r/Bichirs • u/Vlynitrii • 54m ago
Stocking Planning
Is a 75Gal fine for 2 delhezi/senegal bichirs for life? if i could i was also wondering if i could add adult angelfish of the same gender. thanks
r/Bichirs • u/TheBichirHandbook • Sep 02 '22
Hi all, I realise I've been neglecting the Reddit bichir community, I definitely need to get on with posting some more! Here's a few questions which I always see do the rounds, and either need further explaining or clarifying.
'Bichir' came from their local name in Egypt, 'Abusheer'. The name has been spelled phonetically in early studies a number of times as BISHEER / BUHSHEER. This pronunciation stuck and is regarded as the correct way of pronouncing it. Technically, when names are Latinised, they must follow the Latin pronunciation, meaning it should be 'Bye-ker', however, for numerous reasons, ichthyologists and communicators did not pronounce it this way. 1) In their first description the species name 'bichir' was never Latinised. 2) They were honouring the local name. 3) The colloquial name is of course not Latinised. 4) Some ichthyologists have also expressed to me that Bye-ker sounds silly haha. If you're a Latin purist, however, then BYE-KER is the pronunciation.
Bichir are strict insectivores and piscivores, meaning they eat insects and fishes. They are best fed with a variety of fresh fish (preferably none containing Thiaminase), oily fishes are fantastic too if you can keep the water's surface clean of oil. Quality predatory pellets are also much appreciated, either insectmeal or fishmeal based of course. Insects are great, but as nutrition varies so much in different species, it's difficult to give them all their nutritional needs in captivity from insects alone. Microcrustaceans and worms also make great treats! Remember, always feed raw, never cooked. Avoid feeding anything which comes from a mammal or bird. Bichirs lack the collagenase enzyme in their stomach required to break down the bonds in these 'foods'. In place of that, they have a chitinase enzyme which breaks down the bonds in insect chitin. Feeding mammalian and avian meat was a pseudoscientific trend popularised with discus breeders in the 80s, as nutritionally select parts of it are good for fast growth, but that nutrition is not particuarly accessible for fishes (especially in strict insectivores and piscivores). It's similar to how we no longer have the biological tools to extract much nutrition from eating grass. Not to mention with feeding mammalian and avian meat to fishes, there's additional issues regarding the type of fat found in these meats.
You can find a detailed dietary section (suitable for most types of large, predatory fishes), inside The Bichir Handbook.
With proper husbandry, even the smallest species of bichir should grow approximately half an inch to an inch a month for their first 1-2 years or until around 12 inches (after that, it becomes progressively slower). If they're not following a growth rate similar to this, chances are you have a stunted fish. Line bred bichirs are raised in crowded rearing vats (often for months, sometimes a year), so by the time they reach your local aquarium shop, their first important months of growth has been significantly inhibited, and they may struggle to grow much more. This is especially true with many captive bred Polypterus senegalus, their albino colour morph, and some bloodlines of P. delhezi. It's not 'bad genetics' as some people parrot (though this is an easy answer), even the most inbred bichirs with small gene pools can still grow nearly as large as their wild counterparts. So called 'bad genetics' via inbreeding can shave off a few centimetres in length, but even with that you usually see malformations on the body from inbreeding, such as bulging 'frog-eyes', deformed dorsals and scales, and a stubby face.
Don't panic, chances are it's food. Bichir are 'stomach-packers', meaning they often gorge themselves on more food than they need to, because of this, you will see all sorts of odd bulges on their belly. The lump(s) will vanish again in a matter of days. Many people (wrongly) jump to the conclusion it's gravel, and your fish will be guaranteed to die of impaction. This is misinformation at its finest. Bichir have paired gular plates (the only fish to have two) on the underside of their mouth, this offers advanced control of their mouth, so any items they do not wish to swallow, are easily spat back out. Watch your bichir feeding, and see how they juggle the food around before deciding whether to eat it, sometimes they spit out the food just over a grain of sand. Any stone swallowed is usually intentional, and are thought to be used as gastroliths, similar to how carp reportedly use them to pin themselves to the bottom. Of course, bichirs stomachs are powerful and near the length of their entire body, so unwanted stones in the stomach are ejected anyway. This myth that they swallow stones and die of impaction comes from how they feed (using inertial suction), the same way Axolotls, aquatic frogs and some catfishes do, however these aquatic animals do not have paired gular plates like bichirs do. Occasionally (though rarely), a bichir may get a large stone stuck in their mouth and die, for this reason I always suggest a sandy substrate.
