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Has anyone had experience with this fish? I am considering adding one to my 55? The specimen I have found is still a juvenile and down the road would be placed in a larger tank.

When alone, this fish can be a really nippy pain in the butt. I had one at like 3" and it chased around 6" Balas and became the boss of the tank. Basically this fish isn't for little old peaceful community aquariums.

I am told that when kept in groups, like Tiger Barbs, aggression is limited among conspecifics. I'm not sure if it's true, but it's a possibility.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Ah, Leporinus.

The entire Genus is composed of large, torpedo shaped Characoids (Leporinus fasciatus itself reaches 12 inches, and Leporinus frederici reaches a whopping 20 inches!) that possess certain salient features. These are;

[1] They are shoaling fishes, which prefer to be in a group of at least 6, which means they place BIG demands on space - six 12-inch plus fishes need a LARGE aquarium;

[2] They are extraordinarily tough, capable of surviving a very wide range of water chemistry parameters;

[3] They are herbivorous, and will destroy most aquarium plants with considerable relish once they get a taste for them, so feeding with greenstuff on a regular basis is a must;

[4] They can be snappy, bad tempered and in some cases downright vicious toward other fishes, and because of this, are used as dither fishes for big Cichlids, because if the Cichlids cut up rough, the Leporinus are capable of biting back!

[5] They are rocket propelled jumpers - to say that they are ICBMs with fins is no exaggeration, as even a small specimen can leap over six feet when it is so minded, and a large Leporinus frederici taking an aerial excursion will have an mpact upon landing in the living room similar to a small mortar shell!

Leporinus generally mix well with big Cichlids, large Barbs that are too fast for them to catch and nip, well-armoured large Plecs and Doradid catfishes. They are NOT good companions for slow moving, nervous or shy fishes, which they will bully incessantly. They will take sly nips at the flowing fins of Bettas and Angel Fishes, and to give you an idea of how rough and tumble they can be, will hold their own alongside large Green Terrors, Festaes and Black Belt Cichlids. Basically, Leporinus are bad boys that should only be housed with fishes that are similarly aggressive, or fishes that are too fast for them to catch. Also, keep those bad boys covered, because their propensity for launching themselves into near earth orbit has to be seen to be believed - the venerable Innes book has a wonderful account that illustrates not only their aerial prowess, but their toughness too. In this anecdote, Innes cites one specimen that leaped obliquely upwards a distance of 5 feet, which came down to land in a marine aquarium at a different temperature from its original quarters. Several hours later, it was still very much alive, and was returned to its own freshwater aquarium by the staff of the public aquarium facility, none the worse for the experience.

So, they're big, tough as old boots, capable of behaving like hardcore criminals and not only surviving, but prospering alongside big Guapotes and other Central American Cichlid terrorists. If you're thinking of getting some of these, make sure you have a BIG aquarium to put them in and a willingness to become a wide receiver when they perform their 'touchdown bombs'!

On the plus side, some of them are very attractively marked and surprisingly colourful for big fishes. But watch those sly, nippy, bullying tendencies like a hawk, even alongside other tough fishes - they've been known to pick fights with Oscars!


Last edited by Calilasseia at 15-Dec-2005 21:27

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I have one in my cichlid tank. That tank used to contain 4 Firemouths (about 4 inches long), a 5" pictus cat, and a 5" redtail shark as well as some Buenos Aires tetras. As the leporinus grew (it is now about 8" long), it killed the shark, the cat, and then the firemouths one by one. It apparently can't catch the tetras. I replaced the firemouths with convicts, and they are holding their own just fine.

Bottom line: attractive fish, but NASTY. Put it in with big nasty tankmates.

i see them more and more at lfs, ave size about 4 inches for around 6 dollars.

i saw some at the boston public aquarium, and i was shocked to see the size, some were maybe 14 inches or around there. thats why i dont long have a desire to have them.

I have a pair of these guys in my 300 gallon S.A. tank. They are very active, but not aggressive towards tankmates. I bought them when they were about 2 inches long. They went into a well established tank of Severums, Eartheaters and Clown Loaches. They are now 7-8 inches long and are larger than all but the biggest Sevs. Still, they do not harass the smaller fish, nor do they nip the long, trailing fins of my Red-headed Eartheaters. This could be due to variables in temperment as much as differences in the regions in which they swim.
Also, although they are supposed to be herbivores, mine greadily take crickets and ghost shrimp.

Dolf, these Eartheaters - are they big Satanoperca species?

There's a possibility their wild ranges overlap. And the Satanoperca Cichlids should grow big enough to keep the Leporinus from entertaining any unwelcome thoughts about nipping fins.

Also, it doesn't surprise me that one would wipe out a group of Firemouths. Firemouths tend to be relatively well-behaved by Cichlid standards, whereas Leporinus are FAR better suited to the likes of Dempesys and beyond. The Convicts are probably too nimble for the Leporinus to catch, and in any case the striped colour scheme probably helps if they're sharing a home with a Leporinus fasciatus.

Among the others worth looking for is Leporinus nigrotaeniatus, the Half-Line Leporinus. Again, big (expect 12 inches plus), sneakily aggressive and does best in a group. Capable of surviving alongside psychotic Festaes!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Calilasseia-
My eartheaters are smaller geophagus. A pair of labiatus and a mated pair of sp. "Rojas". The only time there is a problem with them and the Leporinus is when the eartheaters are guarding eggs. Even then, the Leporinus tend to get the worst of it while trying to filtch the nest.

Ah ... interesting!

I notice you mention that the Leporinus shows considerable interest in the Cichlid spawn. Would not surprise me in the least on the basis of this to discover that one reason they're tough is that they do this in the wild - steal Cichlid eggs and fry. One fish that has already been documented as doing this by none other than Juan miguel Artigas Azas (of Cichlid Room website fame alongside Dr Paul Loiselle) is Astyanax mexicanus, which actually makes part of its living stealing Guapote eggs and fry. A fish that can do that has to be tough!

However, Leporinus also show a lot of interest in plant matter if they're given the temptation, so a rounded diet is needed to keep them happy.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

My convicts had a spawn a couple of months ago. They successfully defended the fry for about a week after hatching until they lost interest or gave up. The parents had the fry out in the open, too (above the surface of a flat 8" rounded river rock); the Leporinus and tetras were kept clear at the other end of the tank, and the male convict drove out anybody who even approached their end of the tank, much less the fry. I decided not to harvest the fry as I have no room to grow them out right now.