Killer SAE's

[ChileRelleno]

The Tiger Barbs, Gourami, Leporinus and Knife are all known killers.

TB's are commonly mis-kept and hence misunderstood.
When kept singly or in a too small a school they are true terrors.
When kept properly, that is when kept in a school of atleast 5-6 fish, ***preferably more***, they establish a pecking order amongst themselves and spend all their time maintaining it. They get sooooo involved in their own affairs that they rarely have time to nip the ocassional fin.
Mis-kept = Badboys Well-kept = Community fish.

Gouramies tend to do better as solitary males or M/F pairs.
They can be extremely territorial and uncompromising with their own kind and perceived intruders during breeding.
They can be moderately territorial with other fish particularly in a crowded tank, they need tall rocks/driftwood and plants to hide in.
To call them killers is outrageous, they do very well in a properly stocked community tank.

Knives, are predators, they will eat any small-medium sized fish they can fit in their mouth. If you keep'em with tankmates they perceive as prey thats your fault, loss and ignorance. Kept with compatible tankmates in suffciently sized habitat they are great.
They are killers/predators.

Leporinus... Killers?... Get real!
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile1.html

Maintenance
A somewhat peaceful species that benefits from a large aquaria.
Its tank-mates should be of the same size and temperament, no long finned slower moving fish such as Angels as they are notoriously sneaky about fin-nipping. The tank bottom should be gravel covered with plants and decorations. Feeding is not a problem as they take prepared staple food along with supplements of live and frozen food.
Their pH should be neutral [7.0], GH of around 10, temperature range of mid seventies to low eighties. They dwell in the middle areas of the tank. They are egg layers and to my knowledge have not been bred in captivity. Keep the tank well covered as they are great jumpers and can travel many feet. The Leporinus is a fine addition to any tank and badman recommends them to anyone willing to meet their requirements.

 

[Ghost_knife]

my barbs leperonius and gourami never harmed any other fish, my knife is a predator and I know it, I dont keep him with anything that will fit in it's mouth I never had a problem untill these fish came in, I am going to trade them out. I think my problems will end then,

 

[reziztor]

TB's are commonly mis-kept and hence misunderstood.
When kept singly or in a too small a school they are true terrors.
When kept properly, that is when kept in a school of atleast 5-6 fish, ***preferably more***, they establish a pecking order amongst themselves and spend all their time maintaining it. They get sooooo involved in their own affairs that they rarely have time to nip the ocassional fin.
Mis-kept = Badboys Well-kept = Community fish.

Gouramies tend to do better as solitary males or M/F pairs.
They can be extremely territorial and uncompromising with their own kind and perceived intruders during breeding.
They can be moderately territorial with other fish particularly in a crowded tank, they need tall rocks/driftwood and plants to hide in.
To call them killers is outrageous, they do very well in a properly stocked community tank.

Knives, are predators, they will eat any small-medium sized fish they can fit in their mouth. If you keep'em with tankmates they perceive as prey thats your fault, loss and ignorance. Kept with compatible tankmates in suffciently sized habitat they are great.
They are killers/predators.

Leporinus... Killers?... Get real!
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile1.html

Argh, please. More half assed regurgitating of internet spew to me. I've been keeping tropical fish for far too many years to believe this crap. Tiger Barbs can be killers. Sometimes when kept alone and sometimes when kept in large schools. An aquarium is a fragile balance and we need to know his fish habitat clearly - not what it is now, but when the dying started also. You seem to think Badmanstropicalfish is a good resource... Try scrolling down their Tiger Barb section:

From: Don
Date:04/08/2003
You will read almost everywhere (mostly I think from people repeating what they have read somewhere) that Tiger Barbs when kept in groups of 6 or more will chase themselves and not bother their tankmates much. Baloney. I had a shoal of 18 Tiger Barbs that absolutely terrorized my rainbowfish, clown loaches and cory catfish in my 75 gallon aquarium. Being part of a large group did not settle down the Tiger Barbs in the least-and this large shoal when it worked together to attack other fish was much more dangerous and destructive than any individual Tiger Barb could have been. An entertaining fish when it isn't acting up-but if you get Tiger Barbs be prepared to move them into their own tank when the bad behavior begins.

Depending on the species of Gourami and the tank conditions/mates, they are most definetly possible of becoming killers. You ever see a Golden Gourami tear apart a sparkler? I have seen it more than once. A Gourami protecting its nest can become a nasty jerks too. He didnt list his Gourami species/ammount clearly. And they are capable of being killers.

Not only are Leporinus occasional fin-nibblers, but I have heard, read & experienced first-hand that a school of Leporinus adults will sometimes harass each other. My five 9+" Leporinus chased and bothered their sixth member until it found itself unable to eat well or find any relief from the stress. They are also only happy with lots of algae and soft gravel tanks with enough room to roam around.

The most ridiculous argument in this thread is that true SAE would kill anything. They truth must lie with his tank conditions.

 

[TKOS]

I also doubt that true SAE would be a killer, but having kept the others I know they can be on the aggressive side, generally though I have only seen that aggression towards others of their kind or at least fish that are similar in shape.

Oddly enough the reason my false SAE moved to my cory cat tank is that it was getting beat up by a dwarf gourami. So yeah, I would have to say that gouramis can easily be terrors. They are anabantids and that species has aggressive tendancies.

 

[bobbi619]

I have had a CAE for about 3 years and he is an *****ole. He doesn't have any gang buddies or he probably would be a killer. He is just very bossy, although, he loves the cories, he is very protective of them. I think if I had another CAE they would definately form a gang.

When he is gone I will never get another CAE, I would go with 3 or 4 Otto's.

 

[Roan Art]

I had 2 blue three spot and one gold gourami in with my original 7 Boesemani. Two of the female Boes started to fight with each other. The biggest blue gourami got in the middle of it and ripped the smaller one to shreds. She was bigger than him. I removed him.

The second blue then started picking on the other female who was almost twice his size. I removed him.

The gold gourami who had been the mildest of the bunch and seemed to be no threat to anyone, finished the job on my Boesemani when I wasn't looking. I caught the tail end of it and put my Boe in a QT. She didn't make it. He's gone as well.

IME gouramis of the Three Spot type are opportunistic. I've never had a problem with the dwarf variety.

JM2C
Roan

 

[Ghost_knife]

of all the years I've kept fish, my gourami and Tiger barbs never bothered anyone and that still stands, my leperonius stay under my driftwood keeping the remaining raphiel company as they hardly come out only to eat every other week it seems, My tank conditions are perfect, I test twice a week, they will all be moving to a larger tank anyways soon

 

[loaches r cool]

I had 1 gold gourami in my tank and it was definately king of the tank. It picked on my small barb sized green severum until the green severum out grew it and fought back. The green severum grew from tiger barb size to about 5" long in 4-6months and put the gourami in its place.

About the SAE. I have had 4 for a year and they are very peacful. Also dont forget another fish that is commonly mistaken for SAE or false SAE is the Epalzeorhynchus kalopterus (Flying Fox). Its main difference is it has the strip through the fork in the tail but the stripe is much thicker, and it has rays in its fins. I have read that the true SAE is rare... but in my lfs they have a tanked marked Epalzeorhynchus kalopterus that are actually true SAE's.. kinda wierd.

 

[Ghost_knife]

my golds been ok in my tank, he just keeps to him self, dosnt bother anyone,

Side note, loaches r cool, I checked out your Web page and love your tank, especially your lepord pleco, nice Job on it