Snakefish aggression/ living is a 2.5 gallon tank.

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Y

Younglin

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 17, 2010
1,936
2
0
34-24-36
My two snake fish have been buddies since I got them around 6 months ago. They were about 6 inches when I got them and now they are both about 10-11 inches. I noticed that as they got bigger they spent less time around each other and recently started staying away from each other entirely. Well I was feeding them some Tilapia and shrimp and they started nipping and fighting like crazy. The thicker one actually bit a chunk out of the thinner ones tail and kept chasing him. Is this normal for snakefish?

Now I'll get to the 2.5 gallon part. Because of the fighting and my fear of losing one of my most beloved fish, I had to move the smaller guy. I set up a 2.5 gallon tank for my newt who recently went MIA. So the tank has been sitting on my desk empty and I had no where else to put the little guy so I put him in the 2.5 gallon tank. Of course this is only temporary. When he heals up I am going to put him back in the big tank and hope for the best. If they keep fighting I will rehome the smaller one. What I found to be really interesting is that the snakefish likes to crawl onto the land section of the tank. and just chill out there. He seems totally calm and just sits on the rocks. I know they can breath air but is it normal for them to crawl onto land like this?
 
Are you talking about snakeheads?
If so wrong forum.

If you mean Polypterus, then seperating them only means the one left in the bigger tank will be able to set up a territory. This means the agression could well be worse once the other is introduced.

Either way, putting a Snakehead or a Polypterus in a 2.5gal is just not a good thing to do.

Post pictures, it will help a lot!
 
No I do not mean snakeheads lol. It is just a common name for Erpetoichthys calabaricus. Perhaps still the wrong forum though. I know they are related to polypterus but don't exactly count. Not sure where this should be lol. This isn't my pic but this is the same species.
rope+fish.jpg


And I know that they should not be in a 2.5 gallon. I HATE having him there but don't have anywhere else for him. He seems to be loving it though.
 
"Loving it"....

....Really?

Why not spend a few bucks if you feel so bad and get at least a slightly bigger tank?
 
I've never seen anything like that behaviour between any of my ropes. I've never had a land section in a tank with them, but I have read reports that they will crawl onto shore at night looking for worms and insects, so it should be pretty normal behaviour.
If yo have a decent sized tank, maybe adding a third ropefish will settle them all out. I've always kept at least three together.
 
i keep 4 rope in my bichir growout tank(55g) and have not seen any aggression from them.mine are all males tho, mabey you have a male and female and you are witnessing courting behavior?
 
....Really?

Why not spend a few bucks if you feel so bad and get at least a slightly bigger tank?
Click to expand...

Even if I did I don't have space to set it up. I'm doing 100% water changes every day on the little tank and the water is perfect. Plus he may not have swimming room but can stretch out. He will only be in here for 3 days tops.

I put a cricket on the land section and the rope crawled up real slow and ate it. Awesome to see. I read that you can count the fins to sex them so I'll try that. Ever since I removed the small one, the big guy in the other tank has been swimming like crazy back and forth.
 
So u mean rope fish. you'll definately need a bigger tank. 2.5 gallon? are u kidding me????
 
Like I said, it was temporary. He is back in his original tank and there doesn't seem to be any aggression now.
 
Haha glad it all work out.

I like the part where it crawls onto the land. That must have been really AWESOME to watch :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom