Rescued Senegal Bichir

[Loony Fish]

Ok, so, a few weeks ago, i saved a senegal bichir from my little sisters' class. it lived in a 5 gallon bucket with 2 inches of gross, cold water. here is his story. he was purchased at petco (i DO NOT like petco) and lived in the bucket. i took him home (the teacher wanted me to, so they didn't have to care for t over the summer) and put him in one of my many tanks. he has moved through all of my tanks, because he kept trying to eat every thing, and a thought he was a horrible pain. now i have him all alone in a 15 gallon tank, and i love him. i might have some room for him in the 120 gallon, or the 900 gallon indoor archerfish pond. 'm waanting to know some tankmates for him, after seeing a 3 inch fish scarf down 30 feeder guppys and a ghost shrimp, i'm scared of keeping him with any thing!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[invader]

Ok, so, a few weeks ago, i saved a senegal bichir from my little sisters' class. it lived in a 5 gallon bucket with 2 inches of gross, cold water. here is his story. he was purchased at petco (i DO NOT like petco) and lived in the bucket. i took him home (the teacher wanted me to, so they didn't have to care for t over the summer) and put him in one of my many tanks. he has moved through all of my tanks, because he kept trying to eat every thing, and a thought he was a horrible pain. now i have him all alone in a 15 gallon tank, and i love him. i might have some room for him in the 120 gallon, or the 900 gallon indoor archerfish pond. 'm waanting to know some tankmates for him, after seeing a 3 inch fish scarf down 30 feeder guppys and a ghost shrimp, i'm scared of keeping him with any thing!!!!!!!!!!!

The bichir will need at least a 48"x12" (imo) to be happy. They are very active animals that need lots of room to move around. They can get up to 12", but you will usually only see them around 8-10". Tankmates should be chosen wisely... anything that can fit in the bichir's mouth will become food and anything that can slurp the bichir down won't hesitate.

I love bichirs (I own 8 different species) and think that the 120 is a great tank for them. Much better than in the 15 and in the 900, I'm sure you are going to have fish that are too large for the bichirs. They can easily become spaghetti.

Feed them meaty foods: bloodworm for starters, beef heart, earthworms, uncooked shrimp, strips of whitefish, ghost shrimp, pellets, etc. I would stay away from feeder fish, unless they are guppies that are quarantined before feeding and only as a treat.

You can keep different species and sexes together, with no problem, as long as you don't mix the larger lower jawed species (endlicheri, congicus, lap) with the smaller upper jaws (palmas var, delhezi, senegalus).

I hope that helps!

EDIT: I also want to add that you should not choose tankmates that are very fast and quick to eat all of the food, as bichirs can be pretty slow to find food, as they are pretty blind. They rely mainly on their sense of smell, which can sometimes slow them down. As they get used to your feeding schedule, they get better at getting the food, though.

 

[Loony Fish]

so, what would be a good tank mate?
maybe a cichlid or oddball?

 

[invader]

Well... anything that is peaceful and big. Ctenopoma, catfish large enough not to eat/be eaten, less aggressive cichlids (Geophagus, Severums, etc), other bichirs not too big, silver dollars, bala sharks, etc.

The list is very long. What kind of fish are you interested in?

 

[Loony Fish]

well, i like cichlids, oddballs, and large characnins.
for example, severum, knife fish, silver dollars, and lepornus. would he eat a 6" rainbow shark?

 

[invader]

well, i like cichlids, oddballs, and large characnins.
for example, severum, knife fish, silver dollars, and lepornus. would he eat a 6" rainbow shark?

If it's more than half the body length, I wouldn't worry about it too much. My senegals aren't as predatory as the other bichirs that I have. All of those fish could work with the bichirs, with the exception of the lepornius... as far as I know (I haven't kept them myself, just what I've heard), they get pretty nasty when they are larger and I don't know how well they would play with the bichirs or the other fish. I remember CFC (I think it was CFC...) saying that his lepornius were some of the nastiest fish that he has ever kept out of his monster collection. So be careful with those.