Normal Ropefish Behavior?

[myfeesh]

Hi! I got some rope fish recently and I'm really crazy about them. I adore their little snake faces and their tiny flappy pectorals. I did a lot of research before buying them, but now that they're here I'm looking for advice from people who have actually kept them. I want to make sure they're healthy and happy.

Some background:

One I've had for about two months, and I really never saw her until now. (I have no basis for the sexing, they're not still enough for me to count anything. I just look at them and get a 'he' feeling and a 'she' feeling. Idk.) She's about 10" and doesn't have a name yet. I honestly wasn't even sure if she was still alive. The last few days I came out in the morning to turn the lights on and found her sleeping in the floating plants, a nice surprise. She wakes up and slithers back into the 'forest.' Yesterday I saw her swimming a bit, and today she's being very active, coming out in the open and swimming around. I'm a little concerned because this is new, and she seemed to do a sort of head twitch a few times that I didn't like, although I may be imagining it. But her movements are mostly languid.

The 'male' I've had for about two weeks, also no name yet. He's a little smaller, maybe 8", from a different store. He was very active from the start but in a sort of pacing way, spending all day swimming back and forth, up and down, on one side of the tank. If I toss bloodworms in his direction he will usually take a few mouthfuls and then retreat or go back to pacing. The last couple days he switched tank sides, and seems to have calmed down a little.


I've never seen the larger fish feed, I have no idea what she eats. The smaller one I've seen eat bloodworms, but nothing else. I provide omega one flakes and a mix of of omega one and hikari pellets (shrimp, carnivore, and mini) every day. I also put in live or frozen food every day, bloodworms, cyclops, brine shrimp, mosquito larvae, alternating. I put in 50 to 100 ghost shrimp a week, not sure who all is eating them but they disappear quick. I also have a lot of livebearers in there so there is usually a good amount of fry and small fish in the mix.

Their tank is 180 gallons, planted. Last week I was able to really increase the amount of plants in the tank, I'm wondering if this accounts for the behavior changes. I'm going to keep adding more as I can afford to. This is my first giant tank. Water parameters are consistent. No nitrite or ammonia, nitrate is 10, usually fluctuates between 10 and 20ppm.

So after ALL that, I have a few questions.

What behavior is normal for them? What does it mean if they're out a lot or hiding a lot?

As they grow, will they stay eating the foods I'm raising them on, or will they go after bigger and bigger fish?

I read that they prefer to be in groups, I was going to at least get a third one. What do you think a good number is? How many do you keep, and do they interact? I haven't seen the two meet yet.

What are some signs of illness or distress, aside from obvious physical changes?

They are both out and about right now, I tried to get a picture of both but it's not a good one. One is on the far right, one at the far left, both on top.

Thank you so much for taking the time! I appreciate any advice you have.

 

[Uglyknob]

I'll preface this with: I am certainly no expert and only offering wildly subjective opinions and anecdotes.

I have two ropefish in a 200. One is male and the other is female, which I base loosely on sexing bichirs (the male has a muscular anal fin and the female's is smooth to the body).

They hide and rest depending on what mood they are in and how hungry they are. My female will go to the top and eat flake food, while the male won't bother with it. Neither bother with blood worms or dead shrimp. They both love sinking carnivore pellets and will race to snatch them before Princess Buttercup, our Delhezi, vacuums them up. They have a hole in some very large driftwood that they hang out in together, but they are often found prowling around the bottom of the tank or hanging out in the plants. They rarely swim together, as often swimming with the Delhezi as each other, but they usually sleep/rest together.

I lost a rope fish to a weird twitching thing that pretty much flared up overnight and they were gone the next day. Jerking around the tank. Probably some kind of parasite? Don't know. No other fish has been effected since. My male ropefish got some kind of swim bladder malfunction. He was floating and could swim to the bottom, but his butt would try to bring him back to the top. Everything I read about that seemed grim, so I just scared him to the bottom to get him to move anytime I saw him at the top. I'd just grab his tail (lightly) and he'd rush to the bottom. He would do it so quickly, that I'd get an air bubble or two out of him every time. Eventually, he was fine... either form the natural course of things, or because I unnecessarily terrified him every hour or so.

I'm having a hard time seeing what is going on at the top of your tank, but rope fish can and will jump for it. My male made it through my netting and got 5' from the tank the other day before we noticed him. Thankfully, he was still damp, and he was pissed for a day or so, but he is fine now.

Hope all of that rambling helps.

 

[Zanzag]

When you got them were they quarantined? I read a lot of people posting that ropes often need an antiparasitic treatment.

 

[Uglyknob]

When you got them were they quarantined? I read a lot of people posting that ropes often need an antiparasitic treatment.

I quarantine all of my fish, but I don't treat unless I see signs of infection/disease. Both of my current fish went through a heat treat cause they were in quarantine with other fish that brought in ICH. The one that died went too fast between symptoms and death - nothing I could have done, I don't think.

 

[myfeesh]

...
Hope all of that rambling helps.

Thank you, it does! I'm glad to hear you were able to fix your little guy, I'll remember that if I ever come across those symptoms (reading other threads it seems somewhat common).

The top of the tank is covered with heavy glass panels, any gaps for wires etc are surrounded by tape and has lights on top, so escape is pretty much impossible, of course I don't doubt they might test me. When I got the first fish I actually bought two. The tank was still cycling but I was so excited the store had some I bought them anyway and put them in a smaller tank for a bit, I thought I had it plugged pretty well but one lifted the plastic cover and escaped, I found him too late .

I would love to see them sleeping together, any type of interaction would be awesome.

 

[myfeesh]

When you got them were they quarantined? I read a lot of people posting that ropes often need an antiparasitic treatment.

I quarantinened the first one, not exactly intentional but her tank wasn't ready so I had her in a smaller one until I was satisfied it had finished cycling. I just mentioned in another reply that I got two at that time and one escaped and died. When I got the second one I put him right in the display tank, I think it's the only one secure enough.

 

[myfeesh]

I just posted about wanting to see them together, walked out into the living room and got my wish!