Wow. Thanks to all who have responded so far. I'm starting a notebook on ropefish now and planning on calling the LFS tomorrow to find out where their ropefish come from. This is also a good experience for my son as I tell him what I'm finding out about the fish. He is so excited. He has already picked a name for the first one we get. He wants it to be a female and wants to name it Polly.
Ropefish Care
- Thread starter g2orange
- Start date
nope i dont add salt to my water unless im dosing for ich or something but its been a long time since i've had that problem, i keep my temp steady 80* so ich isnt an issue.
I'm happy to say that we are the proud owners of a new 8 inch long ropefish. It's a male and my son named it "Tolly." He was the only one left in the LFS but we plan to get 1 or 2 more in about 2 weeks when the LFS gets more in. This fish is amazing and seems to love our driftwood, rock, sand and live plants setup. The tank chemistry seems to be doing well with ammonia and nitrites at zero, nitrates - 10, and ph about 7.2 (down from 7.6 before adding the malaysian driftwood) and the temp is 80. The tank had blue rocks, plastic plants and ornaments before I started getting it ready for a ropefish. I'm also running a new filter along side the old one. The new one is sized for a larger tank (up to 70gls). Little Tolly is very active at times during the day and night. The cutest thing with those two little fins right behind his head flapping. Tolly has a good appetite and eats 6 or 8 bloodworms twice a day. I'm afraid to feed him more. I'm going to try feeding him krill and clam soon. I'll also post pictures soon. My son is thrilled.
As i read somewhere in all of this.. "ropefish" are a subspecies of Bichir.. so I would def do some more research over in the Poly sub-forum. I"ve kept them before and had them often at work.. they are great fish to own. as tank-mates I would suggest a larger non-aggressive species for tank-mates. I would suggest adding 1-2 Senegal bichir as well... they are close cousins but are abit more out and about then the ropefish ime and it's just cute to see everyone piled up into a "bichir pile" They should readily take sinking pellets, I always fed my bichir sinking cichlid pellest as they are more balanced nutritionally then simple shrimp pellets and less stinky then frozen, as well as being more nutritinally sound. My bichir also loved a nightcrawler now and then ( a very healthy food as well). I would chop a big one up into a few peices and the fish went nuts.
I have had a ropefish, his name is Raphael, for several months and have had no problems at all.
He was about 6 inches when I got him. He is a little over a foot now.
He lives in a 55 gallon tank with 3 large Angels, named Cain, Cocaine and Jezebel. (I just love naming my fish).
Also, a pleco, (Methuselah), 3 bristle-nosed catfish (Larry, Moe and Curly) and a Whiptail Catfish (Captain Jack).
They have all lived peacefully together and I do regular water changes but don't really have to do much else.
Honestly, I very rarely siphon the gravel, perhaps every 3 to 4 months.
I handfeed Raphael dried tubiflex cubes and he comes to the top as soon as I walk into the room.
He was about 6 inches when I got him. He is a little over a foot now.
He lives in a 55 gallon tank with 3 large Angels, named Cain, Cocaine and Jezebel. (I just love naming my fish).
Also, a pleco, (Methuselah), 3 bristle-nosed catfish (Larry, Moe and Curly) and a Whiptail Catfish (Captain Jack).
They have all lived peacefully together and I do regular water changes but don't really have to do much else.
Honestly, I very rarely siphon the gravel, perhaps every 3 to 4 months.
I handfeed Raphael dried tubiflex cubes and he comes to the top as soon as I walk into the room.
I also read recently that they were brackish.
I was going to move my Angels to a 20 gallon tall and the other fish to a 20 long.
Then I was planning on turning my 55 into a brackish tank.
I was worried that he is in fresh water and that he would do much better in a brackish tank.
Sorry I have not be able to post pictures. I tried. But I keep getting a upload failure error. I'll keep trying.
Hi Eveready, I really like the names of your fish. Thanks for posting. And I've been confused about brackish water for a ropefish. Our LFS keeps salt in their freshwater, or so they say. I found more information that said they don't need brackish water than I found saying that they do. So I'm not putting salt in our 29gl.
Hi Eveready, I really like the names of your fish. Thanks for posting. And I've been confused about brackish water for a ropefish. Our LFS keeps salt in their freshwater, or so they say. I found more information that said they don't need brackish water than I found saying that they do. So I'm not putting salt in our 29gl.
Yeah, I was going through my books last night,(I have quite a collection), but I don't recall where I read it.
Now I am wondering if the writer may have been confusing them with being similar to eels.
Most of what I read says they are freshwater, but I can't find the one stating that they were brackish water.
I still want to do a brackish tank, but I don't think Raphael is going to be in it.
Now I am wondering if the writer may have been confusing them with being similar to eels.
Most of what I read says they are freshwater, but I can't find the one stating that they were brackish water.
I still want to do a brackish tank, but I don't think Raphael is going to be in it.
According to Fishbase, they do range into the mouth of a river in Nigeria where they encounter brackish conditions, so they probably could live in low-end brackish conditions, but they do perfectly fine in hard or acidic freshwater as well
