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
missionman
- mine is a killer now too ,he has moved out of the community tank and into his own private "cell".
- —Guest paul
My leporinus is 14 years old
- I have two black-banded leporinus. The eldest is huge -- approximately 13" in length, deep girth, and 14 years old. I bought it in the Fall of 1999 when it was a young fish, about 4 - 5" long. I bought a second one about a year later, but that fish is much smaller, only about 7" long in comparison to the big one. I have searched the Internet to try to find out their lifespan, but have not found a good science-based source with documentable information. Our leporinus are primarily fed small red wriggler worms and frozen krill that we thaw for their feeding. We have also fed them thawed beef heart, but it makes the tank very messy. Our two live in a 72-gallon bowfront tank with laterite-mixed gravel, driftwood and live plants to provide them cover. We eventually plan to move them to a 110 gal. tank. The one thing I will stress is that they need good water quality -- they should be given water changes every week, and provided with excellent water filtration, nitrate and phosphate control
- —Guest ABWP
Not For Every One
- I have had mine for about 12 years and he is bully and a murderer. I put some tiger barbs in the tank with him (a 150 gallon tank) in about 10 minutes he had de-gutted about 3 of them, coming up from under neath and just pulling their guts right out and letting the fish float away. I only have about 4 fishes in with him, a large fire eel, two blood parrots and a large Apollo shark. I am afraid to put anything else in the tank. The fish is beautiful but a terror in the tank.
- —Guest Paul
Love mine
- I've had my BBL for about 2yrs., he's a joy to watch. He is not aggressive, lost his buddy in a tank change when they were small. He's about 9 inches long now and I got him another bud, who has about 5 inches to go to catch up in size. If anything the big guy is the one who gets picked on, but, not much, since he is the biggest one in the 55 gal. tank. He keeps to himself mostly, comes out to eat and to pick at the plastic plants...I love watching him!
- —Guest Gin B.
LOVE THIS FISH
- This is a great fish in our tank, we gave him his own log to hide in from day one, we have had him for 2yrs now and still he likes his log lol we also have in our tank a pond raised bluegill a bumble bee chiclid as well as a jewl chiclid, niger bicker and an angle fish and they are all great you just have to provide for each one or they will try and do it on their own we lern that the hard way with our 200g saltwater tank you cant have alot of top dwellers nor bottom or middle it need to be just right and as far as plants go we have a mass assortment and they all get picked at but he seems to work at others while the other ones grow back again lol, justmake sure you look your fish up befor you by it, not just tank size but everything. DONT MISS A BEAT OR YOU MAY MISS A FISH!! i hope this helps?
- —Guest Thad Ballard
missionman
- Hi about 10 days wityh my new old BBL .He really is a great fish so far .I read some horror stories on here ,so if he eats one eye ball hes gone! He is in my 55g with 3 balas,1topedo barb 2 plecos many tetras etc.They get flakes,color grans,freeze dried&frozen brine shrimp,frozen bloodworms & algea wafers so he is well fed
- —Guest paul
missionman
- Second day with my new/old bbl ,so far so good .He's not bothering any other fish that i have noticed,seems like a happy guy.He has found his own space......
- —Guest paul
missionman
- Hi i just got a free one about 5" long with a 4" bala shark that i bought for $5 we'll see how he does in my 55g with lots of friends .
- —Guest paul
peaceful vegetarian
- I don't know why I'm seeing so many problems with this fish. I've had them for at least six-seven years with everything from little tetras to giant Pike cichlids, always with a peaceful demeanor. Other than the female giving chase to the male once and awhile, I have never seen an act of aggression. Mine are currently 14 And 12in. These fish absolutely love detritus snails and need a constant supply of fresh plant matter. I see most of these issues related to inadequate housing space and a poor understanding of diet. I breed thirty some species of fish and have over eighty tanks. The only disappointment I have with them is I've never seen them spawn.
- —Guest da gecko
Leporinus fasciatus habbits
- I have had one of these, found them fairly shy. Kept with very large plecos, 2 large cats and a few large tin foil barbs & one large pictus. All got along fine. This one hung out by the aireater. The only problem I ever saw was he would dive at the algae discs to be first - always had to put out plenty as he had his fill first. He never caused problems with the others, but got him after the others were big. The ariation must be true though, as at 4 yo he died when I had a power surge and the filters' water stopped running as well as the aeriator. He always hung out at the aeriator end of the tank. They are in my 75 gal tank.
- —Guest Shelly N
My Monster!!!!!!
- I bought my bumblebee as my wife has named him and I wasn't told that these things get over a foot long until I talked to a guy at PetSmart one day. Then he made me realize that a 29 gallon tank wasn't quite big enough. When I bought him at PetSmart I told the person I only have a 29 gallon tank and they still let me get it without even knowing how big it actually gets. He's eaten a ton of fish and it starts by eating their eyes then their mouths. Only once has he eaten the entire fish. Don't put anything in your tank that has a shiny coat. I've a catfish that he's been wanting to eat for months and for some reason hasn't done it yet. When his color fades he's pissed and the rest of the fish go hiding. Needless to say you better keep you tank light on all night with these guys so that they won't eat every fish in your tank. My catfish comes out at night and he chases him like crazy until it goes back into hiding again. Whatever you do keep your tank FULLY COVERED!!!!!
- —Guest Chris
love him!
- The attendant at my LFS told me several customers returned these guys because of fin nipping, chasing, or even eating other fishes eyes! i decided to give it a try and got the smallest one in the tank (~1"). so far i haven't had ANY issues with my BBL. He/she just swims all day and all night long picking the algae off tank decorations. Its a very active fish who often swims straight to the nearest corner of the tank when i enter the room to greet me! my tank mates include clown loach, silver dollars, rosy reds, buenos aires tets, weatherloach, fancy goldfish, dwarf g's, oj platys, and german blue rams. After 6 months my BBL still has not bullied tankmates, and is approaching 3.5 inches! I guess temperament varies by each individual. I also got the BBL when it was VERY young, which is another likely factor (I haven't tried adding additional fish yet). The tank is heavily planted with a powerhead in the corner. tank size about 6ft wide, 1.5ft long, and 2 ft tall (80 gallons)
- —Guest merryjohn
Just got one!
- I just bought a black banded leporinus about 3 days ago. I keep him with my two red tail sharks and a green tiger barb as well as my two pleckos in a 20 gallon tank.Right now the tank is a big enough size until they get older. The.BBL doesn't bother anybody she just keeps her own and stays under her rock. The only ones that fight are the sharks. The female chases and nips at the male. Otherwise I'm happy with my fish although i am scared they will get too big too fast cause I'm not getting my 75 gallon until next year!
- —Guest Missy
BBL
- I have a BBL and he is about 2 years old now. I did have an Angelfish die in the tank and he ate its eyeballs, but the fish was sick before he started attacking it. I now have 2 silver dollars, a Salvini Cichlid and a Bala Shark in the tank. The Bala and Silver Dollars swim around at the top of the tank and the others ignore them. The Salvini and BBL hide all day, but when the lights go off, the Salvini comes out and chases him all night. Neither of them has ever had any damage to them, they just chase. Maybe having an agressive fish in the tank like that keeps the BBL under control? Ive never had an issue with him being picking on fish...if anything, the Salvini picks on HIM
- —Guest Burton
i dont know
- i have bumble bee gobys are they the same as black banded leporinus my two are small with black and yellow stripes not a problem
- —margwyn
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