Help with RopeFish

[PlatinumLeviathan]

So, I have two Rope fish, one is Male and one is Female, the Female is roughly 9-10 inches long, and then the Male is about 11-12 inches long.

They have never been active at all really, only rarely. They will be at night but i’ve Seen other people’s Rope fish SUPER active 24/7 and I was wondering if there was a way to get mine to be like that. I have a 55 Gallon tank with no agressive tankmates, the only semi-aggressive I have is an Opaline Gourami, and she’s very peaceful. Is there any reason my Rope fish aren’t active? They just hide or sit in a corner behind plants. I feed them live Ghost Shrimp only. I have a heater which keeps water at 78° and my PH is perfectly fine, just got my water tested. My filter is also pretty good, too. I’m not sure of the model / name of it, but I DO know that it filters all 55 Gallons 3x in a single day.

The image displayed is the tank they are living in.

 

[moe214]

How long have you had them? One thing to understand is different specimens have their own personality so yours can simply not be outgoing

 

[PlatinumLeviathan]

How long have you had them? One thing to understand is different specimens have their own personality so yours can simply not be outgoing

I have had my female for roughly 6 months and my male for about 3-4 months. It is odd that they both are pretty mellow though I believe.

 

[moe214]

Well that rules out it not being settled in. If you don't see anyone attacking them or pestering them then I'd say it's their personality

 

[kno4te]

Ropes are normally in the cover of vegetation. Likely doing what comes naturally. If they are acting normal and feeding as well then wouldn’t worry too much.

 

[magpie]

You might try some floating plants like water lettuce or pennywort - that might bring them out some more. I find that it calms fish. You also might work on hand-feeding them. It may be their personality, though. Adding another rope if you find one that is active (watch in the store) may also help.

As a side note, you should increase the variety in their food - a good carnivore pellet, and some chopped up silversides or tilapia here and there would be beneficial to them.

 

[PlatinumLeviathan]

You might try some floating plants like water lettuce or pennywort - that might bring them out some more. I find that it calms fish. You also might work on hand-feeding them. It may be their personality, though. Adding another rope if you find one that is active (watch in the store) may also help.

As a side note, you should increase the variety in their food - a good carnivore pellet, and some chopped up silversides or tilapia here and there would be beneficial to them.

The problem is that they don’t accept dead food, i’ve sat and watched, i’ve tried things like Mysis Shrimp blocks and everything that my local fish store suggested, the guy has 26 years of fish experience, so I trust him. I have constantly tried to feed them other meats, but they seem to only like killing and eating, and that’s only during the night due to being nocturnal.

I do now I have plants floating at the top. The female seems to enjoy the floating vegetation, the male doesn’t mind it really though. They still hide often though.

 

[magpie]

It's hard to do but you just have to stop feeding them live food. You can start with silversides/tilapia which are stinky. They will eventually eat - they won't starve themselves. All of the other rope owners on here that I know of in the poly subsection feed their ropes frozen meaty things and even pellets. You just have to be more stubborn than they are, and don't give in. And since they're used to live food only, it might take a while.

It will make it easier for you in the long run but also good for their longevity and health to get more variety.

You can do it!

With patience you can do this with them. I'm feeding silversides here.

twentyleagues

 

[PlatinumLeviathan]

It's hard to do but you just have to stop feeding them live food. You can start with silversides/tilapia which are stinky. They will eventually eat - they won't starve themselves. All of the other rope owners on here that I know of in the poly subsection feed their ropes frozen meaty things and even pellets. You just have to be more stubborn than they are, and don't give in. And since they're used to live food only, it might take a while.

It will make it easier for you in the long run but also good for their longevity and health to get more variety.

You can do it!

With patience you can do this with them. I'm feeding silversides here

twentyleagues

Thanks for the advice, but how should I go about doing so? I have other fish in the tank like Silver Dollars and Gourami’s, even an enormous loach that loves anything it can eat. They’ll eat the food before the rope fish, and I’m sure that i’ll spook the rope fish if I try to handfeed them. They aren’t 100% fond of hands really.

 

[magpie]

Some people will use tubes or tongs to bring the food to the bottom past the midwater fish.