# african spotted leaf fish?



## Aquarius Keeper

I saw this adorable little spotted fish cowering in a bala shark tank at petsmart today, and it saw me, and it was love at first sight - it swam toward me and seemed to beg me to take it home.

But I was good and resisted my overwhelming desire to own this fish. I went home and googled it and learned nothing, except that it's an unknown quantity in mainstream fishlore.

Petsmart says they rarely come through the store - they say they get to 4" and are semi-aggressive but I don't really trust corporate petstore employees about anything...

I *really* want to buy this fish tomorrow. Does anybody know anything about it??

Thanks!

Jonathan


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## iamntbatman

I've done a bunch of research on this fish, as I eventually want one or more of them myself. The scientific name is Ctenopoma acutirostre. They're an anabantid related to gouramis. They get to about 6" in length. They prefer softer water with a slightly acidic pH, although I'm sure it would easily adapt to most conditions. Generally they're supposed to be pretty hardy.

As for behavior and care: they get to about 6" and are *very* predatory. Some people feed them flake and pellet but many others devote a tank full of breeding livebearers to provide a steady source of live food. Their mouths are much, much bigger than they look and as such they shouldn't be housed with any fish smaller than they are. However, they're fairly timid so you also can't house them with big boisterous cichlids. They do best in heavily planted tanks with subdued lighting. I think a single fish would do ok in a 29g tank, with bigger tanks being needed for more fish. Some people report that they get along well together, but it seems like they spend more time together when young and can get territorial when they're older. Young fish introduced to a tank at the same time will have a better chance of getting along as they age, though.


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## Aquarius Keeper

Thanks imantbatman, that's enough to make the purchase. This fish I'm in love with is only 1" at the moment, so I'll add it to my community tank and monitor it closely. I am planning on keeping breeding live bearers. If it grows belligerent with size/age I'll look into moving it into a different tank...

I'll let you know how it goes.


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## Aquarius Keeper

So I bought the fish and it's acclimating right now. Pretty feisty little guy - a lot quicker than it looks.

You mention live food is better - I'm new to live fish food. What kind of live food is small enough for a 1" fish to eat?


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## iamntbatman

The fish has a huge mouth for its size, so it should be able to handle smaller sized feeder guppies. If not, I'm sure it would love live blackworms.


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## Aquarius Keeper

This fish is awesome! I have it in a temporary 8 gallon tub with a baby upside-down catfish (I'm house-sitting in Pasadena, I'll get them into my 30g in Hollywood on Wednesday.)

It gave me a scare by playing dead when I first got it, but actually it seems quite healthy, and glad to be out of the bala shark tank. It's not wild about the catfish coming into it's space, but it hasn't nipped yet - I added a second small "cave" in case it wants more privacy. I think this one will be my favorite...


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## Aquarius Keeper

Just an update on adding this fish -

I had to run to hollywood for an errand yesterday and so was able to introduce my leaf fish to the 30g then.

I'd heard a lot about how this fish is shy and territorial and will spend all it's time hiding - but once it got into the bigger tank, it spent the next few hours buzzing slowly around and exploring - didn't hide at all. It's really little - even the guppies are big enough to bully it (I know in the end the guppies could wind up snacks) - and there's a dwarf gourami in the tank 3 times it's size - still it hasn't seemed particularly intimidated or territorial - I'm thrilled that it's so active.

And it loves the blackworms, thanks for the rec!


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## amcorp

I bought two of these fish a while back. I have a 90 gal. with about 20 fish including pacu, clown loaches, silver dollars, angels, botias, but the leaf fishes are by far my favorite fish of all. I hand feed them frozen blood worms and they actually wait for me at the tank like dogs. They don't bother any of the other fish, but are curious. Definately a good choice. If you have any tetras of guppies in there, they will be eaten within a few minutes. I buy feeder fish for them every week. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!


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## kevinoh33

amcorp said:


> I bought two of these fish a while back. I have a 90 gal. with about 20 fish including pacu, clown loaches, silver dollars, angels, botias, but the leaf fishes are by far my favorite fish of all. I hand feed them frozen blood worms and they actually wait for me at the tank like dogs. They don't bother any of the other fish, but are curious. Definately a good choice. If you have any tetras of guppies in there, they will be eaten within a few minutes. I buy feeder fish for them every week. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!



I would think twice about that pacu as it can grow huge


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## amcorp

I plan on either getting a larger tank for it or selling when the time comes.


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## Aquarius Keeper

Just another Update - this fish is still going strong - constantly out and about, fascinating to watch for it's "leaf-like" movement.

I've been buying it blackworms but it doesn't seem to have any objections to flake food either (it doesn't swim to the top for them but snaps up the bits that the current carries to the bottom) - maybe if you start them young?


