From the article: Black Banded Leporinus - Leporinus fasciatus
Have you kept a Black Banded Leporinus? If so, share your experiences about care, habitat, feeding and breeding of Black Banded Leporinus. Your knowledge could help other owners! Share Your Experiences
Bandeded Ninja
- I've had my BBL for roughly 16 months now. I picked him up when he was less than an inch in length and now I'd say he's between 8-9 inches. I've only experienced one act of aggression with him. I had done a very thorough tank cleaning and perhaps over cleaned it and robbed him of his food supply, because the next day I awoke to my feather fin catfish with a huge chunk out of his dorsal fin (he's all healed up now). I added some new plantlife to the tank that day, and haven't had a problem since. It's my opinion that the key to keeping these guys dosile is to keep them in a live planted aquarium. I should mention, he has 9 tankmates, all smaller than he and there are no issues. I should also mention, that he is in excellent health and his colors are vibrant. In the 16 months I've had him, I've never actually witnessed him eat, not even the food I drop in specifically for him, but my tank is fairly heavily planted and he keeps getting bigger, so I must be doing something right.
- —Guest Unwavering
Peace and quiet
- I am a bbl keeper and have successfully bred these fish. With a balanced diet of plant life and occasional blood worms/ shrimp etc....there should be no problems as long as he has a large enough territory! If the tank is too small( remember how big these guys can get!) then you will have fins being nipped and even worse! If you give these guys what they need, you will enjoy a great fish with no problems
- —Guest Hayze
Even the little ones are bullies!
- I have a tropical community tank and added two 3 inch guys. At first, they seemed peaceful and worked dilligently at eating up all of the algae on my plants and tank decorations. In the second week, one of my mature tiger barbs was observed floating sideways...upon closer examination both of the Black Banded Leporinuses were feasting on him as he was dying. After that I began to watch them carefully and observed them nipping the fins of mature silver dollars, my gourami...they even went after my spotted climbing perch! As I examined my fish, I noticed almost all of them had chunks out of their fins. Needless to say, we have removed them from the tank. I would NOT recommend these fish for a community tank whatsoever.
- —Guest Ken
BB Leporinus
- My Leporinus is now over 14 years old and share a 55 gal tank with one clown loach. I onlly feed a rotation of frozen bloodworms, white mosquito larvae ad brine shrimp with the occasional romaine leaf. Obviously he is thriving with this diet. he's over 8 inches and very vibrant color.
- —Guest Becky
Bastards!
- I had a 9 year old Texas, he was my pride and joy in my 55 gallon tank. I bought the banded bully and with in 2 days he had beat my Texas to death and now he is after my Blood Parrots and Pacu!
- —Guest Darby
Beautiful Fin-Nipper
- These fish have been a pleasure to own! But anyone interested should be aware of the potential headaches that come with owning this fish. Small or large, this fish nips fins of any fish that wont fight back and sometimes even large Cichlids than would easily eat them. I have 4 of these and they are kept in a 150 gallon tank with a variety of Cichlids and a stingray (I don't recommend trying this it wasn't easy at all). Two of them are between 13 and 15 inches, one is about 10 inches, and the other is 5 inches. The bigger ones will eat any fish that will fit in its mouth. But mostly they like to dig in the sand and find leftover food. over all these fish have been a pleasure to own. If your looking for an attractive and active fish and you don't have small docile fish, this is the fish for you!
- —Guest jesse
I am very dishartened
- I, like the rest of you, bought three lepos because I was told they get along good with angelfish. They were small, beautiful fish that I was excited about. My angel's fins started getting nipped and the king of the tank(the one with the red eye) angelfish died. I noticed him at the bottom with no eyeballs. Then another died, with the same results. I breed angels and thought the were getting eaten post-mortem. That was until I put some fresh adolescents in the tank and watched them get devoured in seconds. I now am afraid to add more babies. I love, the now 8in. psychos for some reason though. I plan to just buy a giagantic tank and hope my angels and lepos can live peacefully. My two long tailed ram fish have survived fine though, for some reason.
- —Guest Mark
Black Banded Leporinus
- I too have one of these little/large things. Same stories as most of the people here have stated. He was given to us from someone who tried to introduce him into their tank and he was picked on by all of his other fish. When he came to our tank, things went well for a little while. As he got bigger, more stripes he got more carnivorous. I know the explanation of this fish says that they are herbivores, but this fish we have eats everything from fresh vegetables to other fish to all of the plants. He has killed all of the other fish we had. We want to put more fish in, but obviously cannot with this guy in there. He's at least 4 years old now and probably about 7" long, and he is the sole survivor in our tank, so I'm sure he'll get bigger.
