Rope fish doing great!

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Congrats on the new fish arriving safely! They are gorgeous, and I'm sure they'll colour up some as they settle in, then more as they mature. Especially when eating all the live food you've been planning! They'll love that.

I really like the anubius too, do you know what type it is? I'm always looking out for more plants I want to get!

 

[jaylach]

Congrats on the new fish arriving safely! They are gorgeous, and I'm sure they'll colour up some as they settle in, then more as they mature. Especially when eating all the live food you've been planning! They'll love that.

I really like the anubius too, do you know what type it is? I'm always looking out for more plants I want to get!

I'm not positive but think the plant is an Anubias Afzelli.

Hard for the fish to not get here safely as Dan's Fish is right next to my apartments. I wish they did plants and hardware but they just do fish and only fresh water at that. They are too small right now for meal worms but I might try cutting up an earth worm. I'll also pick up Hikari small cichlid pellets. I always had good luck with Hikari in the past with cichlids.

 

[jaylach]

LOL! One of the beasties found an earth worm that had gotten into the substrate. The worm was probably half again the length of the fish. Took it a good ten minutes but it got it down. Others have been doing fine with freeze dried tubifex worms. Since I've already fed the tank it won't be tonight but I will be cutting up an earth worm now and then.

I may have been wrong on them being too small for meal worms. This is going to sound made up but I swear it is true. I dropped in a meal worm for my rope and two cichlids found it before it hit the bottom each latching to an end. LOL! It was like a tug-a-war. They were both eating it and literally met in the middle mouth to mouth. I guess the worm finally broke and the fish went on their merry way. So, as with earth worms, I may be cutting up meal worms.

I got four of the beasties and, of course, I've been watching a lot. I would think them too juvenile and new to the tank but they have seemed to have already paired. Probably just coincidence but they seem to be swimming in pairs a lot, not always but a lot. While not likely it is not impossible that they have paired as they were in the same tank at Dan's Fish and are from the same breeding. Be a trip if I happened to get two males and two females. No, I don't think they are dating or anything but seems odd that they are swimming a lot in pairs. While I've had several cichlids in the past I've never had a population of four before except for convicts. LOL! I'm allowed my fantasies.

BTW, I went back to wetplants.com and it does look like the Anubias is an Anubias Afzelli.

 

[jaylach]

To add on to my last post...

Sorry to go on and on but I guess that I am suffering from new fish syndrome. Hey, trust me, it is a real thing.

These cichlids are a type I've never kept and seem a bit different than those that I have experience. They are really quite fascinating.

It is already obvious that they will dig substrate to hunt. For the second time in the first day a cichlid has dug in the substrate and pulled out an earth worm. Both worms were alive. Either earlier in this thread or another I mentioned earth worms burrowing into the substrate. I researched and the results looked like such a worm can live a long time in an aquarium. Since the cichlids have dug and pulled two such worms out that were alive I guess the point is proven.

Clyde, my rope fish, has met the cichlids. Spent more time in the open than normal for a while sometimes swimming toward a cichlid. When this happened the cichlid would shy away a bit but didn't flee like it was really afraid, just getting out of the way. Clyde seemed to sense that the cichlids were no threat and went on to ignore the beasties just the same as he did with my Panda Garras. Clyde is the king of the tank and seems to know it. Checked out the new additions and found them too big to eat and no threat so ignored. LOL! Why would the king bother with the peons?

Sorry for all the rambling but I really am fascinated by these new critters. They are just acting different from cichlids I've had in the past.

 

[Kyshiara]

New beasties are in the tank. Of course they disappeared in the plants immediately but it only took about an hour and a half before they started checking things out. They will gain color as they mature. I love that Anubias to the right of the cichlid in the front.

View attachment 168295

Oh WOW!

 

[jaylach]

Oh WOW!

OH WOW! is right followed by a BIG GRUMBLE...

Three times today I had to dig my rope fish out of the tank's filter chambers but I fixed him good. For a temporary remedy I folded up an unused dish towel and put it between the top edge of the wall that separates the main tank from the filter chambers and the hood. That should stop him!

For a permanent solution I have a bit of foam rubber weather stripping. I'll cut it to the length of each chamber then cut a slot part way through so it can slide over the separation wall. I could just glue it in place but going with a slot will allow for easy removal. I just want to do a really good cleaning on the weather stripping before doing, hence the towel for now. LOL! A thought just hit me... Give me enough ""rope"" and I'll hang myself.

