Which Bichir?!

[JohnRossDele]

hi all, i wanna get a bichir for my 240 ltr in my sig which one should i get

i have a good interest in armoured bichirs

i know i should care but if my bichir ate the danios i wouldn't get rid of 'em

id probably put the bichir in front of the other very small fish so if he ate them i wouldn't care

i want a good bichir tank mate not one that owns the tank and drives the fish to the other sides of the tank

ive got a sunken ship & skull other hiding places in my tank i think that would help a bit

the substrate is sand so happy days for the bichir!!

the bigest boss in my tank is the black shark put i wouldn't want them to get into a death match r anything

id probably want a colourful bichir not one that is dull

thanks PS my 240ltr is a juwel rio

 

[england]

Hi is you "shark" a black which grow huge or is it a redtailed black shark

I have a senegal birchir and he live's in harmony with a hoplo catfish/snakehead's of both dwarf and large variety,pictus catfish,sailfin plec,tinfoil's and bala shark's,never had a problem with anything...But depend's on the size's of fish, id imagine if you had zebra's they would be a snack

"240ltr: 3 Blue Acaras, 1 oscar, 1 Black Ghost Knife, 1 male krib, 2 Bala Sharks, couple of danios, cory cats, 1 Black Shark, 1 Clown Loach & 1 Pleco"

is this your stocking now?

 

[nmonks]

I'd second what Nelly says above; you really can't go wrong with Polypterus senegalus. Alternatively, the fish sold as Polypterus palmas* is another winner.

You don't really want your danios to be eaten if you can help it, and to be honest, if the tank is fairly deep, I'd be surprised if small, well-fed bichirs went for them at all. Both the species mentioned above feed primarily on invertebrates in the wild, and are inept predators.

I will follow up what Nelly says about choosing tankmates carefully. I've seen bichirs stripped of their fins when kept with nippy and aggressive tankmates. In the tank I saw these poor bichirs, the tankmates were various small (5-8 cm) cichlids. They are simply too slow -- and too stupid? -- to deal with such fish. Choose very gentle tankmates, obviously too big to be eaten, but otherwise harmless. Dwarf Synodontis, Ctenopoma acutirostre, Congo tetras, etc. all work well and look the part too.

Cheers, Neale

*Likely multiple different species in reality, and quite possibly not true Polypterus palmas at all.

 

[JohnRossDele]

Hi is you "shark" a black which grow huge or is it a redtailed black shark

I have a senegal birchir and he live's in harmony with a hoplo catfish/snakehead's of both dwarf and large variety,pictus catfish,sailfin plec,tinfoil's and bala shark's,never had a problem with anything...But depend's on the size's of fish, id imagine if you had zebra's they would be a snack

"240ltr: 3 Blue Acaras, 1 oscar, 1 Black Ghost Knife, 1 male krib, 2 Bala Sharks, couple of danios, cory cats, 1 Black Shark, 1 Clown Loach & 1 Pleco"

is this your stocking now?

Hi, theres a pearl & a zebra danio & yeah its a big 1 but im upgrading my tank to a new 450ltr vision when he outgrows the 240ltr.Would an armoured bichir be ok!?

 

[always4lora]

as for colourfull bichir's i ahvent really seen any really colourfull ones, they all look awsome but you dont get them in bright colours or anything , the armoured one looks smart but are a little more expensive.
the platinum coloured senegal looks really cool. I have a juvi senegal bichir and he's in with a variety of all somewhat harmless fish. The senegal and the palmas as not really nocturnal either which is good.
As the bichir eating the danios its kinda unlikely, my senegal quite often when going along the botton swims and brushes his mouth passed the food and still doesnt realise its there , deffo not the cleverest fish.

As for your current stocking i'd leave it out if you've got what you've got. Most Bichir's you find in shops are juvi and stand a chance of getting eaten.

 

[JohnRossDele]

as for colourfull bichir's i ahvent really seen any really colourfull ones, they all look awsome but you dont get them in bright colours or anything , the armoured one looks smart but are a little more expensive.
the platinum coloured senegal looks really cool. I have a juvi senegal bichir and he's in with a variety of all somewhat harmless fish. The senegal and the palmas as not really nocturnal either which is good.
As the bichir eating the danios its kinda unlikely, my senegal quite often when going along the botton swims and brushes his mouth passed the food and still doesnt realise its there , deffo not the cleverest fish.

As for your current stocking i'd leave it out if you've got what you've got. Most Bichir's you find in shops are juvi and stand a chance of getting eaten.

by juvi on average what size & im willing to spend as much as £15 i put in 4 pangasius cat juvi's & i think at the minute there is about 2 left the oscar ate em and the pleco hoover the leftovers to the part about the pleco and to the oscar they were around 4-6cm at the time will my oscar have a good chance of eaten him?!!

heres the list again but more precise!
240ltr: 3 Blue Acaras fully grown, 1 oscar juvi (4''), 1 male krib (lmost there), 2 Bala Sharks(lets say teens), couple of danios(usual size), cory catsjuvis, 1 Black Shark Labeo, 1 Clown Loach (Teen)& 1 common Pleco (Teen)

 

[england]

Sorry mate but the black shark will end up like

these guy's also get more aggressive with age

 

[always4lora]

@ nelly's post , can't imagine that fitting in many aquaria , looks aroun 2-3 foot so would need probs 4 foot wide aquaria and 10+ foot in length < one hell of a tank upgrade needed.


tbh you are overstocked imo and should get the other tank and move some accross before adding to the stocking , the juvi senegal i got is like 2-3 inches but is kinda worm shapped so is really small and yes it would most liekly get eaten i would of thought. £15 isnt really much to spend either, i got my senegal which also known as the common (so prsume the cheapest) was £5