Hoplo

[Squidward]

Hi All,

Been lurking here for a while but decided to post the following question:

I was at my LFS recently showing some interested in Hoplo Cats. The man told me not to buy them, as he said that the recent fish coming in from the Far east are not as robust as they used to be and he tried to steer me towards the Pims (which I am not really interested in).

Is there any truth in what he is saying?

Thanks
Squidward

[Richard B]

A lot of fish that are commercially bred by the thousand are of inferior quality.

Whether this applies to hoplo's is another matter. If the stock looks healthy & has been in the store for a while & is actively feeding this is a good indication things should be ok. Pims are not really an obvious alternate to hoplo's IMHO for someone looking for a bottom feeder.

[MatsP]

I have not heard of recent imports being of poor quality, but you never can know these things. I don't really see a reason why someone would say such a thing.

Edit: I moved your post, as Hoplo's are Callichthyids.

--
Mats

[Squidward]

Hi,

Richard B,
I guess it could be like guppies and dwarf guaramis. When I started fish keeping over 20 years ago, particularly guppies were considered ideal beginners fish. Now not.

The Hoplos looked healthy enough.

Re your comments on the Pims alternative.
I have had these in the past. I found they were generally too active for my liking. Are Hoplos are lot calmer?
Are the active during the day?

MatsP. Sorry, didn't realise.

Thanks
Squidward

[Viktor Jarikov]

Re your comments on the Pims alternative. I have had these in the past. I found they were generally too active for my liking. Are Hoplos are lot calmer? Are the active during the day?

Hoplos are sweet-natured and calm in general. They are very active during the day too (Pims are active by far and large only at night, usually). Hoplos swim about their business sucking and filtering every nook and cranny all day long with some rests here and there. They are not predatory as Pims are and not aggressive at all in my hands.

I don't really see a reason why someone would say such a thing.

me neither. strange thing to say without further concrete elaboration... why would hoplos come from far east anyway?

[MatsP]

They come from the far east because it's about the same shipping cost from far east to Europe as from Florida to Europe, and the asian fish tends to cost less in purchase price. Since those are the two major factors on the cost of fish, it's cheaper to get them from the Far East - most of the captive bred tropical fish come from Asia here in Europe. Some are bred in the Czech republic and Israel, but in the whole scheme of things, it's a small part.

--
Mats

[MattP]

I recently had to move my hoplos on just simply because they were too boisterous at meal times with my cories getting battered and bruised! However, I was sad to see them go as in every other respect they are fantastic fish with great personalities in my experience. Would consider getting some again in the future but in a larger set than I currently have.

Cheers Matt

[Squidward]

I recently had to move my hoplos on just simply because they were too boisterous at meal times with my cories getting battered and bruised! However, I was sad to see them go as in every other respect they are fantastic fish with great personalities in my experience. Would consider getting some again in the future but in a larger set than I currently have.

Cheers Matt

Hmmm, not so sure they are for me then. I am pleased I asked
I have black ghost knife fish in my tank. At feeding time it takes them a while to sniff out the pellets off the tank floor and eat.
If the Hoplos are too boisterous, the BGKF may go hungry?

[MattP]

If you get hoplo's and they take a liking to the pellets you feed your BGKF,they won't last long!.I doubt the BGKF would get it's fair share unless you fed after lights off when it becomes more active.

Cheers Matt

[Squidward]

If you get hoplo's and they take a liking to the pellets you feed your BGKF,they won't last long!.I doubt the BGKF would get it's fair share unless you fed after lights off when it becomes more active.

Cheers Matt

Hi,
Any other suggestions then?
Same size catfish as Hoplos, or maybe smaller. Active during the day. But a bit less boisterous.

[MattP]

How about one of the Brochis,

Brochis britskii

,

Brochis multiradiatus

or

Brochis splendens

.These are larger and chunkier than cory's but not too boisterous compared to the hoplos. Also their active during daylight.

Cheers Matt

[mod edit: Jools: fixed incorrectly posted tags]

[katgermain]

I have a female Hoplo with a tank of 5 Corys and 6 Barbs. The Barbs are the pain-voracious-eaters for me. The Hoplo's a bit of a bulldozer but peaceful. She goes to the surface to eat first so I put a bunch at the top to keep her busy then some in the stream of the filter to push the food right down for the others (she'll also eat from my fingers which is kind of a silly thrill for a newbie like me!). The rest love sinking wafers and will nibble at them together until it's gone. She sort of treats the wafers like Gobstoppers/ jawbreakers. The others will nibble away and she'll (gently) bulldoze her way through the crowd, find the wafer, gum it around for a few seconds then spit it out and move on and the others will carry on their nibbling until her next lap around the tank. It's rather funny to watch. I do love my Corys but I have a special affinity for her.

And perhaps I imagined it but I swear she got decidedly protective over my Bronze/ Corydoras aeneus when the Barbs came to the tank and were picking on him initially.

Give Hoplo's a chance!

[Viktor Jarikov]

Give Hoplo's a chance!

good slogan

[Squidward]

Hi All,

Well a few weeks ago I decided to get myself a couple of Hoplos.
They were quite small. But have been doing really well so far.

They were very shy at first, hiding behind the wood, but after a week or so got more bold. And I see them all the time now.

Really pleased I got them.
Thanks
Squidward

[Viktor Jarikov]

(fingers crossed)

[Bwhiskered]

I have a dozen large Hoplo thoracatum in a flat bare 30 gallon tank with a number of stray cories and have never had a problem. They have even breed there under a yellow lid from time to time.

[Squidward]

Hi All,

Sorry to drag up this old thread.

Well I have had a few batches of Hoplos (2 groups of 3) and I have lost them all except my last one at the moment.

I got them as small fish. They grew quite quickly, but once they are a decent size, they succumb to a disease quite quickly - I am not an expert, but I think it is columnaris.
I test my water weekly, and there is no significant flucatuations in ph, 0 ammonia & nitrite and nitrate is in the 20 range.

There is a wc L114 in the tank, which I would imagine to be quite sensitive to any problems, but so far (touch wood ) it seems to be ok.

So maybe there is some truth in what the person at the lfs was telling me that Hoplos are quite sensitive.

[Viktor Jarikov]

perhaps different hoplos possess different sensitivities and I am no hoplo expert but mine have always been fine and far from the first ones to show distress/die when problems arose in my highly diversely-populated tanks... in fact, if any observation can be drawn from my experience, they are more robust than 50%-80% of other fish

[MatsP]

My experience too is that they are tolerant of almost anything barring machete and nuclear attacks.

--
Mats

[crkinney]

Got to agree with MatsP my hoplos are wild caught from a inch deep muddy ditch ,transported in a bucket of that same water and kept there for two days ,no food, air or filtration .These guys are tough I don't think you can kill them with a club. They never stop moving and will rearrange everything in the tank
over nite they eat almost any thing but don't bother other fish not even fry
Great fish and fun to watch
mule