Actually I'm not really grumbling as I think it funny. Ropes ARE known to be escape artists.

I'm amazed by my cichlids! I knew it was likely that they would eat bladder snails but I had no clue they would go through them so fast. In one and a half days the snail population is almost gone. There are still some small ones on a few plants and my driftwood but I can't see a single one on the glass. Prior to the cichlids the snail population was to the point that I was cleaning some out every few days. I hope that the cichlids don't totally wipe out the snail population as I'd like some in the tank for free fish food and also I kinda sorta like the little beasties. Also, if all the snails are gone what would the cichlids use as popcorn when we're watching movies?

 

[jaylach]

I keep getting delayed as to blocking the filter chambers with the foam rubber as I'm as sure as I can be that that will prevent the rope from getting to the filter chambers. The temporary folded towel thing failed as the beastie got through it. I have no idea as to how but he did but he managed.

I don't really know why he seems to like the filter chamber so much but he does. I think it MAY be the vibration from the pump. Ropes have poor eye sight and rely mostly on smell and vibrations from the movement of possible prey to hunt. I wonder if he could be attracted to the pump's vibration.

 

[jaylach]

Now I'm totally rethinking all this with blocking the filter chambers. The pump isn't strong enough to hurt or trap him and what harm can he do in the ceramic chamber?

It isn't like he gets in a chamber and stays forever. He goes in and out. Mayhaps he is using it as a cave as my cichlids have sort of taken over part of the tree trunk that was his previous cave of choice. Prior to getting the cichlids he would get in the filter chambers occasionally but now it is constant. I really can't see where it is causing any harm.

 

[jaylach]

Rope was back in his old cave yesterday evening so I used the foam weather stripping to totally block access to the filter chambers. I mean there is a solid foam rubber wall between the wall for the filter chambers and the tank's hood. I mean I cut slightly over sized to compress and slotted to mount on the separation wall. It is a solid wall with zero openings larger than what I needed for the air lines and power cord for the heater.

Sigh, today the rope is in the pump chamber again.... None of the foam rubber is out of place yet he still got through. Other than where I mounted the foam there is no access to the filter chambers; there just isn't. I could get some window screen frame or the like that has a tight slot to mount which would mean that there would be no possibility of the beastie using his body to compress foam to get through but I'm not going to do so. Yes, it is possible that he could push and compress the foam rubber to get through as this fish is more muscle than anything.

The tank is the home of the fish and I'm just a voyeur looking through the window. If he wants so badly to go back and forth between the main tank and the filter chambers who am I to say no? After all it is his house, not mine, and there is nothing in the filter chambers that he can hurt or can hurt him.

 

[jaylach]

Since I gave up on trying to keep my rope out of the filter chambers we are getting along much better. The other day he was half in and out of the pump chamber with his body just resting across the separation wall. While I don't think this is real but it almost seemed like here I am and what are you going to do about it? I went and grabbed a meal worm and held it in his face. He took it. That is a major thing in that he took food directly from my hand. He then actually let me pet the top of his head for a moment but then seemed to realize that he was testing me and took off.

In the same day having my rope take food from my hand and also allowing me to touch is a major thing. Ropes are a special kind of fish and love human interaction as long as you let it happen on their terms.

My Panda Garras also seem to have this kind of attitude. While I wish I had a photo shot I've not had the chance of catching a panda chewing on my hand but they will do so.

Some people just want fish to be pretty and look good but, if you want actual interaction, I can't see a better combination than a rope and Pandas.

I have four Panda Garras, 4 dwarf cichlids and an 8 inch rope. They just seem to have figured out the dominance. The rope being about 8 inches long could not care less about the 1.5 inch Pandas or cichlids so just does what it wants. Neither the Pandas or cichlids are even close to a threat. Oddly the Pandas and cichlids seem to enjoy playing with each other. This is largely due to the Pandas being like a small dog that thinks it's the biggest. Panda Garras are playful and seem to consider any other fish in the tank something to pester. Oddly the rope and cichlids seem just fine with this and I've seen no aggression. Well I DID see some dominance aggression between a couple of the cichlids where they would lock jaws but even that seems to have been worked out and I no longer am seeing the dominance strutting and all the cichlids feed together without issue.

