Predator, fry eating fish for a 10 - 20 gallon

graphicdesign_r said:
Well see there's this thing called research. You typically do it before handing out advice like Halloween candy. Otherwise you give poorly considered bad advice and people think you're FOS. Then sometimes when you need good advice the knowledgeable people ignore you and you go from FOS to SOL PDQ.

The link you posted doesn't even have tank size recommendations. Oh and max size for females listed in several other sites is 6+ inches.

I would say the reason appropriate tank size for these animals is listed at 20 gallons is because the fish needs extremely high water quality and frequent water changes. That and they supposedly eat their own weight in feeder fish daily (oh and they're very susceptible to fish TB carried by most feeder fish so you need to breed your own or spend lots of $ on clean feeders). That appetite would make for ALOT of waste. Then again, as I stated before a 4" (ahem 6" if you end up with a healthy female) fish really is too big for 10 gallons anyway unless you are the type of person who enjoys keeping bettas in drinking glasses.

Oh yeah sources:

http://members.tripod.com/mark26/leafish.html
http://www.mongabay.com/fish/nandidae.htm
http://aquaworld.netfirms.com/Other/Monocirrhus_polyacanthus.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/leaffishes.htm
http://filaman.ifm-geomar.de/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=11015
http://www.cichlidtank.com/Resources/Profiles/profile.asp?id=76

Ran across a few AC members with them. flyfly has 2 leaf fish with a few otos in 29 gallon, and IceH2O has one in a 55 gallon with some other fish.

is300zx, please don't give advice unless you know what you're talking about. Especially don't challenge someone rebutting bad advice unless you have the facts to back it up. It's embarrassing, and unhelpful.

That's all I got, so unless there's any more controversy, I'll consider the Leaf Fish 10 gallon tank suggestion a dead stick. :pc:
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The one IceH20 has is an african leaf fish and not south american. And if flyfly has two leaf fish in a 29 gallon with a dimension of 30x12x18 and having a surface area of 360 in^2, then divide that for the 2 fish and some ottos then you'll have less than 180 in^2 of surface area for each leaf fish. Compare that to the surface area of a 10 gallon having a surface area of 200 in^2 with one leaf fish in it. So if were going by surface area then you have more surface area for one fish in a 10 gallon than 2 fish in a 29 gallon. I've also seen people in other forums kept a pair of leaf fish in a 20 gallon. Also "Max" size doesn't always mean you attain that actual size. And the original poster actually was asking for fish to feed his own fish frys to hence less chance of getting tb and less money spent on food.
 
I do have the African variety.

The African is supposed to also hang and wait for its prey but I'll tell you even when he was in the 20 gallon long he was all over the tank. As they get older they might tend to hang more but I think the hanging out has more to do wild nature and not aquaria.

In nature, like any fish, they know where the best food source is. So they lay and wait.

In aquaria, unless they learn that food will fall in a certain area, they will search the tank. This also has variables built into it such as other fish in the tank.

Plus in nature the lie and wait could be in a 5 ft x 5 ft area that they stalk whereas in an aquarium they don't have that luxury.

Both fish are more active then given credit for.

I couldn't and won't in good faith tell anyone that a 10 gallon is good enough for any fish bigger than a betta.

I know with proper water changes (daily 10-20%) it could be done, but no one stays that diligent.

You have to figure that a Leaf Fishes bioload is equal to that of a Fancy Goldfish.
 
Thanks for the backup Ice.

Soome people will try to defend an indefensible position just for the sake of the argument, :troll: and to avoid being wrong even when an answer is off the cuff. :confused:

I'll just stick to what I know.
 
I beleive this is Ice's leaf fish http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/cteno-ac.htm. It's more commonly know as the leopard bush fish. It grows twice as big as the SA leaf fish. There is actually an African Leaf fish that more closely resembles the SA leaf fish http://aquaticpredators.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=26612&hl=african+leaf+fish. And as far as keeping SA leaf fish in a small tank there's at least one person who can agree with me http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3697&highlight=Monocirrhus+polyacanthus.

And if were basing what kind of fish a 10 gallon can handle based on our own experiences, then I definetly know a 10 gallon can handle a lot more than a betta.
 
is300zx said:
And if were basing what kind of fish a 10 gallon can handle based on our own experiences, then I definetly know a 10 gallon can handle a lot more than a betta.
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No, what Ice said was that he wouldn't put anything bigger than a betta in a 10g. He did not mention how much a 10g can handle. We are talking about individual fish here.
 
Let it go buddy.

is300zx said:
I beleive this is Ice's leaf fish http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/cteno-ac.htm. It's more commonly know as the leopard bush fish. It grows twice as big as the SA leaf fish. There is actually an African Leaf fish that more closely resembles the SA leaf fish http://aquaticpredators.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=26612&hl=african+leaf+fish. And as far as keeping SA leaf fish in a small tank there's at least one person who can agree with me http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3697&highlight=Monocirrhus+polyacanthus.

And if were basing what kind of fish a 10 gallon can handle based on our own experiences, then I definetly know a 10 gallon can handle a lot more than a betta.
Click to expand...

I want to drop this but misinformation is contagious. That and to tell you to stop beating that horse you have, it has expired...

That link is to another forum, where another person has posted a suggestion. They didn't claim to have done this themselves or to be speaking from personal experience. I didn't see anyone there back them up.

There's another post in the same thread suggesting putting a 6-8" fish in there. Another suggests stunting a fish. I suppose those people are right too? There's also a post from the site mod saying there's not really a good fish for this idea. I suppose they don't have much of an idea about fish... moderating in a fish forum and all...

How long did you have to look to come up with that?

You keep looking maybe you'll find a guy posting in some other forum the location of Jimmy Hoffa's grave... bring your shovel and you can use it for something other than what you're using it for here.
 
wow, I know your not refering to mine as being the one who is suggesting stunting the fishes growth or throwing a 6" fish in there. If you have had either a compressiseps or calvus you would know that they aret he slowest growing fish there is for the most part. I have one in a 75g that I do weekly 40% water changes in and feed nothing but the best food and it hasnt grown at all. This is not just from my experience that I am saying that they are slow growing its a known fact.... clearly you do not have this fish so dont comment on it if you k now nothing about it. It would take years for a young specimen to outgrow a 10g and by that time Im pretty sure someone would be able to buy a new tank. and also if you read the initial question he asks about a 10 OR 20g tank. So if you wanna talk about misinformed than take a look at yourself. Instead of googling other peoples suggestions why dont you go get a book or actually keep the fish yourself and THAN give advise about it

PS. graphic if you werent talking about my post I appologize
 
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I wasn't so read the whole thread next time before you get bent out of shape.

I'm having a discourse here on appropriate leaf fish tank size with isx300zx or whatever the hell his name is, and he's suggesting putting a 4-6" SA leaf fish in a 10 gallon tank... and then after I proved him wrong he's being a jackass about admitting it.

..and the only reason I googled for support is because I KNEW he was wrong. I know a little about those leaf fish a buddy of mine has one, it's very cool! I don't have time to go googling everone's mistakes, but I'll make the effort if someone ticks me off about it.

Don't make me google your suggested fish too! LOL :joke:
 
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