Ornate Bichir

[cane76]

my ornate has a tiny red thing attached to the outside of its gill it branches out into tiny tubes anyone know what this is?its to small to get a pic

 

[Paul_MTS]

how bigs the bichir?

if it's only small it might be the external gill bichirs have when young. they disapear as the bichir grows so might be the remains of 1.

 

[beblondie]

I'm going to go with the remains of the external gills all polypterids are born with -Anne

 

[Fruitbat]

Below is a picture of a young Polypterus delhezi that still has its external gills present. These are gradually resorbed by the fish as it matures and will slowly disappear. If that's what your P. ornatipinnis is showing then you have nothing to worry about.

-Joe

 

[cane76]

yes the bichir is still small(7-8")thats a relief i thought it was some kind of parasite thx

 

[simonas]

yes the bichir is still small(7-8")thats a relief i thought it was some kind of parasite thx

thats a relief as I was going to post something similar about my new ornate

 

[ringham]

yes the bichir is still small(7-8")thats a relief i thought it was some kind of parasite thx

My ornate is only about 4-5" and doesn't have anything of the sort

If mine is smaller, I wonder why mine doesn't have any.

 

[jayjay]

It depends on the fish, some loose them when they are young some keep them till they are farily large.

 

[Rudy00]

It depends on the fish, some loose them when they are young some keep them till they are farily large.

i noticed the exact same thing on my ornate, a small almost parasitic looking frill, i never gave second thought to it being an external gill left from its juvie stages.

so you're not alone with this situation, although mine is much larger than yours hes almost 6" or so but very healthy in any other respect