Rope Fish

[fry_lover]

Evening / Morning!!! B)

Just joined this forum, really looking for some good advice for my next project....

48x15x18 tank, Odd-Balls, more unusual species (mostly been smallish cichlids and livebearers for me thus far) - looking at basing tank around either (a) rope fish (B) puffer fish or © small eels or a COMBINATION but thats what i need advice on, and i am someone who takes advice and research seriously, just come off a 3-hour internet research binge

ROPE FISH - i would like to have 2-6 Rope Fish in my new set-up, what other fish could i safely mix with them???

Sand substrate or very fine gravel???

As you can see from above, puffers and eels are also taking my fancy. Archer fish WERE but have ruled them out now

Well aware of natural limitations of 48x15x18, want to be adventurous but not silly

ROPE FISH - i understand they can live perfectly happy in slightly brackish??? this is relevant in that some species of puffer interest me (fluviatilis and nigroviridis) aka Topaz and Green Spotted.

no way am i gonna put a freshwater fish in salt and vice versa, what do peeps think about rope fish in low end brackish range (1.005 approx) ???

what do peeps think about rope fish and maybe one puffer (both i am interested in max out at 4-7" i read)

PS - London, tapwater about 7.8 pH and medium to very hard

PPS - doing seperate thread for Puffa advice on that part of forum, please check it out if interested

PPPS (last one promise!!!) MY GOALS / PRIORITIES FOR MY ODD BALL 48x15x18 set-up

- for a person into convicts, kribs, brichardi, cory, livebearers and that kind of fish really looking for something with different looks, shape, behaviour and eating habits, something far less "common"

- money matters, i cant be spending more than £20 on a single fish really UNLESS exceptional and i can find a new credit card with 0% interest balance transfer

- looking for "reasonable" amounts of activity, not expecting zebra danio's BUT i dont want fish that will only appear at night or not feed in front of me (this has put me off eels a bit unless i am being ignorant here???)

- carnivorous fish is my priority, am not a "thrill seeker" but do want fish that will eat such things as insects perhaps or dead meat and various live foods (that are safe from parasites etc)

- considering my current experience (see above) i am looking for fish atleast to start with of 5-6"+ and i honestly think i will be able to upgrade to something like a 6x2x2 in about 6-9 months time

AND as you have probably realised am more than happy to go brackish, i currently have a brackish (1.005 approx) Molly set up, 36x12x18

thanks for reading

 

[nmonks]

Hello,

Have replied in the brackish section, here:

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?s=&amp...t&p=1332084

Cheers,

Neale

 

[fry_lover]

THIS WAS POSTED BY NEALE (nmonks) IN ANOTHER THREAD will reply here

I agree with SLC -- I wouldn't risk BBGs with ropefish. As far as companions go, you need to remember a ropefish will get to at least 60 cm in an aquarium possibly more, and so you need tankmates at least platy or tiger barb sized if you want them to be safe. Ropefish aren't particularly predatory (their preferred food are worms and insect larvae) but they aren't going to turn down a nice, sleepy fish if they bumped into one on a nighttime soujourn.

Personally, forget about brackish, and keep the ropefish (a trio, I hope, at least) with butterflies, Congo barbs, Nannaethiops unitaeniatus, African red-eye tetras, maybe even dwarf Distichodus if you aren't keeping plants. South American puffers do nip fins, and can only be kept with fast-moving tetras, though I suspect even Congo tetras would be nipped because of their long fins. Ropefish would likely be good companions for a dwarf bichir like Polypterus palmas polli. This is a completely peaceful (if predatory) species at about 30 cm when mature that gets along well with anything too big to be eaten (i.e., nothing smaller than a tiger barb).

Red-tail puffers would probably be ignored by a ropefish but I fear dwarf puffers would just be eaten. However nippy they are in the daytime, at night puffers are very vulnerable to predators.

South American puffers are very tolerant of water chemistry. They will be fine at pH 7.8. Seriously, with puffers the issue is much more water QUALITY than water chemistry. Yes, butterflies prefer soft/acid but provided they were otherwise well looked after I wouldn't be too concerned. If you want, add some peat to the filter. If you want soft water, consider getting a rain butt and collecting your own (what I do).

Cheers,

Neale




thanks for such a detailed response Neale, just spent quite some time taking a look at fish mentioned on the net. Mostly interested in the Bichir you suggested.

