Polypterus species

CFC · Feb 24, 2003

This may sound stupid but is it possible that my polypterus's are trying to spawn?I have a ornatipinnis and a senegalus both around 10" long which for the last couple of days have been swimming around the tank (a rare occasion in its self as they normally just hide under the pump)side by side in a kind of circular pattern followed by what i can only describe as wriggling/shimmying.I have never seen them show any real attention to each other before this so its the only explanation i can think of.

Gibbo · Feb 24, 2003

I've moved these as they tend to be beyond the average hobbyists experience and are considered an oddball being primitive fish and all.... Don't know about interbreeding cfc but they certainly sound a bit keen don't they!! Has there been a drop in water temperature lately/large water change/lots of livefood? Or even low pressure systems passing overhead! All can trigger behavior like this. I have a pair of Apollo Shark Luciosoma setigerum that shimmy and wriggle together, mouths agape, every time I do a water change in their tank. They have never spawned though (that I know of). Do your Bichirs share a tank with any other fish? Does the tank have any direct sunlight?

It seems to be quite tough finding anything on Google about this - It is a very scientific subject, but what I can gather is that yes, this may happen. It is termed something like Horizontal transfer of Genes (whatever that means)!! Any biologists in the house?!

CFC · Feb 24, 2003

I drained the tank down completely last week so i could move it onto its new stand which really stressed the fish out.The tank receives a small ammount of sunlight in the morning(2-3 hours),i feed live bloodworm and glassworm every day,they share a tank with a mixture of other large /predatory fish.I find the whole thing quite odd as the guy in lfs seemed to think they wouldn't tolerate each other in the same tank! :lol: