The Puffer Forum

Okay I have seen that some people keep Mono's and BBGs with their F8s... has anyone kept Spotted Climbing Perch with them even though they get a tad bigger than the F8?

okay ive been looking around. And I coulda sworn I read these guys were brackish water... but now I can't find where I read that. Says you can keep these guys in FW?

Which guys?

The Spotted Climbing Perch, leopard cichlid, umm its been a bush fish and a gourami too... but its most common common name is spotted climbing perch.

It can't be a cichlid and a labyrinth fish. Fish are either one or the other. If you are referring to the Ctenopoma acutirostre, its an anabantoid or labyrinth fish. Its freshwater, prefers acidic water, and is fairly predatory. I definitely would not keep them with puffers.

http://www.tropicalfishfinder.co.uk/art ... .asp?id=43

The petsmart near my GF keeps them with the DPs, says both are brackish even though they have no brackish system, and wonders why the DPs keep "just disappearing."

Yikes well nevermind then. My bad.

Nick wrote:The petsmart near my GF keeps them with the DPs, says both are brackish even though they have no brackish system, and wonders why the DPs keep "just disappearing."

?? I am confused. I work for Petsmart and we don't label the ctenopoma or the dp as brackish. We also give the puffers their own tank. The only fish we label as brackish is the Mono Sebae. Unfortunately that means the the dragon goby, the silver tipped shark, and the mollies are all sold as freshwater unless I am involved with the sale and tell the customer otherwise. The reason I am confused is because if your petsmart is using the corporate issued tags, it wouldn't say brackish... Although lots of fish are listed as 'requires aquarium salt'.

I think its safe to say that one petsmart store differs greatly from the next, sounds like your store has at least some idea and duty of care to the stock they have. Not all do though and its a shame

manutius wrote:I think its safe to say that one petsmart store differs greatly from the next, sounds like your store has at least some idea and duty of care to the stock they have. Not all do though and its a shame

Staff-wise they do vary. But there are still a set of corporate standards that must me met, and they do walkthroughs monthly. If you think your local Petsmart is neglecting their fish, please do ask to speak to the Store Director or DSM(District Services Manager). I hate it when I go to a store other than mine and pets are being mistreated. I always bring it up with the store director, tell them that if it is not changed to comply with policy I will be contacting the DSM.

The main fish guy was describing both as brackish, and often says that all the fish that say "require aquarium salt" are brackish, not sure what the signing says, only thing I ever assume is accurate on there is the price, so it's all I read. I'm glad your store is doing a better job of keeping their fish strait, that store is terrible.

Nick wrote:The main fish guy was describing both as brackish, and often says that all the fish that say "require aquarium salt" are brackish, not sure what the signing says, only thing I ever assume is accurate on there is the price, so it's all I read. I'm glad your store is doing a better job of keeping their fish strait, that store is terrible.

Always a safe bet to ignore the signs.

Spotted climbing perch -- Ctenopoma acutirostre -- are absolutely NOT brackish water fish. I dare say they'd tolerate a small amount of salt, since they're incredibly hardy animals, but it wouldn't be doing them any good.

And they certainly wouldn't make good companions for a figure-8 puffer. They'd potentially eat small specimens. But they're also extremely gentle animals, and easily spooked by aggressive tankmates. Despite their reputation for being predators, all they want in life is some shady plants, lots of mosquito larvae, and then left alone. Lovely fish, by the way. I had a pair for 12, 13 years before giving them away.

The only common climbing perch in the trade than inhabits brackish water is Anabas testudineus. It's sold as the Asian climbing perch. Its a very odd animal, sometimes really shy and sometimes outrageously in-your-face. Doesn't mix well with cichlids (gets bullied) but I think it might just be worth a shot with *peaceful* figure-8 puffers. It would probably bite back if harassed, but wouldn't go out of its way looking for a fight. Should acclimate to SG 1.003 without problems, probably higher with care. Fascinating animals.

Cheers, Neale

Awesome! I will think about it. I think the Ctenopoma acutirostre are just gorgeous. Some day maybe i'll get a few in a nice big planted tank. I wonder if they would work well with a tire track eel?

the real issue is if the climbing perch can be kept in a relatively low end brackish setup. the answer, yes, as with most hardy fish, just assimilate the fish slowly to the salt level. by the way, i have kept a fig 8 with a climbing perch for four months now, they do fine, the climbing perch grows at twice the rate and has attained double the size of my fig 8. go figure. they both down krill like nothing, but then the perch just swallows them whole as oppose to the my fig 8, which has to chew them. this allows the perch to consume, also, more than twice the krill the fig 8 consumes. So from these observations, i can conclude that the perch is way more hardy than the fig 8.

and if .05 is too high, adapt it to .03, the fig 8 won't care.