will i ever see my rope fish again

[karrihug]

it is so hard to get my husband interested in my fish. a few weeks ago i dragged him with me to the lfs and he fell in love with a ropefish. we brought it home and put it in my 210 and it was all over the place all evening. apparently as soon as we went to bed he found a hole and escaped.

well after waiting about a month they finally got in more rope fish. this time i bought 2. stopped and got plastic canvas and have covered all possible routes of escape. they chased and played all evening, and found a nice hollow in the driftwood. and now as far as i can tell they never come out. i am concerned that they are not eating. they hide in the wood and the other little piggies in the tank won't leave anything for them later.

will they ever come out of thier hidey hole? there is nothing in the tank small enough for them to eat, and when i feed anything they might be interested in it doesn't last long enough for them to get any. should i feed so much that something gets left behind don't want a nasty rotting mess please help.

 

[samsung-401]

I had the same problem with my rope fish. It depends on what kind of food you feed them. They will go for fish flakes but only if they are starving. The only things my rope fish would eat were blood worms, beaf heart, frozen brine shrimp, and living (clean) earthworms. I would try some of those foods. As soon as your rope fish get the smell of one of those foods they will go crazy trying to eat them. They are also nocturnal, so when you feed them you might want to turn off the lights. If your rope fish don't eat any of those of those foods, I would try some very small feader fish.

 

[Dwarfs]

Mine usually only comes out after a water change. I feed him/her the canned shrimp by the tuna section in the food store. I would feed yours after the lights are out, they should be able to find the food then. I wouldn't recommend feeders, they aren't healthy and the ropefish should definitely eat the dead foods recommended here I would seriously try the canned shrimp, I usually microwave it and them freeze it. It gives off a strong smell, making it easy for the ropefish to find We get ours for around $2 a can

 

[karrihug]

thank you for your replies. i will try blood worms again tonight, but wait till after the lights are out. do they like to eat from the surface or bottom? i could probably get some chopped up shrimp to fall right around where they would come out. most of my piggies are too busy looking for crickets and flakes at the surface to check the substrate till later.

 

[samsung-401]

do they like to eat from the surface or bottom?

They are definatley bottom feeders.

 

[Dwarfs]

Mne has come up for freeze dried krill, but only once

 

[beblondie]

Dwarfs: Nice senegal

Karrihug: ropefish like many members of the Polypteridae family are at best crepuscular at most nocturnal predators feed them just before you turn off the
lights. Bloodworms are good for them ,you can try sinking carnivore pellets -Anne

 

[Dwarfs]

I forgot to ask, What are you keeping them with?

 

[karrihug]

they are in my 210 with the following fish
1 gold severum
1 green severum
2 jurapuri geophagus ( i know that is not the correct name anymore)
2 bp(who spawn every 2 weeks, no babies though)
1 turquois rainbow (who must move soon, everybody is getting to much bigger than him)
1 african butterfly
2 rainbow sharks
1 blue gourami
1 honey gourami
1 pictus cat
1 common plec(my scoobie, he is why we got the 210)

it is still a work in progress. lots of bogwood and lots of plants. my uv sterilizer came in yesterday. been having algea issues and figure on a tank this big i don't want ich or anything.

they finally came out last night. not sure if they actually got any bloodworms or not, but at least we got to see them. tonight i will chop a couple of jumbo shrimp for them. the others like it but if i put in flake first they will allstay at the surface chasing that till its gone.

edited to add gouramies. it is 5 am and i knew i was forgetting something )

 

[samsung-401]

All of those fish are fine. Accept that plecos have been know to suck on the slime coat of rope fish. So I would watch out for your pleco. Other then that all of your fish are fine.

 

[karrihug]

they like ghost shrimp. they came out in the middle of the day today and ate ghost shrimp with the other fish