Senegal Bichir?

[pattyplaty]

Can a small young senegal bichir live in a 10 gallon tank? For how long? I can move it to a 75 gallon tank when it outgrows the 10g one. Until what length can i keep him in 10g? and can they live with kribs? what other fish can it live with? ad for after senegal bichir moves out of 10g, what kind of small oddball fish can take over? i don't just want one fish, i want to know some good mixes.
thanks, xoxo
patty

 

[Straydum]

straight no. a bichir CANNOT LIVE in a 10g. it will eat your fishes if capable of. so your fishes have to be bigger than your bichir for them to cohibit.

your 10g could have dwarf puffers. a pair with a small plec.

 

[beblondie]

Care of young
Young bichirs in this example P.senegalus, As they
breed in captivity and are now being farm raised
and are the most readily available subjuvenile of
the bichirs and the cheapest ( $5-10) range
and they are incerdibly small when we buy them
2''-3'' is about normal .
This is how I raise them certainly there are other
ways. I use the step up system in other words
small fish small tank as it grows I move it up
to bigger tank. Its a three step process I use
they start off in a 10 gallon tank with the water
level reduced to about half the tanks volume
fine gravel or sand for the substrate and silk
plants for cover and to float in.I use a sponge filter At this stage
they are fed bloodworms and baby brine shrimp
chopped squid and very small silversides
I feed small portions a few times a day.This
isn't possible for many but try feeding morning
and again at night, between now and 7" they
are undergoing their greatest growth and are
hungry constantly
When they reach approx. 5'' i add a small
power filter and raise the water level to approx
2 inches under the trim frame.At this size they are
bigger foods small feeder, ghostshrimp,bloodworms
earthworms etc .They stay in this tank till 7-8'' at which point
I move them to a 20 gallon long for final growout
These steps allow the bichir room to exercise
but still small enough so its easy to find/catch
food. Of course if I get a bigger specime
5-6'' they would go into the 10 gallon then move
up to the 20 long this gives me time to watch
for any signs of illness.-Anne

 

[Fruitbat]

I follow pretty much the same regimen as beblondie. My smaller (less than 6 inch) bichirs are usually housed in 10 gallon 'grow out' tanks and graduate to 20 gallon 'long' tanks when they hit 6 inches. From there they graduate to larger aquariums as the necessity arises. I tend to use live Water Sprite in the 10 gallon and 20 gallon tanks but sometimes replace (or supplement) that with live Java Fern, Anubias species or Aponogeton species. I don't lower the water level as much as beblondie does and tend to use low-flow power filters all the time rather than sponge filters. I keep the tankmates to a minimum...usually a small Synodontis catfish or two and maybe a few appropriately-sized Congo Tetras or Bush Fish (which go into the larger tanks as they outgrow the 10 or 20 gallon tank). I've also kept African Butterfly Fish in the 20 gallon 'long' tanks with my bichirs without any problems.

Here's a picture of one of the 10 gallon grow-out tanks that I use for small bichirs:

This technique has worked for me over the nearly 35 years that I've been keeping bichirs.

-Joe

 

[poopsydrew]

I also use a 10 gallon as grow-outs, as they come from the lfs at very small sizes. It makes feeding a lot easier to steadily upgrade the size of the tank.

Drew

Edit-I should add I dont have them with any tankmates until they go into the 75 gallon.