Very aggressive lepornius? Stocking question.

[wendamus]

My housemate has a banded lepornius that systematically kills everything in it's tank (except an incredibly quick, hardy little cherry barb)

The obvious answer is to give him a big tank for himself, but that's not a great solution for a few reasons:

1: I don't think he'll be very happy, it seems boring and low on stimulation.
2: He's big -- about 5 inches now, and still growing. He'll take a decent sized tank by himself
3: A petty reason, but a tank with just one, shy, often hidden fish is a lot of work to maintain without much flash.
4: The tank gets dirty - we have lost 3 plecos before finally giving up, and without them, it gets dirty fast. Snails can't keep up with a tank of the size he needs.

Any recommendations on what else we can put in with him to keep the tank clean, keep it night looking and interesting, and keep him occupied?

Also, I think I've got some baby guppies on the way... Is it better to feed them to him as fry, to keep him happy, or never feed him more fish to keep him less aggressive?

 

[Hooked Newbie]

What size tank is it in? I believe they are a social fish that appreciate the company of their own kind. They do get big... 10 - 11" though so a group requires a very large tank.

 

[groovitudedude]

Dithers

Dither Fish

BTW, 5 inches is tiny for a banded leporinus. Here are some pictures of mine, and he is not even that big compared to some that I've seen before.

 

[wendamus]

It's a 40 gallon, stocked currently with:

3 barbs (that hardy cherry barb, a tiger barb, and an albino -- they don't really school together)

Two surface dwellers, I don't know what they're called, they're small and almost clear, maybe an inch, so far they seem to escape the Lepornius attention because they're in very different parts of the tank. (However, they're boring, they're so high in the tank we never see them either. :headshake2

There's a super fast catfish, about 1/2 the size of the Lepornius. He has survived so far, I think because of his speed, but they go at it all the time.

We have a bunch of large lava rocks which provide a lot of hiding places, and the Lepornius stays behind one for the most part, but he's managed to get a fish a week for quite a while now.

Do you think adding another Lepornius might make him happier? I guess we just assumed they'd be more aggressive towards each other...

 

[wendamus]

BTW, your Lepornius is gorgeous! My housemate is in LOVE with the bala sharks, do they do well together?

 

[Hooked Newbie]

A 40G is too small to properly house a group of Leps. Bala Sharks are a very bad idea, they too need to be in groups and grow very large. I believe they also need brackish to saltwater as they age. I've not kept them myself though.

 

[groovitudedude]

A 40G is too small to properly house a group of Leps. Bala Sharks are a very bad idea, they too need to be in groups and grow very large. I believe they also need brackish to saltwater as they age. I've not kept them myself though.

This is incorrect. Both balas and leporinus are complete fw. My tank is 100G, and they are all growing like weeds.

 

[Hooked Newbie]

This is incorrect. Both balas and leporinus are complete fw. My tank is 100G, and they are all growing like weeds.

I can accept that the underlined part is incorrect which is why I qualified it. The first part isn't wrong at all though. 40G is too small for either species.

 

[wendamus]

Do you think the Lepornius is already too big for this tank, and that's why he's getting so aggressive? Or does it just mean we'll have to find something bigger at some point, and there's something else we could do to make him happier for now?

 

[Lupin]

This is incorrect. Both balas and leporinus are complete fw. My tank is 100G, and they are all growing like weeds.

I agree. That was actually the first time I heard the balas being brackish water.

Do you think the Lepornius is already too big for this tank, and that's why he's getting so aggressive? Or does it just mean we'll have to find something bigger at some point, and there's something else we could do to make him happier for now?

At 5 inches, not yet but as it grows, the tank will eventually be cramped. Leporinus are very powerful and active swimmers. They are indeed nippy. This has been the norm with several others who kept them.

Try to search on Craiglist for deals. You might be able to get tanks with length of 6 feet and over which are more ideal for a group than anything less. If I were you, just rehome the leporinus and try the smaller species such as marbled headstanders.