I would LOVE to be able to say that I am smart enough to have known how well these fish would get along but that would be a lie. Ya, I researched as to if they could be in the same tank but not so much as to how well they would interact. While my choices were with consideration on interaction I think I just got lucky on my choices. Hey, a rope is a rope and just wants to do its thing so really doesn't enter into the community aspect. I mean a rope is quite happy in a community but don't mess with.

What I really mean is the Pandas and cichlids. Chichlids being what they are tend to be aggressive by nature. Mine are more docile than most but still on the aggressive side. My Panda Garras could not care less about the cichlids wanting to be dominate and just do their thing which includes picking on the cichlids.l

Boils down to where the Pandas chase the cichlids and the cichlids chase he pandas. Neither causes any damage and it is really like they are playing tag. The rope just ignores both and does what it does. Actually the rope has decided that the pump chamber for my built in sponge filtration is his personal cave. I REALLY tried to block his access to the filter chambers but gave up as he got through any blockage I came up with. I figure it is like he can't hurt the pump and the pump can't hurt him so why bother. He is happy with this and does come out of the chamber to swim around and feed so where is there any problem?


I got lucky in that I really like all the fish I have and they all get along really well. The Pandas can be a pest at times as they are just constant motion. The other fish just really don't seem to mind. The Pandas are like Dori in Finding Nemo, they really are.

 

[jaylach]

I swear light off time for my tank is one of my favorites!, My rope fish (Clyde) comes out then. I mean he comes out during light hours but a rope is naturally a nocturnal critter. When it gets dark with just the room lights as ambient Clyde takes over the tank. He just goes nuts weaving in and out of plants and feeding.

It is sort of a shadow tank time and I love it!

 

[jaylach]

Just figured that I'd give a Clyde (rope fish) update...

He is now very seldom in the tank's pump chamber and is quite active in the tank even with the lights on. While ropes are naturally pretty nocturnal they adapt easily to a lighted environment with no issue as they are half blind anyway. Well, mayhaps, not half blind but fairly poor sight.

I think that thinking back I now know why the rope spent so much time in the tank's pump chamber. The rope and Panda Garras went in the tank within a day of each other so were both figuring out the new environment. At this time the rope would go in the pump or ceramics chambers but not all the time. He (don't know why I always say he as I have no idea as to gender but they are always a 'he' to me ) He only started spending most of the time in the chambers after I introduced the Smile Dwarf Cichlids.

I really think that Clyde saw the cichlids as a threat as they are more aggressive predators than he and went into hiding. Both are predators but the rope is much more passive. It seems that enough time has gone by that Clyde is no longer concerned about the cichlids and has decided they are no threat so has come out of hiding.

I REALLY should dig out the tripod for my camera and do a video of him being his normal miniature sea serpent self.

 

[Kyshiara]

Just figured that I'd give a Clyde (rope fish) update...

He is now very seldom in the tank's pump chamber and is quite active in the tank even with the lights on. While ropes are naturally pretty nocturnal they adapt easily to a lighted environment with no issue as they are half blind anyway. Well, mayhaps, not half blind but fairly poor sight.

I think that thinking back I now know why the rope spent so much time in the tank's pump chamber. The rope and Panda Garras went in the tank within a day of each other so were both figuring out the new environment. At this time the rope would go in the pump or ceramics chambers but not all the time. He (don't know why I always say he as I have no idea as to gender but they are always a 'he' to me ) He only started spending most of the time in the chambers after I introduced the Smile Dwarf Cichlids.

I really think that Clyde saw the cichlids as a threat as they are more aggressive predators than he and went into hiding. Both are predators but the rope is much more passive. It seems that enough time has gone by that Clyde is no longer concerned about the cichlids and has decided they are no threat so has come out of hiding.

I REALLY should dig out the tripod for my camera and do a video of him being his normal miniature sea serpent self.

Great for the update!
That's good that he isn't in the filter anymore

 

[jaylach]

Great for the update!
That's good that he isn't in the filter anymore

Oh, he still goes in the pump and ceramics chambers now and then, just not often.

 

[jaylach]

Finally got some almost decent shots of Clyde. You can see why I consider them to be miniature sea serpents if you look close at the photos which will show the dorsal ridges and horns above the mouth. If I'm not mistaken the 'horns' are actually sensory organs as these beasties hunt more by smell and vibration than sight.

Another thing I find interesting is that ropes can make sounds which they use to scare off predators. This ability is likely due to their having lungs along with gills.

Anyway, the images.