Senegal Bichir

[Sheilaf]

I recently purchased a baby senegal bichir. It is currently in my 30g community tank but will be moved once it grows larger. My concern is that it is not getting enough to eat. I've been feeding frozen bloodworms and shrimp pellets, but it doesn't seem to notice them even when they are right under it's nose. Do they only feed off the bottom or will they eat food as it sinks as well?

 

[Mr._Fishy]

Mine will only eat food off the bottom. They have too slow reactions to catch the food while its sinking.

Ryan

 

[invader]

All of my bichirs feed from the bottom... I have yet to see them actually try to get somethingi floating around.

Anyway, they [bichirs] have a pretty weak sense of sight and rely more on their sense of smell. It might take a while for a bichir to find food, but when they do, they gorge themselves. They will eat anything including, pellets, bloodworms, brine shrimp, beefheart, raw market shrimp, squid, etc etc, as long as it hits the bottom.

 

[geo7x]

I have to put food in an obvious place for my senny to find it, because as invader said they can find it hard to locate food and sometimes my senegal, frantically looking for the food, manages to swim right over it, which can get frustrating. My senny would never find floating food in a million years.

 

[DarkEntity]

My Senegal will snatch food from my fingers now

 

[Marine/Freshwater?]

Your bichir might not be comfortable yet, eventually they get pretty bold.

 

[england]

mine to about a week to decide to eat,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Mr._Fishy]

Mine will eat floating food, but it doesn't find it immediately.

 

[Sheilaf]

Well I have only had mine for about 3 days now and he is eating shrimp pellets so I guess that's pretty good. What size tank do you guys have your senegals in? I've been reading and have seen anywhere from 30 to 90gals as the minimum size.

 

[shroob]

I personally think a tank with a footprint of 36"x12" to be a minimum for senegals, but others keep them in less.

 

[Straydum]

a 30g would be just enough to keep a senegal for life. they rarely get to 10" or more in captivity though you do find pretty large ones at your lfs.

 

[DarkEntity]

I had one in a Rio125 and once mine hit 9" it was obviously too small a tank for it.

 

[the_evil_duboisi]

My old ones used to eat from the top, right from my fingers......I kept them with fish that ate off the top and I think that's what triggered it.

Tomorrow I;m gonna get a new senny. Hope he does the smae!

 

[GobyMaster]

Hmm, the Sene in a 30 gallon was discussed over here, in case you are wondering about that.

I feed mine frozen krill that sink to the surface, then she eats it, but I've noticed that when I put live foods in the tank, she'll only eat them if the shrimp wanders directly in front of her face.

 

[the_evil_duboisi]

Wow. I must have been lucky I had the most active polypterus that I had ever seen! Mine were active hunters of food.

Hope my new one turns out like that; I'm gonna try to get one that's most active/bigger than the rest