bichirs and ropefish

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grmanrocks

grmanrocks

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Apr 22, 2006
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i have a 100 gallon tank with a 12" Ornate, and soon a 10" Ansorgii and a large 8" sengal. also in the tank r my florida gar and NGT.
i ecently came across a nice little 10" or so ropefish. i was wondering if u guys thought he would be able to hold his own against the other bichirs, gar, and dat?

i dont want to get him and ship him to myself (im on vacation in Maryland) just to have him torn up by my other guys.

thnx in advance
 
As far as the size of the fish are concerned, there shouldn't be a problem, but only you can tell how aggressive your fish are. I've kept most of those fish together at work ( on a smaller scale) without any problems.
 
All of those fish should be fine together as long as none of your fish are super agressive. Ropefish are polypterus after all. Just so you know, Ropefish get 3 feet long.
 
I would advice against getting a ropefish. Ropefish are very skinny and could easily get eaten by your other fish including your bichirs. Remember if it could fit in their mouths they will eat it.
 
RadleyMiller;632130; said:
All of those fish should be fine together as long as none of your fish are super agressive. Ropefish are polypterus after all. Just so you know, Ropefish get 3 feet long.
Click to expand...
Not sure where you got your size info, but I believe they max out at 40cm.
 
If you search on "ropefish and channa", you can read CDM's thread about keeping a rope together with two large agros
 
ive gotten 2 completely differnt responses here:D

well the ornate is 11-12"s, the dat is like 5-6", and the gar is 6" or so, and i expect the ansorgii to be 9-10"s upon arrival. so the rope is bigger them most of them, hes just not very big around :grinno: i dont want him slurpped up like a speghetti noodle:ROFL:
how fast do ropes grow? ive heard storys of them beein eaten up by big ornates.
thats why i asked. hes just too cute...i would hate to see him gobled by my other
]v[onsters.


none of my guys seem to bother my two 3" goldies in there "Yet". aside from the curious nudge. so i dont know, i think even a territorial nudge from the other bichirs would be eunuff to rip the rope in half.......
 
Personally, I'd advise against keeping a 10" Erpetoichthys calabaricus with bichirs of the size you've described. While the rope fish has the length in its favor, you are correct in worrying about it being 'slurped down like spaghetti'. I generally keep E. calabaricus only with bichirs that are smaller than they are (usually juvenile bichirs) and then they seem to get along just fine. As for growth rate, like other polypterids, rope fish tend to have a rapid growth rate when they're very young and then slow down as they get closer to maturity. I kept one E. calabaricus for many years and it eventually reached a length of about 24 inches.

-Joe
 
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