ropefish tankmates

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trafty7

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Sep 18, 2005
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Im thinking about buying a ropefish but i want to make sure that my other fish will be alright. I have two angelfish, a synodontus uepterus, glass catfish, and three black mystery snails that are of pretty good size. Will these be alright with a ropefish...also, are they succeptible to any parasites? Thanks for any help!
 

congealedmeat

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Feb 2, 2005
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As for the parasites, I'm not sure, but ropefish will pretty much go with anything that won't pester it or is too big and will eat it. I think it would be fine with what you have.

I've seen ropefish(small ones too) kept with large aggressive cichlids and fish like them and there are no problems. I've even seen my ropefish get bitten what looks like really badly by my D. Compressiceps, but it doesn't even seem to faze the ropefish....it just keeps swimming along normally.

Strange fish, reclusive. Feed them shrimp from the grocery store, they love it, or dead feeders(if you happen to have some :D). If yours is smaller or you don't think it will be able to eat the shrimp cut the shrimp lengthwise and then score the back all along the spine so that it stays in one piece, but it is all ripped up. This makes it easy to get chunks off.
 

FreddytheFish

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Aug 29, 2005
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Cincinnati, OH
It should be OK with your other fish. They are generally compatible w/ any fish that can't fit in their mouth and won't disturb there slime coat (plecos)
 
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wackydan

Fun, not crazy.
Nov 21, 2005
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Matthews, NC
I've had two rope fush before... Very nice conversation types...

I've had them both in a tank with tinfoil bards, a red tail shark, a pitcus cat, spotted raphael (my favortites), black tetras, and bala's - oh and some rather large irridecent (sp?) sharks at one time.... Never a problem...

though there was this one time I kept my friends beta in there and the rope and beta got in a fight.. but just once and no harm done.

Mine seemed to like live feeders... I would stock up on feeder guppies, and usually at night you'd hear the rope's jaw snapping shut on them.... After I started feeding him live food, he seemed to never want anything else...

Oh... and they can and will climb out/jump out.
 

trafty7

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Sep 18, 2005
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alright...thanks for the info guys...i was hoping i could get one cuz they look very cool!
but just to make sure, does anyone know if they will go after my black mystery snails?
 

patoloco

De seguro no sabes lo que dice aqu
Oct 20, 2005
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Costa Rica
wetpatoloco.tripod.com
30 gallons is a bit small for a rope fish. They can get up to 3 feet if kept for long enough.

These fish are the king of scaping. I had to take mine out of the canister filter 2 times. You'll need a tight fit in your tank hood to avoid this. Even where hoses and plumbing lines enter the tank.

Also, ropes need to breathe atmospherical air, just like batas and gouramies. It's normal for a rope fish to be calm in the bottom and suddenly head to the top and go down again. Really neat behavior.

Also, they are known for living outside water for up to 5 hours. When I rescued him for the last time from the canister, I put him the floor just to watch and he made me follow him about 10 feet.

Feeding can be done with anything meaty that fits into his BIG mouth. I remeber when I threw this big fat earthworn into the tank and the rope took it in the middle and headed to his secret hiding spot. Looked just like a puppy dog with a big bone.
 

patoloco

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Oct 20, 2005
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Costa Rica
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When I first bouth the rope fish, I got 3 at once. The first one died the same day, and the second one escaped trough a small gap beetween the hood and the filter hose and fell to the floor. I found him in the morning totally stiff about 15 feet away form the tank

My third one got this cloudy eye infection. He was pretty sick but after treatment with FURAN2 he recovered and became a very active fish. However, after about 3 months, he died 2 days ago with no sign of sickness. Just found him in the bottom lying on his side. :( :(
 

Mudfrog

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Jan 17, 2005
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Roanoke, VA
A 30 would be a decent grow out tank but you will need bigger further down the road.

They shouldn't go after the snails but just to be sure you need to make sure they are larger then the ropefish's mouth.
 
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