What Size Fish Will A Spiny Eel And Bichir Not Eat

[IronLung]

as you all know.....spiny eels and bichir will eat whatever fits in their mouths....what size is the cut off point.... 3 inches...or does it hace to be 4.....i ask this because a LPS owner told me a tire track eel will small tetra or something like that...and i thought to myself..."nah...they willl eat bigger than that...they could scarf down the betta"...and plus bichir might be harder to judge because they are clumsy eaters...


and is it true you can't have plecos with bichir because of the slime coat sucking thing...how often does that happen

 

[nmonks]

[A] What spiny eel?

What bichir?

I can tell you from personal (accidental) experience that a 35 cm tyre track spiny eel can eat fish as big as a platy. Similarly, I've kept Polypterus palmas with Congo tetras and Nannaethiops unitaeniatus for many years and had no problems. There's variation between the different species of spiny eels. The smaller Asian ones are primarily invertebrate (worm) eaters and eat fish only opportunistically, and probably won't bother if there's other food in abundance. The larger Asian species and especially the African species are much dedicated piscivores. By understanding is that some of the African species feed primarily on small cichlids and cichlid fry.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[IronLung]

Monk... i was thinking more of the line of a peacock eel... maybe a tire track...but not likely because they might eat...like a dwarf goruami.... and though i like the fire eel ...no way... they get really big....will peacock eat betta too? and as for bichir i was thinking Palmas Bichir (Polypterus palmas ) , maybe but most likely not a Delhezi Bichir (Polypterus delhezi ) because they get big...but i don't know how big..... do you keep plecos with your bichir?,,, also at this pet store ..i saw a bichir that was kind of redish moroon...anybody know which kind this was and how big it gets....


what about black ghost knife..will they bother smaller fish...how small?

 

[OohFeeshy]

Well, my 4-5" delhezi has no trouble with full grown black widow tetras

 

[beblondie]

Monk... i was thinking more of the line of a peacock eel... maybe a tire track...but not likely because they might eat...like a dwarf goruami.... and though i like the fire eel ...no way... they get really big....will peacock eat betta too? and as for bichir i was thinking Palmas Bichir (Polypterus palmas ) , maybe but most likely not a Delhezi Bichir (Polypterus delhezi ) because they get big...but i don't know how big..... do you keep plecos with your bichir?,,, also at this pet store ..i saw a bichir that was kind of redish moroon...anybody know which kind this was and how big it gets....


The Polypterus palmas complex:
P. palmas palmas ('palmas' bichir)- 13"
(subspecies)P. palmas polli ('marbled bichir)- 14"
(subspecies) P. palmas buettikoferi ('buettikoferi' bichir)- 13"
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P. delhezi ('armoured' or 'delhez's' bichir)- 14" theres not really much size difference
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reddish maroon?did it have yellow dots?
The only polypterus I can think of thats roughly that color has yellow flecks and is Polypterus ornatipinnis
a cool 18-24'' fish-Anne

 

[CFC]

I have seen some P.endlicheri that are a reddish/maroon colour.

 

[beblondie]

So have I but they tend to be the exception not the rule.In fact I have only seen 1 with that coloring