Ctenopoma acutirostre Questions

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A

amesbien

Gambusia
MFK Member
Sep 20, 2006
567
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The Moon
Ok, so today I got a tiny Ctenopoma acutirostre, aka spotted climbing perch, aka Leaf Fish. He is only about an inch long and in very good health. I got him for free from my petsmart (where I work) so I thought he would be a great addition to my new 75 Bichir tank, because I hear that they are awesome eaters when they get larger. But, I can't add him to the 75 untill he is atleast 6 inches because my bichirs will deff eat him. SO my question is how can I pump this little guy up so he can swim with the big guys? Oh yea, he is in my 30 planted untill he gets too big. I'll post a few pics of him too. Tell me what you guys think about him and what he should be eating. Thanks!

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It'll take time to grow them out to larger size. They are fairly slow growers. It took mine almost a year to reach 4 inches. They will eat any meaty foods. I pretty much feed them what I feed my bichirs.
 
My two haven't grown significantly since I've had them and are around 4". What else is in the planted tank? I do 30 or 40 feeders (neons, whiteclouds or danios) for my 'cuda and the Ctenopoma knock back large quantities of them. So watch out for declining numbers of your small fish if the planted tank is a community of small fish.
 
mine is hitting over 5" now-really good fish and always reminds me of a grouper when it feeds. It gorges on prawn, cockles, bloodworms and squid. I don't know why but it never eats any form of fish. I was amazed recently to see it eating spirulina flake I gave to my silver dollars.
BTW to really pack the mass I feed it earthworms-this makes them grow. He eats until the bellies very protuded.
 
ahh earthworms. i will have to try that when he gets bigger. he is currently housed with 5 zebra danios and 2 clown loaches. The danios are all bigger than him so Im not worrying about him eating them any time soon.
 
mine is about 6" TL. it's been with me for four years. i got it when it was only about 1.5". i fed it when it was smaller mosquito larvae, daphnia and baby guppies. it is now housed with my upper jaw bichirs and eats what the others do; frozen krill and feeders.
 
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