[the_evil_dickfeldi]

Could someone please give me some information on this fish? Because I can't find much on this site, and I'm forbidden to go on search sites like Yahoo...... :? Don't ask me why, but it's true. Being a kid doesn't help my hobby much.

It's a Satanoperca, so is it hard to keep? The Library article say's it's the easiest of the Satanoperca but still......I don't know what that means because Satanoperca themselves seem to be hard to keep!

Cause I bought 2 today :wink: Caught my eye, but it could be called an impulse purchase, and I want to keep them to their full adult potential.

Ted

 

[dwarfpike]

Most likely it is Satanoperca leucosticta which is the hobby "jurupari." Easy way to tell is if it has spots on it's cheeks or not ... if so it's leucosticta, if not jurupari.

Either way they are neat fish, leucosticta are one of my favs ... they are susceptible to Hole in the Head disease, so large waterchanges and good filtration is a must. But they don't like current. Like the water hot, 82-84F. Like to sift sand. Grow large, love to be in large groups. I would get more if you can. Small food, sinking preferable so they can sift it. Can be somewhat shy, dithers like decent sized tetras help (diamonds, columbians, red-eyes). Easily bullied by other cichlids, even dwarves at times but like all cichlids, some will push back. Slow growers, pretty much impossible to sex. Can take up to two years to mature enough to breed. Delayed mouthbrooders (lay the eggs, cover them with sand for a couple days before taking into mouth).

That's all I can remember off the top of my head at 4:38 in the morning without sleep yet.

 

[the_evil_dickfeldi]

Gee thanks for the info :thumb: .......But owning to the fact they have spots only on the cheeks and stripes on the face like jurupari, not completely spotted like leucosicita, not to mention more silver than spangles, and the fact that they were able to survive for at least 2 weeks in such a horrible tank without dying tells me they aren't any of the other delicate species. But the biggest clue of course is the markings on the face. I know they're jurupari If you look at the jurupari in the Profiles corner you can see some faint spots. Mine are just the same.

They settled in okay....Or maybe almost do. The larger one ate a ton of NLS pellets and the sunken belly has some fat in it. The smaller one I haven't observed eating pellets but it seemed to pick things off the plants and the sponge prefilter, and he got a decent belly. So perhaps he did eat pellets.

I love water changes.....I heard Acarichthys heckelli like large scale water changes so I change at least 60% a week....Either at once or between two times. So I hope that'll help them .

Tankmates.....The main tankmate is my heckelii, who is 60% bigger than both of them. He doesn't bother them, but they still are afraid of him :? Oh well.

And can a staple diet of NLS work? Or should I add other things to the diet? Can I feed Tetrabits too?

Wow.....New fish, lots of questions!!

Ted

 

[the_evil_dickfeldi]

Got some pics....They aren't exactly in good condition, ahving lived in a very bad tank with lots of fin nippers.

They ARE jurupari, aren't they.....?

 

[Joels fish]

Look like it to me. Neat fish, and pretty gentle with other fish. Males can be a handfull during spawning. You can feed them NLS , and just about any good quality food will do. Sinking pellets are best though IMO. Brineshrimp and blood worms are good supplements as well .

 

[dwarfpike]

Deffinately S. leucosicita. If you look at the close up of the jurupari pic in profiles, you'll see no spots what so ever on the cheek or mouth area. Yous does have some, so I'd say it's a race of leucosticita ... defferant areas have more or less spots. Both fish are treated the same though, one is not more delicate than the other.

Would echo the blood worms on occasion, and daphnia. I avoid brine shrimp myself as they really don't have much nutrition although can be a good bulk roughage type food.

Just a warning, you might hear lots of comments about bare bottom tanks stressing sifters out.

 

[edburress]

I agree...S. leucosticta. True jurupari are quite rare in most places and will have no spots at all. As they mature I think your fishes spots will become more prominent.

Green foods should make up a large part of their diet, zucchini, peas, etc. For my Geophagus I blanche zucchini and feed it to them twice per week.

Are they in quarantine? I would add sand to their long term tank, it will benefit the leucosticta and the heckelli.

and...beautiful fish :thumb:

Ed

 

[the_evil_dickfeldi]

Nonononononono!!!!!!! I don't want to kill my beautiful fish!! I thought they were jurupari! They survived in such a tank for over 2 weeks without anything worse than torn fins! And they had some brutal treatment on their way home , but they still adjusted fine.

Not any more delicate? But I thought jurupari was the only(possibly) hardy Satanoperca; and the rest extremely difficult!

Still, tanks for the info.......

So future plans are like this.....

Bigger tank of course

Some sand; I find pure sand difficult to clean, could I used 1mm fine gravel instead? It looks like sand, almost as fine as it too.

Feeding: NLS as staple with treats of bloodworms, and some green food? Could I use squash instead? My ancistrus would love it too

Maybe some more Satans after I gain some experience(Eartheaters really catch my eyes these days....Especially unusual ones ).

And.....I'm scared of the two main diseases they can catch, HITH and Neotropical bloat . What can I do to prevent/treat them?

