Rope fish?

[Zagz]

I have googled these fish and can come up with they can get to be 15" long and are relatively peaceful. I can't come up with appriopriate tankmates though. My husband is enthralled by these fish and is curious if they would be able to go into the ciclid tank? Obviously the 29 gal is too small for anything that gets that big.

 

[talloulou]

My brother had a ropefish along time ago.....he called it a reedfish...but I think they are the same thing. He could keep his with bigger fish, but it would eat smaller ones. The one thing I remember most is that it was an escape artist so keep your tank covered. And if it does get out and you find it all dried up on the floor and dead looking throw it back in the tank again. Ours looked completely dead but we threw it back in the tank and within an hour it was acting like nothing happened. Also I don't think they are very competitive eaters and we always had to make sure it got enough food since it was in the tank with big pig fish.

 

[Aquarium Freak]

I agree with talloulou my friend had one in a 30g tank alone. And it got out on a daily basis and finally was oout of water to long one day and he died . But I also tried to tell him a 30g was to smalll but did he listen no.

 

[Zagz]

So you are thinking it could be kept with cichlids? Right now a couple of the baby electric yellows are too small for them, but in a few weeks. For some reason my lfs stocks them regularily.

 

[Toirtis]

Not surprisingly, I have some (6, to be exact), and have had for decades.

Ropes are closely related to bichirs (the only other known genera of Polypterid), and are peaceful, and safe with anything that they cannot easily swallow. However, one must guard against keeping them with any fish that will be aggressive towards them, and you will want to have a secure, full top on yout tank, as they are notorious for wiggling out small openings (keeping the water-level a couple of inches from the tank top also helps). Maximum size is actually about 90cm/3', but specimens larger than 60cm/2' are uncommon in captivity. They do best in well-planted tanks with lots of grassy plants like vals.

 

[krap101]

how big are yours

 

[Toirtis]

They range from the smallest at approximately 15" to the largest at almost 28".