- —Guest Treefairies
New observations "HOTDOG FISH"
- I posted awhile back w/the title"cheek bugger" I tried w/ the 135 gal. cichlid tank but he was too much of a hellion for the other residents. After much chasing about, I managed to catch him(or rather he caught himself by leaping out of the tank like a missile) He moved into the 125 gal oscar tank. He ignores the oscars & vice versa. However, one longtime resident is a rather stout convict cichlid coming in at 5+ inches. It was great fun watching them go round and round. But alas ( a month or so) the convict lost & was missing eyes & fins in the morning.One day I ran out of food 4 the oscars and fed them sliced OscarMayer weiner(no pun intended) they begrudgingly accepted it however the leporinus finds this absolutely delightful.For a treat he gets a half inch portion which he move like lightning to get before the oscars know it hit the water and zips to the corner to eat it in peace. Now when guests come over, they wish to see the "hotdog fish" in action. Cheaper than LFS treats.try i
- —Guest tzar66
Black Banded Leporinus
- I have 3 BBLs in a 90 gallon vertical tank with a few other assorted fish. Bought them at a big box pet store to test the water after ick killed my 3 discus. They've grown from 2" to 8" in the past 2 years. Very peaceful. I feed flakes twice a day and bloodworms once. Tank is heavily planted. Wish I could post a pic.
- —Guest JustDave
Bad diet choices lead to aggression
- I have successuflly kept a number of these fish over the last 10 yrs, in peaceful community tanks.There are a few things that are needed to do this, and should not be ignored. One, they do get bigger than any pet store will admit- a minimum 50 gallon tank is needed to house one if you plan on keeping these guys. Kept in a smaller tank, they are fine for a time then they tend to quickly dispatch any fish that would be considered competition for food or space. This is not their fault- its common sense if you consider that these fish know they will be growing and needing the resources that their tank mates are comprimising. Two, these fish are plant eaters primarily. They also occasionally enjoy earthworms or shrimp of nearly any kind but their main diet NEEDS to be plant matter. When fed mostly protien diets their life span significantly decreases, their color and vibrance is muted, and their behavior is horrid. This is probably due to malnutrition related demensia.
- —Guest jessmess
Bad Ass Aggressive part II
- I had two remaining Lepos one already 7" and 9", (originally they were three of them after that incident last year) afterwich i decided to remove them from my community tank obviously for security reasons,hehehe.. Last month i decided to transfer my 9" lepo (after almost a year in solitary prison) together with my spotted gar 14" (ambush predator fish) in a 100 gal tank. They were living peacefully for several days until to my horror my 9" lepo gouge and pluck the eyes of my spotted gar (poor guy, i dont know what to do with him now). I decided to transfer that killer 9" to a smaller tank again for security reasons. The smaller 7" lepo i gave to my bro-inlaw and placed him in a 100 gallon tank with dividers side by side together with his big aggressive flowerhorn. One day he found his flowerhorn literally with an empty stomach and eyeless, which we suspect that earlier the flowerhorn jumped over the divider and into the lepo's space and met his match. Whew, what a fish!!
- —Guest silverjet
Secret Destroyer
- I bought a leporinus a few years ago. He quickly became one of my favorite fish. He was nicknamed jailbird by a family friend. Now I believe he IS a murdering convict. Fish started disappearing one by one. I've had quite a few fish with missing eyes. I never suspected him because he seemed so shy and would hide when you'd come over to the tank. He is over 8 inches long now, and I fear if I don't get rid of him he will eat everyone in the tank. Yesterday I woke up to find one of my Cory cats badly beaten and with no eyes. He acts so nice and calm when you are watching, but when you aren't looking, he becomes the secret destroyer. I started researching this fish [most sites said he was peaceful] because I finally realized that he is the only type of fish that I haven't had before, and as he grew, more fish disappeared. I didn't have eyes missing before I put him in the tank. DO NOT BUY THIS FISH FOR A COMMUNITY TANK!!!!!!
- —Guest Amy
Predator
- I love my leoprinus, so much in fact that I buy fish for him to feast on. My advice would be to include him in a tank with other aggressive fish. He does eat fish flakes but loves his fish. He has his own territory that he protects which is a little cave andhe chases everyone who comes near it away. He checks out my pleco from time to time but overall leaves him alone. he has yet to touch some zebra danios I bought. Maybe they are too fast for him, who knows. It is a beautiful fish and I love mine.
- —Guest Tracey
Breeding leporinus?!?
- Sooo...I just bought 2 leporini at about 6 to 7 inches long. I had to put both of them in my 50 gallon tank for a few days because I just moved and didn't have the 100 set up yet. Well I got it set up today and after I transplanted my 12" clown knife, 13 to 14" highfin spotted pleco, and both my leporini I noticed I had babies!! Yup I said it! I have baby leporini! Scooped what I could find out of that tank and put them in my breeder tank. only found 7 but that's still something. I've only had them for 3 days....
- —Guest crazyfishguy21
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