Ted

 

[dwarfpike]

Well you are right ... the hobby "jurupari" is the easiest satanoperca to keep, with the exception of the almost never seen L. pappaterra. You have the hobby "jurupari" though, which is S. leucosicita. True jurapari are harder to keep, they come from blackwater areas and are found with rare daemon and such in the rio *****.

Both bloat and HITH are best prevented by frequen waterchanges, which you are doing. :thumb:

 

[the_evil_dickfeldi]

Thanks again! Sadly, I"ve decided to sell one of them, because the bigger is already picking on the smaller I'll have to make do with one fish, which is, to be honest....What I intentioned

Which makes sure the tank isn't overcrowded *at the moment*(Told you, I'm gonna get a larger tank, maybe then I can get more Satans );

30 gallon(36x12x15)

1 Acarichthys heckelii
1 Satanoperca leucosicita
2 Ancistrus sp.3
2 Platydoras costatus(Still debating whether to keep just one)
1 Polypterus senegalus

Still going to do water changes :thumb: Because the heckelii and polypterus are both at their growing prime, and of course, the Satan will love them.

Ted

 

[the_evil_dickfeldi]

Question: I like these fish(Hard not to :lol: ) Although this time it's first-hands experience, I'd love to try some more later, if I succeed with this one.

How many is the minimum for a group? 4? Two obviously didn't work out Sad....

 

[dwarfpike]

I have kept six together, and as they got bigger they were still a bit scappy towards each other. Next time I think I'll try 8 or 10, but of course that will take a very large tank as these fish will get 10 inches or so.

If you do a search on youtube under Satanoperca leucosticta, you'll find an aussie that has like 30 of them in a huge tank (is everything always bigger in Oz???)

 

[DeadFishFloating]

(is everything always bigger in Oz???)

Yes! yes it is.

Well when you have this much space, and so few people, you can build some prety big things just for the **** of it.

Heck, my first tank was a 6 footer, and everyone down here is wondering when I'll upgrade to a proper sized tank.

 

[dwarfpike]

I would so move ... except I can't live without my pike cichlids ... and I'm allergic to every lil poisonous critter in existance. :lol:

 

[DeadFishFloating]

and I'm allergic to every lil poisonous critter in existance.

Pity. Oh most aren't small either. :wink:

I can step out my back door and catch 2 different spiders that will kill you. There's also a spider, whose bite has a necrotising affect on your skin. Basically, your living flesh is eaten away, leaving behind dead, rotting gaping wounds. There is, as of yet, no cure, so amputation usually is the end result. I used to date a girl, whose aunty was one of the foremost spider researches in Oz. It was fun visiting her property up north.

Oh, I also managed to catch 9 out of Australia's top 10 poisonous snakes by the age of 21. Number #2, the King Brown, was just too big and nasty when dad and I found one when bush walking. Caught my first snake at age 6, a Yellow Faced Whip Snake.

What else.

I pulled a sharks tooth out of my foot when I was 8. Mind you, I think I stepped on it while I was fishing in a channel between an island and the mainland. I was wading in water that was waiste deep for 8 year old.

When I was 16, I found myself sitting on the pillow of an inflatabe matress, in a lagoon, trying to blow up a spare. And there was a dirty big salt water crocodile on the bank of the lagoon. I was on a Outward Bound camping trip way up north, and someone had the bright idea of paddling down a creek on layllows. Of course it had to be mine that ripped when comming off some shallow rapids into a lagoon. Lets just say my pants were rather wet, and not just from the water.

And to keep this post sorta cichlids. I can catch Brasiliensis in a river that runs through the Gold Coast (think Malibu), and Oscars & Convicts in a local reserve dam. :fish:

 

[dwarfpike]

Oh we have a similar spider here to the necrosis one, not quite as bad but can have softball size pieces of flesh drop out. Nasty buggers, have a dead spot from a baby one on my arm. But when a tiny normal bee sting will kill ya, things like jackjumpers and such are baaaad, let alone the browns, fiece snakes, and box jellies!!! ( I love natural shows on aussie animals *lol* )

No cichlids here, our waters are too cold. Closest we have are sunfish, a very distant realitive to cichlids, not a close one like damselfish.

Though next time I'm in mexico deffinately poking around for "Cichlasoma beani." Though they are thought to be extinct in the wild now due to the introduction of Tiliapia and Nile perch. :x

 

[muggins]

Not all of Australia's like that - Deadfishfloating is from Queensland.

 

[the_evil_dickfeldi]

Hey guys, some news.

I sold the larger leucosicita, and the smaller one was having fun BUT the heckelii suddenly starting getting an interest in him and starts following him around the entire tank. I think the heckelii's just curious, but the Satanfish was feeling uncomfortable. So I introduced 7 of my OB /jacobfreibergi peacock fry into the tank, and the tank is calmer.

But in case the fry get eaten(Which may be what I intend ) could I add a school of pristella(X-ray) tetras as dither instead?

All the fish are young, so no problems of the tetras being swallowed whole.....

Ted

 

[Joels fish]

The Satans won't bother much of anything (excpet each other) , couldn't say about the Heckelii's. Doubt the peacocks would either, but you never know .

 

[the_evil_dickfeldi]

I ment whether the tetras could be good dither fish. Right now everything is working out fine, but heckelii is now much more interested in the little darting slivers than the longface