A pair of ~10" banded leporinus in 4500 gal

[thebiggerthebetter]

Hard to tell, never counted. Probably around 1000 but 2'-4' fraction is far smaller than you think, perhaps 200. Far from the biggest, far behind Ohio Fish Rescue for instance; but I am not chasing numbers, I am chasing species and their size, I'd rather have 50 six-footers+. Monthly feed bill is roughly $300. The killer is the electric bill, currently at $1500 per month.

 

[dr exum]

Hard to tell, never counted. Probably around 1000 but 2'-4' fraction is far smaller than you think, perhaps 200. Far from the biggest, far behind Ohio Fish Rescue for instance; but I am not chasing numbers, I am chasing species and their size, I'd rather have 50 six-footers+. Monthly feed bill is roughly $300. The killer is the electric bill, currently at $1500 per month.

have you looked at solar? my electric bill is only $400 per month and can be off set by 80 or so panels on my roof... sadly ~$60k

i did not know ohio was so big, i’ve only seen their main room on you tube... i’ll have to check it it!

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

The initial investment makes it impossible to wait approx. 10 years for a break even point. Plus if the panels to go on roofs, we need new roofs, as both of ours houses have leaky roofs with pond liner weighted down with rocks laying on trouble spots. We ain't got the funds for new roofs either.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Out of the blue we lost one leporinus. Have no clue what went wrong. Overall, the guys are still in the jerk tank and awaiting my co-joining 2x or 4x 240 glass tanks to make one big one to try to combine all the jerks from various 240's into one big tank and see if the space enables them to cohab.

IDK which one I lost, from the older duo and the more recent trio. I'd probably suck if asked to look at a leporinus lineup at a local PD.

11". All damage is post-mortem by tank mates. They don't waste time.

The remaining 4 appear to be doing well.

 

[The Masked Shadow]

Looks like Deadeye, Deadeye !

 

[Deadeye]

Looks like Deadeye, Deadeye !

That would be the species, right down to the missing eye lol. Mines about 8-9 inches:

One of my favorite species.

Out of the blue we lost one leporinus. Have no clue what went wrong. Overall, the guys are still in the jerk tank and awaiting my co-joining 2x or 4x 240 glass tanks to make one big one to try to combine all the jerks from various 240's into one big tank and see if the space enables them to cohab.

IDK which one I lost, from the older duo and the more recent trio. I'd probably suck if asked to look at a leporinus lineup at a local PD.

11". All damage is post-mortem by tank mates. They don't waste time.

The remaining 4 appear to be doing well.

View attachment 1470637

Sorry to hear about the fish thebiggerthebetter
Always sucks when you don’t know how it happened.
Were all of the fish offspring from the original pair? I didn’t know they bred in captivity.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Thank you. No. All 5 are rescues. Per above going

 

[Deadeye]

Thank you. No. All 5 are rescues. Per above going

Didn’t notice the first page and misread it as 1000 leporinus lol.

I’ll add that tank size and shoal size seems to be the biggest determinate for aggression. I’ve seen them in large aquariums in large groups act no meaner than tetras. In my 60 gallons, they were mean. A group of 3 I had split the tank 3 ways, claimed a rock each, and killed anything that came close.
My current guy runs the tank and will usually finish weak/dying fish or attack anything near his size, usually to the death. I’ve had a convict and a gt die most likely by trying to fight it despite a huge size difference. Only fish he doesn’t hate is my Jack Dempsey. He hates the female convict and bp, but they have an arrangement of splitting the tank in half.

 

[FJB]

I used to have one largish (8-9" ?) banded Leporinus, and in the same tank there was a similar size stripped Leporinus (L. cf arcus), a green severum, a Distichodus lussuoso, and 2 headstanders: a stripped (Anostomus anostomus), and a marbled (Abramites hypselonotus). So everybody was SAmerican except for the African Distichodus. Tank was a 150g.
Most fish in there are what one normally considers 'jerks' and each adhered well to that motto. However, together they seemed not to bother too much each other, and no deaths or serious injury (not even much fin injuries) occurred over several years. The boss (read, the meanest) was the Distichodus lussuoso. However, the ones who won everything in that they could bother others but not be bothered themselves were the two headstanders. They are just too fast and snicky. The Leporinus arcus and the severum were the chillest.
I don't recommend recreating this ill-structured community. However, it developed over time because I either inherited mean fish others didn't want, or I made not-clever purchases of little babies who grew to monsters. But I enjoyed it and they became a sort of stable unnatural community.
The genus Leporinus contains many species and although most are omnivorous and hence eat anything available, most species have a strong preference and need for plant material of various types (seeds, leaves, roots, fruit). But they have no qualms about eating animal protein (insects, crustaceans, worms, fish).
Beautiful fish, not the easiest to keep.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Night and day feeding of the "jerk" tank. No change to report, same old and stable so far.