Belonesox

[ghostshrimp101]

i was looking into a top dewelling fish and i came across some belonesox. can you give me any info about them i know they grow to be 15-18 in and are from the needle nose family of fish but what else should i know

 

[Colin_T]

they come from hard alkaline water with a bit of salt in. They jump and females get bigger than males. They eat things.
Belonesox belizanus only gets to about 8-10inches for females and less for males.

 

[helterskelter]

In the hobby you will not see the big fish, 8-10 max, but Dunchp has collected with fish getting over 16" i believe.
They will also eat any fish i try to keep with them.

I had a female 10" and 2 6" males, she ate one of them after a while
I tried them with a 6" gibby pleco and next day found it dead with a fresh bite make!!!!!!!!

They are very difficult to keep alive with out feeding live fish. mine would take shrimp if starved for 4-5 days and after a 10 days frozen fish, but this would not sustain them.

They also produce large amounts of fry if well feed!!!!!!

 

[nmonks]

To expand slightly on what Colin has said above, the main problem with Belonesox is that wild-caught specimens almost only take live foods. While they prefer feeder fish (such as guppies) this also includes earthworms, river shrimps and large insects. But even so, they are hard work to maintain because they eat a lot, easily 1-2 guppies per day, and when hungry, are cannibalistic.

Captive-bred specimens are increasingly available, and these will take frozen foods if correctly trained from birth. Problems occur if the retailer is lazy and gives them feeder fish; when that happens, getting them to take frozen foods again is very difficult. So when purchasing these fish, you MUST ask to see them being fed, and thereby confirm that they are taking frozen foods.

It's debatable whether they make good community fish. While they are not aggressive as such, their size (typically around 10 cm for males and 15 cm for females in aquaria) makes them risky when put with anything small. Larger, more active fish such as monos or scats could frighten them and would certainly steal any frozen food before the Belonesox had a chance to feed.

On balance, I'd consider them specialist fish for the single-species aquarium.

They are not from the needlenose family Belonidae. Their scientific name Belonesox is a combination of the Greek word "belone" that means "needle" and the Greek word "isox" that strictly speaking means "salmon" but is now related to the name Esox given to the pikes.

If you want something pike-like for a brackish water community, then a school of halfbeaks would make more sense. Dermogenys spp. are probably the easiest to obtain and keep, and tolerant of a range of salinities. Zenarchopterus aren't commonly traded, but are bigger (to around 20 cm) and more impressive. They are very nervous though, so can't be kept in boisterous communities, e.g., with scats or monos. They'd be fine with small gobies, flatfish and the like though.

Cheers, Neale

 

[ghostshrimp101]

thanks, i put no salt in my tank so half beaks wouldn't do i guess, i think i'm going to give them a go i found some small 3 in belonesox. i have a 50 gal with some black and lemon tetras, 2 rainbow sharks a paradise gouromi, small bichir and a small BGK. i know that is alot but as they grow i will be gettin a larger tank i would like to end up with a 150 g in a yr or two. that should give me some time to save up and the fish grow fairly slow although they do get fed really well

 

[nmonks]

Halfbeaks are fine without salt. At least, Dermogenys and Nomorhamphus are.

Belonesox are not even close to an option in the tank you have. They will everything in there, or in the case of the bichir, maul it. These "pike livebearers" are either [a] healthy and growing rapidly; or dying. If you don't have a tank set up for them NOW, please please please don't buy them. You have zero chance of looking after them, or your other fish, properly.

Cheers, Neale

thanks, i put no salt in my tank so half beaks wouldn't do i guess, i think i'm going to give them a go i found some small 3 in belonesox. i have a 50 gal with some black and lemon tetras, 2 rainbow sharks a paradise gouromi, small bichir and a small BGK. i know that is alot but as they grow i will be gettin a larger tank i would like to end up with a 150 g in a yr or two. that should give me some time to save up and the fish grow fairly slow although they do get fed really well

 

[helterskelter]

Ditto they will eat every thing!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They grow very fast.


Go with the livebearing halfbeaks as Neale states Dermogenys and Nomorhamphus, these do not need salt and will tolerate the fish u already have.

 

[ghostshrimp101]

thanks i'll look into the halfbeaks, i would like to add a couple of killi wonders but i would like something more flashy than the golden any suggestions?

 

[helterskelter]

have a look at the little clown killi.

Dont get any Nomorhamphus though as a large sish would easily eat a medium sized clown killi as their only small fish but have cracking colour's