LEPORINUS FASCIATUS FASCIATUS

[100GAL]

Well mine even destroyed a 20" common pleco. and
lima shovelnose 7"
thinbar dat 6"
iridescent shark 12"
etc.....

 

[kwl1111]

My leporinus wouldn't even touch algae. In fact, it would swim to the top of the tank to take the carnivorous arowana pellets. But now he's the pet shop's problem. Beautiful fish with a bad attitude. I'm interested in knowing of success stories with this fish because there seems to be a consensus on their disposition.

 

[santoury]

Mine is TINY - 2 1/2 inches max. I told them I wanted the SMALLEST one in the tank. NO problems whatsoever YET.

 

[100GAL]

Mine use to be a "community fish"...lol

 

[Sundew]

Ok so I have been looking for a flagtailed characin... (semaprochilodus insignis) but to no avail. I cannot find these fish anywhere in holland or belgium or neighboring countries. The closest I found was in england but getting the fish here may prove much to difficult so I started looking for an alternative.

I need an algae eating fish that is not a plecotype because they will annoy my bichirs... so i was looking around and I found this fish :LEPORINUS FASCIATUS FASCIATUS

its a head stander type, which has a generally the same shape as the flagtailed, and judging by the shape of its mouth im thinking it is also a algae eater, which some research has confirmed. But i was wondering if anybody has experience with these fish, are they good algae eaters?

A freind of mine tried six Leporinus with his bichirs. He had two ornatipinnis, two delhezi and two smaller senegals. He put the leporinus into the tank and after a short time one of them went up to one of the polypterus and nipped it on the dorsal fin. He said the poly wheeled around and bit the leporinus in half!! Then one by one four others did exactly the same thing with the same results. Finally the sixth one went and hid (it was the smart one)! It managed to survive in with the polys for over a year and got nearly 12" long. He finally gave it to me as he thought it was destroying his plants and it hid most of the time under a log in his tank, not normal behavior.

They really are not an algae eating fish from what I have seen, but what is wrong with a pleco for an algea eater. I had several in with my polys for two years. The only problem was they would fight with each other until finally only one was left. But it never bothered the polys and did a fair job of controlling algae. A bushy nosed Ansistrus would do a much better job but it is a smaller fish and probably could not survive with larger bichirs. His bichirs did kill a Synodontis cat.