African Spotted Leaf Fish

[iamntbatman]

Petsmart recently started carrying a fish they're calling an African Spotted Leaf Fish. Their info says he'll top out at about 4 inches. No one who worked there knew (go figure) but he looked to me like an anabantid.

Assuming these aren't the Leopard Ctenopoma, which grows larger than 4" is very aggressive and loves to snack on other fish, how will one of these fish fare in a 29 gal community setup? I was thinking of setting up this tank and adding my two Kribs, a couple Yo-Yo Loaches, a small pleco (maybe a clown), some cherry barbs and either some purple passion danios or some hatchets. I wanted to just add a single Leaf Fish, assuming they make decent community residents.

Anyone ever had one of these?

[King of Candlesticks]

I googled it and heres what I found:

http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=148217

Good Luck!
Tony

[iamntbatman]

I've read that thread before...I believe the fish Petsmart is selling is the Ctenopoma acutirostre, which is apparently the easier fish to care for and is more of a community fish.

It will apparently feed on small tetras, but do you think it will do o.k. with the other fish I mentioned? People on that thread also mentioned that the fish would be terrorized by even something like a Kribensis, but they also didn't seem to really know what species of fish they were talking about.

[iamntbatman]

One more thing:

I've never kept any livebearers before. I've read all over the place that people use things like platies or guppies to pump out fry to supplement the diets of fish that will eat the fry. Don't livebearers typically need salt in their tanks at levels higher than other fish appreciate? Would a few of platies in a setup like this (mostly for fry production) be a good idea, or no?

[King of Candlesticks]

I'm going to be straight with you and say that I have absolutely no idea. lol sorry.

[herefishy]

The kribs may decide to pick on it. Most leaf fish do not swim that well, this is the reason for their awesome camoflauge. They are ambush predators and must rely on stealth rather than speed.