Spotted Phagoborus !! Help please

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Geordie John

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 21, 2006
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North East England
Today I did what I shouldnt do. Drove around some LFS looking at their stock, for a fish fix and bought on impulse !!
Any how I spied some unusual pike shaped fish labled Spotted Phagoborus. Non of the staff could tell me anything about them and even tried (or said they did) google.There teeth were amazing and I had to know what the adult looked like so ended up with 2 .I lowered the water level by 4" to provide hiding places for 'them' amongst my plants ( looked like Bichir food ! putting the water into a quarantine tank.Already had some in + java fern.
Into my tank after climatizing and amazingly swam with my Hujeta who was interested and appeared confident with them. Hes 5" and they are 4".I took some photos and consulted my books and the web only to discover ,I believe ,that they are Phagoborus probably ornatus.Not recomended by any one. back down stairs and theres Hujeta with a tiny bit of tail left.Both things are now swimming in their own 2 ft tank now.
Would you recomend keeping them there for the time being or putting Hujeta in there .If they will live when larger with an Ornate Bichir and an armoured cat I may be happy (would they attack either of the two.
I have read these fish are called Tail eaters ! please could you offer advice and sorry to all and my fish for not doing my home work its not good to say 'I've got to have that fish !!
All the best,
G. John
N.B. Could any one also give a positive I.D. if i'm succesful uploading pictures.

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Really nice fish mate :thumbsup: They look like Phago maculatus to me, nasty little fish. Has the common name of African Pike characin or fin eater. They will attack the fins of anything you put in with them whether they are hungry or not, and will probably end up attacking each other as well. I would think that slow-moving fish like bichirs would be even more at risk to be honest. They don't get very big so they'll be ok in that tank, but I recommend only keeping one of them. Hope that helps. Oh, and nice to see a fellow Geordie on here (although I'm an adopted one).
 
Thanks Matty for getting back to me about the Phago. I hope these fellows can live with something else ! Though looks like they wont be happy together !
Congratulations on breeding your Channa .I read some of your threads.
Where in the North East do you find your fish ,can you recommend any shops with a good range. I usualy visit fish a live in durham and paddock farm nurseries.
I get up to gateshead at least once a month but would travel to a good shop.
All the best,
G. John.
 
Thanks GJ the channa are doing really well :D Shops in the NE is a bit of a tough one as you probably know yourself. I've never been as impressed with Fish Alive as many seem to be but maybe I've yet to catch it on a good day. I used to use Tom Halvorsen quite a bit until he stopped doing fish. Peter Barrat's garden centre in Gosforth has a good range off oddballs but the staff are clueless and the fish are kept on a centralised system and are often diseased. The only other shop I use frequently is Joe Hill Aquatics in Whitley Bay. It's a small shop but Neil who runs it is very friendly and can order most things in. Otherwise I travel :( Where/how good is Paddock Farm Nurseries?
 
The two species of Phagoborus (now Ichthyborus) have multiple horizontal stripes. Yours is a Phago boulengeri and is very similar to the Phago maculatus (now Phago loricatus) that I kept. Mine was psycho. It was just over 6" long and the day I put it in a 20g tank it killed about 30 guppies but only ate a couple. That night it damaged an 8" pleco so badly I had to kill the pleco. It had sliced off all it's fins and tail, blinded it, and ripped a small hole in it's belly that intestines poked out of. The Phago ended up in a 10g that was well planted but it was kept alone. In the wild Phagos feed by darting out of weed bed and ripping off pieces of fin from much larger fish including ATF. I would not trust them with anything other than themselves, preferably in a well planted tank. Mine would only take live food but in addition to guppies it did take crickets and meal worms. Oh, yeah, they max out a little under 7"
 
Cheers Matty,
Guess what ! They came from Peter Barrets in Stockton. Yep the staff never can tell you any thing.(They had a lovely Jardini 12" for 80 pounds labled as a pearl arowana and their bush fish were tempting but small and vunerable). Other wise just worth popping in for a look. Paddock farm is amazing, the two lads who are usualy there are very knowledgable and other than about 6 tanks of bread and butter fish every tank holds odd balls. loads of mature fish as well snake heads (morths also )Bichirs, Vampire tetra, Rays, Gobbies, Electric cats ,plecos, Perch and loads more . They are a water garden specialist and situated off the Darlington to northallerton road turn off for Croft race circuit then 2 miles exactly past the race track entrance.
All the best,
John
 
Thanks a lot Guppy for the information,I've just got in after a 24hr shift and found one of them dead ,fin less and missing an eye. I think I'll grow the remaining one on (out of curiosity and sell/pass it on. Could you give me some advice please I'm looking for a mid swimming odd ball the uglier the better but it has to live with an Ornate Bichir just over
10" which has eaten a 5" silver Arowana ,3x 4"silver sharks and a group of boeseman's Rainbows (thats what it was origionaly put in with) I've thought about a Dat. but the size I have seen would have to put on an inch or two.Would a 5"+ bush fish be O.K. I also have an armourd cat fish and a Hujeta (tailess) which is the only thing I can see in the tank without sitting for ages !
All the best,
G. John
 
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