So, this is what i am leaning toward (non-brackish now obviously)

- ROPE FISH (and yes was thinking 3 or 4 - subject to space - its only a 48x15x18)

- BICHIR

- AFRICAN BUTTERFLY FISH

- SOUTH AMERICAN PUFFER

questions are now

1. other than Polypterus Palmas Polli and plain Palmas i have discovered "delhezi" which i think is also called armoured. I read its slightly more aggressive but not much bigger (maxing out at 14") - shall i stick to the palmas polli type? and if so can i go for more than one or do they need to be kept alone???

2. should i keep a single butterfly fish or a few and will they be safe from the Bichir


many thanks

 

[nocturne]

I know from personal experience rope fish + butterfly fish = dead butterfly. My wife loved her butterfly fish and so did my ropefish. He ate thier belly.

We had lots of floating plants for the butterflies to hide in and the rope still got them.

 

[nmonks]

How odd! I wouldn't have expected that. I've kept tetras of comparable size to butterflies with bichirs and not had problems, and bichirs are supposedly much more predatory than ropefish.

Are you sure the butterfly just didn't die in the night, and then get eaten by the ropefish? That sort of situation ("my plec killed and ate a guppy!") is surprisingly common. Butterflies aren't easy to keep, and most starve to death in aquaria.

But if you're right, then perhaps that combination might be risky.

Cheers,

Neale

I know from personal experience rope fish + butterfly fish = dead butterfly. My wife loved her butterfly fish and so did my ropefish. He ate thier belly.

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

Yes, again I could be wrong but in my experience when a fish's belly gets eaten it's usually a scavenge. If it is killed by a predator it's almost always either gone entirely or left with just the head or tail on the bottom of the tank and if it's an agression problem it is usually fins being nipped off. That's just what I've dealt with though.

SLC

 

[fry_lover]

Neale

regaridng butterfly fish, do you think i should still go for them considering their tank mates will be rope fish and bichir (marbled bichir or another smaller type) Bit worried about "most starve in aquaria" can you elaborate? i know they eat insects and moths

 

[nmonks]

The problem with butterflies is how they catch food. They only snap at movement within a certain range and angle of their heads. So sprinkling flake and hoping they'll swim to it is daft. You need to put food close by, and to begin with, use suitable live foods, such as small crickets, woodlice, flies, and the like. Not very difficult, but a lot of people don't bother (hence most starve). Once the butterflies are feeding, then they can be weaned onto dead food and flake, and they're no trouble at all. It's just the first few weeks that you need to be careful.

Bichirs with or without ropefish make a great aquarium. The smaller bichirs are remarkably easy to keep, and P. palmas is peaceful and relatively small, making it an excellent species to keep. I had one for something like eight years before I gave it away when I moved to the US. It ate mostly frozen prawns and bloodworms. You could easily keep a tank with one or more of these (they're apparently sociable, but others might confirm) and some midwater fish of some type. Climbing perch would be my suggestion, as there are quite a few varieties, some of which are very interesting. The leopard climbing perch, Ctenopoma acutirostre, gets my vote but the Asian climbing perches, Anabas spp., if you can find them, are bold, outgoing fish that while a bit snappy can be tamed easily and will eat anything.

Cheers,

Neale

Bit worried about "most starve in aquaria" can you elaborate? i know they eat insects and moths

 

[nocturne]

I guess I should elaborate on the belly bit, it was everything from the tail to the base of the skull. All that remained was the tail, spine and head. This happened to two different butterflies. The first we chalked up to death and scavenge. The 2nd one caused me to take the rope fish to the LFS and give it away. Our 3rd butterfly lived until our move (6-9 months I think it was) and died in transport.

The butterflies were fed crickets and if they didn't eat we used a pair of forceps to coax eating (move the cricket until the BFF (butterfly fish, not best friend forever) saw it and attack/ate.

Only having had 3 BFF and 1 ropefish I don't claim to be an expert by any strech of the imagination, just passing along my personal experience.

 

[Fella]

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR-I2oZlhsk

Here is a video of mine eating sinking pellets. It sounds contrary to the advice given, but it's really not; the pellets flaot for a few seconds, and when dropped in front of the ABF, he eats them straight away.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

awesome vid! man, if i ever got one of those coffeetable fish tanks, i would so stock it with just ABFs and bristlenose plecos.