Reed/Rope fish - eating the others??

[Ichthys]

Ok - good to know, thank you. I may have to look at finding it a friend! Is it better to have the same sex or one of each?
How easy is it to identify between males and females?

Ita best to keep them in a group but if you're only having two then it's probably better to have one of each. Females have 9-12 dorsal fin rays (spines), males have 12-14.

They don't usually touch dried foods,
and are much better on meaty foods such as frozen foods, and small worms and prawns etc.

Erpetoichthys calabaricus (Ropefish) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

 

[Sparx]

Update:

After another week we had another molly go missing on Wednesday. Still no bodies found. Then today I get home from work and had my fears confirmed, I actually caught the rope fish in the act with another rainbow.

We’ve been feeding them live/fresh foods rather than dry stuff but it’s still killing.
My partner and I have been discussing setting up our smaller tank and moving the little fish into that one. Not really sure what else we can do to prevent this?

 

[Endlersendlers]

That’s some solid evidence.

 

[Magnum Man]

Still in defense of the rope… any chance the other fish died, or wasn’t doing well, and the rope just scavenged the other fish???

 

[Ichthys]

Have you seen it eat the foods you've been giving it? I'm guessing it's very hungry to be catching relatively big fish like that.

 

[Sparx]

Still in defense of the rope… any chance the other fish died, or wasn’t doing well, and the rope just scavenged the other fish???

I’m sure all the fish have been healthy.
I check on them everyday and I know the signs of them not being well or near death..

 

[Sparx]

Have you seen it eat the foods you've been giving it? I'm guessing it's very hungry to be catching relatively big fish like that.

Yes I have, even when we were feeding them the dry stuff I did see it eating. I always sit and watch them for a bit after I’ve fed them to make sure they’re all eating ok.

 

[Ichthys]

Well they are nocturnal predators so any fish sleeping on the bottom is fair game. Try feeding it at night, after lights out?

These attacks might stop if/when you add more. Displacement behaviour due to stress can make fish behave "out of character".

 

[Sparx]

Ok well hopefully getting it a buddy will relieve it of any stress.. on our way back from the store, I can’t believe they had one in stock. Wish me luck

 

[Sparx]

The new rope is tiny in comparison. I’m pretty sure they’re both female as they both have 10 spines. They’ve met, and the new one did get a little nip from the OG earlier.. but other than that so far so good. I’m just praying tonight goes ok..

 

[AJ356]

Are the x2 rope fish being kept in the 30 gallon tank you have in tank of the month? If so, this is very sad news for the rope fish being in such a small set up.

 

[Sparx]

Are the x2 rope fish being kept in the 30 gallon tank you have in tank of the month? If so, this is very sad news for the rope fish being in such a small set up.

The rope fish are still small and have plenty of room to swim and move around.
As I said in my TOTM post, we will be looking to upgrade them to a bigger tank maybe next year.
Thank you for your criticism