I want to know if I could keep one after my columnaris clears up. Would they get along with an angelfish? Penguin tetras? Cory cats? They'd probably eat danios and white clouds, right?

Thanks,
Stu

Rope fish are not aggressive at all. But like all predatory fish they will eat anything that will fit into their mouth...including fish.

Consider ropefish a picky eater. In our experience, these guys seem to prefer live worms – tubifex, earthworms, blood worms, or glassworms. Ghost shrimps also make tasty snacks. They also like the frozen versions. After thoroughly inspecting them, they eagerly eat smaller chunks of nightcrawlers. (Snip them with scissors.) They also eat frozen brine shrimp and any fish they can catch after you turn the lights off. They will eat frozen beef heart and other formula foods. They will not eat flake foods – regardless of brand. Most learn to eat sinking cichlid pellets. Last but not least, they also enjoy ghost shrimp, rosy reds, and neon tetras. Large ropes will eat swordtails.

rope fish are poor Competitors. You drop their food in the water and all the other fishes eat it before your ropefish even knows it’s feeding time. They just sit there looking unbright. (Because they are.) Put their food in right before you hit the sack. Once you turn off their lights, your ropefish has an advantage. They can smell the food. They “bump” it a few times before gulping it down. That’s why it’s amazing they can catch live fishes. Must catch them while they snooze. We occasionally see them hit fast -- like a bass.

Poor Mixers. Faster fishes eat their lunch. Larger fishes intimidate them. Rougher fishes bully them unmercifully. Ropefish have absolutely no way to fight back other than running and hiding. Luckily they have those tough ganoid scales. And since they eat small fishes on the night shift, you need to mix these guys carefully. Gouramis make a good mixer. Swords and moons tend to disappear.

I suggest you keep them in a separate tank.

Well, like I mentioned I'd keep him in with just the angel (which he couldn't eat) and cories, which I think are too big. The rest he could eat. I'd just buy like 10 ghost shrimp, and when he'd eat them all I'd buy more. I'll check with more people, see what happens, and maybe I'll end up buying one. Who knows.

It's been my personal experiance that Ropefish are not really as picky as some would have you believe. Mine would hit anything that made it to the bottom of the tank. They will also be very active during the daytime as long as they have a "safe" retreat available to them. After just a few months mine would perk right up and pace the tank whenever I walked in the room.

I believe it's all in how your tank is set up and how comfortable the Rope is with it's environment. Good luck!

AAO

I totally agree :) :up: