Anyone have a Rope Fish?

[Punkfarter]

I have had one for months now. He's great but I need to know more about these guys. Please help.

Thanks!

 

[Bearfan]

Here's what I have found:

http://aquadex.info/fish/Erpetoichthys_calabaricus.cfm

 

[Electrobes]

all I know about them is that they tend to get pretty big, and are a bit agressive.

 

[IXTA]

Yeah mine is here in the photos.... http://www.aquariumadvice.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=662&password=&sort=1&thecat=500

 

[Thonglaw]

What I've found is that they're ok with bigger fish. If a fish will fit in their mouth they'll eat it. They are supposedly slightly brackish, but will handle freshwater. As they are a type of lungfish and are rather curious you need to make certain there are no holes in the tank lid for them to get out of. If there's a small hole in the tank lid they will squeeze out and wander about the house looking for another body of water.

I'm not certain as to what they prefer to eat.

 

[Thonglaw]

Ixta,

What other fish do you keep with the ropefish? How many do you have? What's the size of the tank?

 

[Deliverme314]

I have one and have for about 6 months. My favorite fish ever. Here is what I have learned about these guys.

They are social-they do best with a buddy.
Sexing-Females a lighter green with 9-11 "spines" males are darker with 11-13.
They can breathe out of water for about 4 or 5 hours.
THEY WILL ESCAPE if given the chance. ALL AREAS of top of tank must be sealed in some fashion.
They are NOT agressive. If you have small fish it will try and eat them as they rest on the bottom at night. However they are Poor hunters(its really funny to watch) they are almost blind. They hunt by smell alone so a fish will more than likely be too fast for it. Mine can catch juvenille guppies. They Love earth worms and Ghost shrimp.
They are very tolerant to a wide range of water conditions. Soft to hard acidic to alkaline.
They may attain lengths of 30-36 inches but will remain slender so a HUGE tank is not necessary. I have mine in a 90 and am confident that at full grown it will be fine in here. They love planted tanks.

I can not stress enough how important it is to make sure it cant get out. drop the water level an inch close all openings.

Oh they LOVE water bubbles. When I had mine in a non planted tank I had an airstone in that it would play for about 25% of the whole day. And its really enterating to watch them do this.

Bredding is possible but hard. They would probobly need a species tank... if you are interested I can send you some info on breeding if I still have it. I only have one but am going to get a male in the near future... hoping maybe they will give me kids as this by far my favorite fish out of all I have ever owned or seen in FW tanks.

If I think of anything else I will let you know... or if you have any specific questions I can probobly help out as this is one fish I have done a lot of studying on to make sure it is happy.

 

[IXTA]

ropefish

I have my Ropefish in a 50 Gallon. Net sources say minumum 90 gallon needed. Mine gets along fine. Eats raw bloody meat from my hand, trimmed down to fit in his mouth. They are quite blind and sense food from their electrical impulses. I've never had mine escape from my tank,

His tankmates are a yoyo loach, wheather loach, 3 tiger barbs, bali shark, and 3 tinfoil barbs, small plesoctomus. All get along together, He especially likes the weather loach and they roll on the bottom playing.

The tinfoils are a pain because they rob the meat off the bottom, so thats why I hand feed him. When he gets active he soars through the tank like a sea snake. When mellow, he hunkers down under a log and relaxes in the darkness.
cool spirited fish, cool yellow bottom. He has maybe grown two inches in the last 2 yrs. I feed him 1x every three days.

foto here http://www.aquariumadvice.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=662&password=&sort=1&thecat=500

 

[Deliverme314]

Really? Only two inches? I got mine at 8 inches 6 or 7 months ago and she is a foot all ready. Oh and I just got her her friend. A nice dark green male about 8 or 9 inches

I have yet to try and feed mine meat... what kind specificaly and its raw I assume? I am always looking for treats for them. Also, I dont think they use electrical impulses... they hunt by smell I am pretty sure. My elephant nose uses electrical impulses though(my second fave fish. And yeah these guys are really playful and when they are active there is no more entertaining fish. I will be the happiest Dad ever if mine mate... but Im not holding my breath.

 

[Deliverme314]

Nice pics! Yours is a male, right? The colors look dark. How big is it? And they are in a brackish tank? Do you know if at a certain age they NEED one or if they simply can do fine in either?

 

[IXTA]

They can do fine in a Fresh, I got the electrical impulses info from here http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/erpetoichthys/e._calabaricus
"This species can sense electric cues (from the gills of small crustaceans and fish) in their environment with ampullae (electroreceptors) and use this information for prey capture".
Other Stats here http://www.fishbase.org/summary/speciessummary.cfm?genusname=erpetoichthys&speciesname=calabaricus

Not sure if it is a Male or not. I will check

 

[IXTA]

Feeding a Ropefish

Here are some fotos of me feeding mine raw meat. http://www.aquariumadvice.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=998&thumb=1&si=ropefish

 

[IXTA]

I'ts kind of hard getting them in a net, Squirrly buggers! My wife hates him, has threatened to throw him out in the snow before.

 

[Deliverme314]

Yep. On that subject if you hadnt read my major PH drop thread. The one I got yesterday had been dropped at the store... was very clearly stressed... one eye was greyed and he looked in bad shape as he was not easy to catch and went through some trauma... between that and my apparent KH defficency which caused my Ph to crash(its now at 5.1) he died in the night... I was very sad this morning to say the least

At least it was the brand new one so I didnt have a chance to get attached... if it was Sherman that died I would have felt like I truly had lost a pet.

 

[IXTA]

Hey Deliverme, how bout some pix of your ropers.

 

[Deliverme314]

Yeah sure, MY one that is thats left... but yeah i will steal my roomies digital this weekend and get some snaps.

 

[IXTA]

ROPEFISH AND WILLIAM HURT

I counted 5 or 6 spines near the tail. Hey some wild news, I was Watching the old MOvie ALTERED STATES with the Actor William Hurt. During one of his Mind Trips there is a ROPEFISH swimming behind hiS HEAD, COOL!

 

[michelle ash-lee]

hi i had 2 rope fish, nessy and demina both males, deminia being just over a foot and nessy being bit shorter but fatter....they lived in a 20 gal for a while with 2 large african chiclids, they have now moved in with my friend in a 55 gal, with 4 other rope fish, 1 being female ... they are very amazing fish, so far rope fish are unknown to breed in captive....i think right now our female is preggo unsure yet untill we find out more info...but i will keep you updated...i will post pics soon..