are my rope fish....???

D

Diz

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Mar 26, 2003
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I have two rope fish which I purchased 2 weeks ago. I think ones a male and ones a female because one as 11 spine things on his back and the other has 8. The male is about a foot long and the female is about 8". The male is chasing the female around and bitting her!?
Are they trying to mate or is the male just real mean???

Thanks,
Diz
 
I never noticed my ropefish actually biting each other, but they would chase each other around and twist together while swimming around. I'd keep an eye on her and make sure she's not being injured, but I've never heard of them being aggressive towards their own species.
 
I have seen him bite and hold on. It does not look like playing to me. I asked the Fish store where i purchased them and he has never heard of them being mean to there own spieces either??
 
Seperate them and make sure you have it tightly covered I've lost two to jumping one even swam up the power filter them out the vent hole in the top of the filter.:mad:
 
I second Somefinnfishy's comment. I have a collection of dried up rope fish that were found after tearing down a setup and they were behind everything. They're great to watch, but like to be "FREE."
 
Oriongirl when I did some research on ropefish back before mine dove out of the tank and commited suicide, I found several references on the net that noted the different ray numbers determining if they were male or female.

Both fish were identical in every other way other than the fin count though, Diz are they both the same exact coloring and everything?
 
Just a thought--in many species, ray count is essential to identification. Plecos, for example, will vary from species to species but identical within gender. Rope fish are apparently different! :)
 
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