My Senegal Bichir Eats Way Too Much! (i Think)

[onemisterchristian]

Wow, what a fat pig, my senegal eats so much. If it's blood worms i have to feed him at least 4 or 5 times a day. If it's beefheart he eats one and a half of those frozen cubes a day. Which is a lot considering he is only about 4 1/2 inches. his stomach looks a little like a plump sausage. anyways. is this ok? if i don't feed him this much he "paces" back and forward accross the tank which, to be completely honest, intimidates me. I feel like if i keep feeding him at this rate he'll be shaped like a pufferfish

 

[CFC]

I would suggest a change in diet, bloodworms are too low in protein for semi adult predators and beef heart is just not good for fish in the long term, mammal proteins are difficult for fish to break down and much of it will just be "passed" into the water undigested.
Take a trip to your local fish market and buy some frozen raw whitebait (tiny sprats which are often served in Italian resturaunts coated with breadcrumbs and deep fried), small cooked shrimp (prawns) and some cooked mussel or clam meat and then feed it one piece of one of these each day.

 

[Dangerousdan]

As CFC says beef heart feed to often will cause the fish to become "fat" and unhealthy not to mention poor coloured.
My 4" senegal would eat 2x 2" whitebait a day and had a amazing growth rate. Which was just aswell or the ornate may have taken a fancy to him.

 

[onemisterchristian]

Thanks guys, i'll get on that whitebait right away. sounds like the way to go.