African Bichir Biotope

[onemisterchristian]

tossing around the idea of doing a biotope for my senegal bichir...googled it and possible tankmates for him in my 60 gal. are...featherfin syno, african leaffish, and spotted climbing perch. anyone know anything else about lake chad and possibly vegitation. plants is probably a better question for planted huh? anyways thanks in advance...

 

[Dwarfs]

I have a pretty much African oddball tank with

2 Senegal bichirs
2 African butterfly fish
3 Ctenopoma acutirostre (Spotted climbing perch)
1 African brown knife
1 Featherfin syno

Others:
Uaru
3 keyholes
3 peacock eels

Anyway, ignoring my overstockedness, the African fish all get along well, better than any other group of fish I have. They may lack in color, but their harmonious coexistence is great to see As for plants, just get java ferns and moss so that you only have to worry about fish and not so much the plants

 

[nmonks]

Hello,

I kept my Polypterus palmas polli with Congo tetras and Nanaethiops unitaenius for a few years, and everything seemed fine. Both these tetras are quite large, and the polypterus was quite small, and the Nanaethiops in particular might be a bit small to keep with large specimens. On the other hand, nurse tetras (Alestes spp.) and African red-eye tetras (Arnoldichthys) should be big enough.

Having the tetras is useful, as they act as dither fish, encouraging the bichir out more.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[Fruitbat]

onemrchristian...

I'll agree with nmonks on the Congo Tetras but wouldn't attempt the Red-eyed Tetra (Arnoldichthys) with any bichir of decent size because they only get to about 4 inches and it takes them a while to get there. The larger African tetras like Alestes (now Brycinus) that nmonks has already mentioned would certainly work though they'll eventually outgrow your 60 gallon because they get to about 10 inches, prefer to be in schools and are very active swimmers.

The African Leaf Fish (Polycentropsis abbreviata) is also probably not a great idea as they stay relatively small - besides the fact that they're not found in Lake Chad. A number of the Barbus species from the Lake Chad area would be acceptable....though some will remain much too small and others get HUGE!! (see the link below)

If you're REALLY trying to stick with a Lake Chad biotope then the Leopard Bush Fish is not recorded from that lake (only Ctenopoma petherici and perhaps Microctenopoma congicum of the Bush Fish from Lake Chad have enough size to do very well with an adult bichir).

As for submerged aquatic plants in Lake Chad, the most complete list I could find includes: Potamogeton spp., Vallisneria sp., Ceratophyllum demersum, and Utricularia spp.

Here is a link to a list of fish found in the Lake Chad/Chari River area. Each fish listed takes you to a FishBase entry for that fish.

Link to Lake Chad fish list

-Joe

 

[onemisterchristian]

onemrchristian...

I'll agree with nmonks on the Congo Tetras but wouldn't attempt the Red-eyed Tetra (Arnoldichthys) with any bichir of decent size because they only get to about 4 inches and it takes them a while to get there.

i was reading up on congos but everywhere i look says they get 3 in. max males 2.5 wouldn't my bichir eat them?

 

[nmonks]

Hello,

The bichir I kept was Polypterus palmas polli, a very small species and it did well with the Congo tetras. Polypterus palmas polli rarely seem to exceed 25 cm in captivity, whereas Polypteras senegalus often exceeds 30 cm, and many other bichirs are much bigger. Obviously, the bigger the bichir, the bigger the companions.

Congo tetras are maybe not all that long, but they're deep-bodied and chunky, and there's no way a small bichir like mine was going to be able to eat one. If you can, try and see some adult Congo tetras: they're big! The ones in the UK are sold at around 6 cm in length, and seem to reach about 8 to 10 cm in captivity.

I also kept my bichir with Ctenopoma acutirostre and, later on, with Ctenopoma fasciolatum.

Cheers,

Neale