Rope Fish Stories

[Iron Buddha]

I have a love/hate relationship with ropefish..on one hand..they are amazing fish to have in the tank..you can have a lot of them and they are such eye catching odd balls. Now..on the other hand their ability to escape is unmatched and it's almost offensive..like.."dude.you hate it that much here?" lol ..understanding it's only natural but it leads to many stories..you guys can reply with some of your own.

I have a 55 gallon with ropes and other fish...I blocked off the back with some sort of plastic...I would often waste too much time trying to count them..the would hide so much I would fake myself thinking one was gone..looking all over for it...one day I decided not to do that..and just wait..it worked except for one time. I noticed one was missing so I waited and waited....and waited and almost forgot about him. one day I hear this weird knocking noise coming from the filter..i look in but I cant see much....but I figured its nothing. then I hear it again so I shine a light into the filter..and there he is...at the bottom of the filter...and he has been there for months!..he is even skinny...and weak...he probably have been filter feeding..i was like "you idiot!" ..but he got better and I blocked better lol.

 

[pjtmanzano]

Haha, so the stories are true about these escape artists

 

[Shopko]

I have 5 of them in a 120g. Largest is 18in. I have lost twice as many over the years. But I still still think they are cool and buy them when they show up in my LFS. I found that a glass cover and duck tape tends to keep these guys in the tank. They even make black duck tape that blends in to the background.

I have only been able to save one that escaped. He wasn't too dried out when I found him, and recovered in about a day. Although his color never darkened after that. He just stayed grey.

One more thing, if you do find one of your escapees dried up in the corner, don't throw it away. Just spray it with clear varnish, then you can keep it quite awhile longer, ....and freak out your friends. lol

Sent from my DROID RAZR using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

 

[BuffaloPolypteridae]

Mines literally always moving, sometimes stops to hang out in some floating plants. Loves to munch on worms, and honestly doesnt try to escape that much. never saw him try to get out other then when i was acclimating him in a 15 gallon tank right after he got out the bag. Hes an awesome fish though, i bought him figuring he would basically just be used for the red hi fin to push around instead of my bichirs, but he is awesome! Im glad i picked one up, seeing one cruising around with an FATF will be awesome haha cant wait for this weekend

 

[Aquaman_95]

I really like rope fish, and think that they're very unique. Yet, I have never kept any, so I cannot say whether I have experience of any escaping from me.

However, I have kept senegal bichirs, which are closely related, and never had a problem with them attempting to escape.

 

[BuffaloPolypteridae]

Mine just got in a tug o war with my red hi fin at their night feeding, lasted a solid minute of tugging each other around. I though that would end badly for the rope because its a red wolf fish, but the rope bit through and got his piece

Sent from my DROID4 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

 

[mikehagan]

All of 3 of mine have jumped from their 180. I dont think it has anything to do with tank size.

 

[BuffaloPolypteridae]

Wow I haven't had mine for long so I'mm pleasantly surprised with this guy, very interactive, always on the side of the tank I'm closest too, will hand feed worms, even thinks he can snag the worm out of my red hi fins mouth haha

Sent from my DROID4 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

 

[Dr.B]

I have 5 of them in a 120g. Largest is 18in. I have lost twice as many over the years. But I still still think they are cool and buy them when they show up in my LFS. I found that a glass cover and duck tape tends to keep these guys in the tank. They even make black duck tape that blends in to the background.

I have only been able to save one that escaped. He wasn't too dried out when I found him, and recovered in about a day. Although his color never darkened after that. He just stayed grey.

One more thing, if you do find one of your escapees dried up in the corner, don't throw it away. Just spray it with clear varnish, then you can keep it quite awhile longer, ....and freak out your friends. lol

Sent from my DROID RAZR using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

i am interested to see this one any pics?

 

[witchking]

I had this acrylic screentop specially made for them. No room for escapes unless they drill a freaking hole through the plastic acrylic & screen. hehe

Or unless i left the feeding area uncovered. Until then no horror stories from me :\