Pictures Of My New Baby...

[Gankutsuou]

The 38 gallon is 3 feet long. It'll suit him

 

[2polypterus]

The 38 gallon is 3 feet long. It'll suit him

You will be ok for six months at least but it will def outgrow your 38 eventually.

 

[Gankutsuou]

3 feet long is ment to suit them I hear.

 

[CatLover]

Oh! Gorgeous!!!! That's the first time I have seen an albino one.

They stay around a foot in length. The length of your tank seems fine, but if it's only 38 gallons, then that means it must be pretty narrow. For a fish like that, I wouldn't keep it in anything smaller than 55 gallons. Seems to be a safe guideline to use.

 

[rob newland]

I have never kept a bichir, but how big do they grow if they can outgrow a 3ft?

 

[Scykotic Belief]

polpyterus senegalus usually get around 1ft in length, but more space is usually required because, it could swim forward 2 times its length "the 3rd foot being were it begins" then stop.... Most species do range around the 12" - 14" size, only species such as The orginal Bichir get bigger.

 

[2polypterus]

I would say a fifty breeder would be bare min. size for one. Even a fifty five is kind of small- it may be four feet long but it is only one foot deep. I always thought tanks should be at least twice the fishes length in any direction? Mine are very active swimmers and make full use of the whole tank.

 

[lozronz]

Hey,
We have just got some fish that took pretty similar to that at my LFS but not albino, Are they also called reed fish, or am I being ignorant?

 

[Fruitbat]

As somebody who has kept Polypterids for about 30 years I may be able to offer a little definitive insight to this discussion.

Polypterus senegalus does indeed reach a maximum size of about 12 inches in captivity, though its growth rate generally slows considerably once it has reached young adult size (about 8 inches). A 10 gallon tank makes a great grow-out tank until the bichir is about 6 inches long but then it will need something bigger. My normal regimen is to keep bichirs in 10 gallon tanks until they're about 6 inches long and then I move them into a 20 gallon Long tank until they've reached 8 or 9 inches. After that they go into larger tanks. For one or two adult P. senegalus I've found the 50 gallon 'Breeder' tank to be ideal.

Here is a shot of one of my albino P. senegalus:

Regarding bichir sizes, the smaller species of bichir (like P. senegalus, P. mokelembembe, P. retropinnis and most of the Polypterus palmas complex) generally reach 12 inches or a little longer. The mid-sized bichirs (like Polypterus delhezi, P. weeksi and a few others) generally have a maximum size of 16-21 inches in captivity. Some of the larger bichir species can be considerably longer. Polypterus ornatipinnis (24 inches), Polypterus bichir bichir (28 inches), Polypterus bichir lapradei (29 inches), Polypterus endlicheri endlicheri (25 inches), and the biggest of them all - Polypterus endlicheri congicus (39 inches) are very large fish and require very large aquariums.

lozronz: The Reed (or Rope) Fish is indeed a Polypterid...the only genus other than Polypterus that exists. The scientific name is Erpetoichthys calabaricus. It is more 'snakey' in appearance than its close cousins and lacks the ventral fins that all members of the genusPolypterus have. I have personally kept one of these fish that reached a length of 24 inches.

Hope this helps a bit.

-Joe

 

[pica_nuttalli]

heh, that ropefish looks like he's smirking... must've just eaten a prized tetra or two

as for tank lengths: most of the time, when people say "oh, such-and-such needs a 4-foot tank", they are referring to a standard 4ft that has dimensions along the lines of 4x1x2 feet. unless you have small fish like danios that just swim in straight lines all day long, the width of a tank is just as important as the length.

if you have a foot-long fish, then you need to keep him in at least a foot wide tank.

 

[2polypterus]

As somebody who has kept Polypterids for about 30 years I may be able to offer a little definitive insight to this discussion.

Polypterus senegalus does indeed reach a maximum size of about 12 inches in captivity, though its growth rate generally slows considerably once it has reached young adult size (about 8 inches). A 10 gallon tank makes a great grow-out tank until the bichir is about 6 inches long but then it will need something bigger. My normal regimen is to keep bichirs in 10 gallon tanks until they're about 6 inches long and then I move them into a 20 gallon Long tank until they've reached 8 or 9 inches. After that they go into larger tanks. For one or two adult P. senegalus I've found the 50 gallon 'Breeder' tank to be ideal.

Here is a shot of one of my albino P. senegalus:

Regarding bichir sizes, the smaller species of bichir (like P. senegalus, P. mokelembembe, P. retropinnis and most of the Polypterus palmas complex) generally reach 12 inches or a little longer. The mid-sized bichirs (like Polypterus delhezi, P. weeksi and a few others) generally have a maximum size of 16-21 inches in captivity. Some of the larger bichir species can be considerably longer. Polypterus ornatipinnis (24 inches), Polypterus bichir bichir (28 inches), Polypterus bichir lapradei (29 inches), Polypterus endlicheri endlicheri (25 inches), and the biggest of them all - Polypterus endlicheri congicus (39 inches) are very large fish and require very large aquariums.

lozronz: The Reed (or Rope) Fish is indeed a Polypterid...the only genus other than Polypterus that exists. The scientific name is Erpetoichthys calabaricus. It is more 'snakey' in appearance than its close cousins and lacks the ventral fins that all members of the genusPolypterus have. I have personally kept one of these fish that reached a length of 24 inches.

Hope this helps a bit.

-Joe

Joe-

Your fish are gorgeous!! Thanks for your insight!!

 

[Fruitbat]

2polypterus...

Thanks for the compliment. As my signature indicates...I consider the Polypterids to be my favorite group of fish.

Currently I have the following species and subspecies in my tanks:

Polypterus bichir lapradei
Polypterus delhezi
Polypterus endlicheri congicus
Polypterus endlicheri endlicheri
Polypterus mokelembembe
Polypterus ornatipinnis
Polypterus palmas buettikoferi
Polypterus palmas palmas
Polypterus palmas polli
Polypterus retropinnis
Polypterus senegalus (both 'normal' and 'albino' color forms)
Polypterus weeksi
Erpetoichthys calabaricus

Now...if I can just get Polypterus ansorgii, Polypterus bichir bichir and Polypterus teugelsi my life will be complete!

-Joe

 

[SamUK]

fair play youve kept them a while but i still dont think a 6" fish should be kept in a 10 or 20 gallon.


even if it does bend.



mine who is about 8" cruises around my 180 gallon tank all day and he loves the space.

 

[solsed]

whoa! 2polypterus, is that fish that is your id photo real? its huge! who caught it?


oh, wait its not as big as i thought, but its still pretty big!

 

[Fruitbat]

SamUK...

The 10 and 20 gallon tanks are temporary quarters used as grow-out tanks. In general, bichirs have a difficult time locating their food by sight and a smaller aquarium means that they have less searching to do to locate their food using their noses. Using smaller tanks for growing out the fish has been a tried and true technique for me and my young bichirs seem to be perfectly happy with their surroundings. To each his (or her) own, however.

-Joe