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## iamntbatman

If you can get it to eat flake, then by all means go for it. Prepared foods generally are a more well-balanced diet than live, so it'd be fantastic. Since the fish will end up getting pretty big, you might want to try to get it to eat some sort of pellet food, since it's a lot more reasonable to feed a big fish pellets than flake. You could start on the smaller-sized sinking pellets and work your way up to the big ones as it grows.


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## jeaninel

Got any pics? I've always wanted a Ctenopoma. I just don't have any room for one at the moment.


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## Aquarius Keeper

I haven't responded in a bit because my ctenopoma acutirostre died, and I've felt ashamed.

Everything was fine, good water levels, ammonia, nitrate, temp, ph etc...

Then I added an un-quarantined female guppy and seven glolight tetras from petco into to an otherwise healthy tank - within days everything was dying, including my upside down catfish and my favorite, the African spotted leaf fish.

I have three surviving guppies (two are pregnant) and three glolights alive in a medicated quarantine. A dwarf guarami, 1/2 beak, and 2 baby kuhli loaches remain alive in the 30g.

My turtle tank and brackish mudskipper habitats remain healthy, but I still feel terrible for contaminating the 30g with un-quarantined fish. I've seen more acutirostre ctenopoma available at a store near my work, but I am reluctant to buy another after what happened.

Jonathan


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## Chrisseh

They are ambush preditors. a lot of times they look shy or even a little sad, but really they are hiding and waiting for prey. I am sure within a month he will be big enought to eat the guppies, or atleast nip their tails. I am glad that you enjoy him.

P.S: Some PetSmart employees knows what they are talking about. . .


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## aunt kymmie

Aquarius Keeper said:


> I haven't responded in a bit because my ctenopoma acutirostre died, and I've felt ashamed.
> 
> Everything was fine, good water levels, ammonia, nitrate, temp, ph etc...
> 
> Then I added an un-quarantined female guppy and seven glolight tetras from petco into to an otherwise healthy tank - within days everything was dying, including my upside down catfish and my favorite, the African spotted leaf fish.
> 
> I have three surviving guppies (two are pregnant) and three glolights alive in a medicated quarantine. A dwarf guarami, 1/2 beak, and 2 baby kuhli loaches remain alive in the 30g.
> 
> My turtle tank and brackish mudskipper habitats remain healthy, but I still feel terrible for contaminating the 30g with un-quarantined fish. I've seen more acutirostre ctenopoma available at a store near my work, but I am reluctant to buy another after what happened.
> 
> Jonathan


Dear Jonathan-

I'm really sorry you lost some of your fish. Don't beat yourself up about it too badly. I'm sure most of us have made the mistake of not quarantining a fish and losing other fish because of it. I know I have. We all learn from our mistakes and it's too bad that sometimes fish are lost because of those mistakes. I hope your remaining fish remain uninfected.

Once you've set up a quarantine tank you should get another ctenopoma acutirostre. After all, it's one of your favorite species. Don't give up!!

Kym


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## jeaninel

Sorry to hear that. That's why I decided to convert my 10 gallon tank to a QT. I had a columnaris outbreak that came in with new fish and I lost 2 fish. So we live and learn. Don't feel ashamed. Sometimes even when we give the best of care things happen.


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## tophat665

I have three of these wonderful devils in my 110. I got them at petsmart I guess almost 2 years ago when they were the size of the bowl on a tablespoon. The biggest one is about 4 1/2" long now, and the other two are pushing 4". They live in a 110 with a pair of bichirs (who they used to terrorize before the bichirs got up over about 7"), an albino ancistrus, and the swordtails who have outgrown food size. They come out of their caves when I walk up to the tank and beg for food. Their all time favorite thing is hikari sinking carnivore pellets. They also tear up beefheart cubes, krill cubes, and, of all things, coarsely chopped (and very well rinsed) chicken liver. I recommend keeping about 20 gallons of livebearer (or rosy minnow, white cloud, convict, or any other just add water, makes its own fry kind of fish) breeding space for each bushfish, though, because inch to inch and a half long fry are their all time favorite food item. When I got them, I had a 25 high that I had probably 50 feeder guppies (home bred) in. I stuck these three little guys in there, and in a week, they were the only fish in the tank. And this was when they were an inch and a half long. They make short work of fully grown guppies at any age. They can take a fully grown platy or sphenops molly or male swordtail (not female, though) now that they're nearly full sized.

I am also advised (on this forum, I believe) that If you have a half dozen or more, they will hunt in a pack.

Being as they're anabantoids, which are largely fairly short lived fish, when these fellows pass, I'll set up a 40 or 55 with guppies (probably a mix of fancy and feeder), and let them grow out to fill the tank out, then drop in a half dozen Ctenos and let them clear the tank, then grow out for a year and a half before plunking them in with the bichirs.


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