agamyxis pectinifrons in my largest tank as a clean up crew for my predators. The hoplos compete with the other fish for food and will even come to the surface to take left over arowana sticks and the talking cats seem to live on a diet of whatever they can find, i gave up doing a seperate feeding after lights out years ago as the other cats would still get to the food long before the talking cats would even come out of hiding but all 3 are still look like little fat battle tanks. As for the snails it is true that doradids eat them but if other food is available they may ignor them and leave you with a exploding snail population.

 

[Oddball]

Cool, i shall try to get hold of a couple of spotted doras and see what happens my local has three of four about 2inch in length and they are very spikey, may give polly a mouthful!

 

[Max]

my 18" ornate has a shockingly huge mouth!

can i get i picture please?

 

[CFC]

This is the only pic i have to date, their nocturnal lifestyle makes them very difficult to photograph in a well set out tank. http/fish.orbust.net/forums/index.php?sh...showtopic=34924