My new Rope is acting weird

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dbcb314

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Jun 4, 2007
2,311
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Tallahassee
When I first got him in the tank, he was flipping out and swimming around all over the place. speakign of which.. they swim like a drunk driver drives loll

anyway, now he is just sitting in places and not moving at all. really really sluggish. I just put blood worms in the tank, and they landed all around him and he didn't even look at them.


he looks extremely healthy. good color and thick (for a rope fish) but the fact he didn't eat concerns me.

he has only been in the tank for 2 days. tankmates are african butterfly, 2 sens, african knife fish, and 4 leopard ctenopomas. its a 75 gallon tank.
 
They tend to be more active when in groups. I have 3 in my tank and they are all over the place. If he doesn't start acting normal, you might quarantine him and keep an eye on him closer.
 
new bichirs/ropes don't always eat right away.

If it looks normal, just give it time.

What else are you offering besides blood worms?
 
well... hes sitting upside down in the tank....

he looks dead... but I went to get him and he spazzed out swam in a circle and slammed right back down to the bottom... upside down

this isn't going to end good

and this is the worst part... he seems near death and if i wait til the morning their may be nothing left of him to take back to the lfs.

blah
 
so umm... hes still alive?????

does anyone have any idea what is going on lol? he is just sitting on his back looking dead.

there are 2 feeders in there with him but he doesn't seem interested at all. the swim up right next to him and he doesn't move. hell the only time he moves is when i get the net bc I think he is dead.
 
well i doubt anyone is interested, but I called the pet store that I got him from bc those dudes are actually knowledgable and stuff.

he said this may be a defensive mechanism... he is flipping on his back to try and "blend in" with the bottom on the tank. he says they sometimes do this to get away from the light but he said it is odd that he hasn't eaten any of the feeders.

so i am gonna move him back ot hte other tank and hope for the best. ther are still feeders to eat int here, ill try some blood worms later, adn i will steal some live black worms from the fish lab i work ina nd try those too
 
I've never heard of that defense mechanism before. I'd wait and see if anyone else here has. There is more knowledge on this board than most pet stores can dream of having.
 
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