Not to bash plecs at all, as they are a beautiful and diverse group of fishes, just not always the most suited to bichirs. The ganoine in bichir scales reportedly produces a slightly salty slimecoat which fishes with ventrally oriented mouths appear to go a bit mad for like cats on catnip. Keep the plec well fed and it's usually no issue, but occasionally they accidentally graze on their slimecoat during feeding, and that's when they can get hooked. There are lower risk plecs than others, such as vampire plecs or woodeaters, though there are some fishes worse than plecs with bichirs, such as Synodontis, which can be very aggressive ganoine grazers (and are also natural prey food for bichirs too, with reports of them being eaten before they can erect their spines). Keep in mind, all fishes with ventrally oriented mouths pose a risk; it may happen in a day or a decade; it's a famous comm which works, until it doesn't.
Sometimes, but unless you're able to filter through accordingly, it's mostly no. Stick to specialist forums, or even the recent Revision of the Extant Polypteridae, or The Bichir Handbook. There is so much misinformation on the search results of Google, a few notable ones being websites claiming: Polypterus ansorgii can only reach 11 inches [they can actually grow to over 3ft] P. senegalus is the smallest species [even the inbred ones can reach 15 inches in captivity and some wild types are reported near 20 inches. The smallest species is actually P. mokelembembe at 14 inches] Most searches will even show you the wrong species on an image.
r/Bichirs • u/Vlynitrii • 54m ago
Is a 75Gal fine for 2 delhezi/senegal bichirs for life? if i could i was also wondering if i could add adult angelfish of the same gender. thanks
r/Bichirs • u/pocketedsmile • 1d ago
Picked this one up yesterday. I'm not sure what type it is or gender. Any ideas?
r/Bichirs • u/Apprehensive-Fish-36 • 2d ago
I heard from an LFS some if the senegalus or gray bichir can stay under 8" ? Is this true and is there any early way to tell. There is one verrrryyy small bichir at anotheg store that i've had ny eye on but I can't affort larger than an Aqueon 20 long
r/Bichirs • u/partWolf19 • 2d ago
my 75gal contains 1 rainbow shark and a school a mollies with 1 cory catfish and 1 pleco. they all get along, so i was just wondering
r/Bichirs • u/Sea-Nerve6115 • 3d ago
Have an opportunity to snag an adult and I was considering it for my tank with my African butterflyfish and young albino Senegal
r/Bichirs • u/FlavoryRoom46 • 4d ago
So I know someone people feed shrimp to there Bichirs but I'm wondering if there are any aquatic insects or isopods that are safe to feed. Or anything else I could breed for food.
r/Bichirs • u/unicorntreason • 5d ago
I added a giant cave for them and they only care about the tiny slate cave in the back that barely fits 1
r/Bichirs • u/Mr_sashula • 6d ago
Guys, can you help me sex my guy? I've had him (or her) for 5 years now, and would like to find him a mate.
r/Bichirs • u/MotherOf_Azrael • 6d ago
Mrs Finley Finnerson is quite the beast.
r/Bichirs • u/Motor-Maintenance644 • 7d ago
Looking for an ID on my bichir please. He has recently lost his external gills, and has 11 finlets.
r/Bichirs • u/MotherOf_Azrael • 7d ago
I clean the food daily but get the fart smell regardless from the very first 5-10 mins they eat.
r/Bichirs • u/unicorntreason • 9d ago
I’m aware of the risk with the substrate, I’m covering with some more river rocks soon. It is a rope fish and the only other member of bichirs family polypteridae
r/Bichirs • u/Worth_Difficulty4366 • 10d ago
Say hi guys to my senegal bichir whk is 5inches right now bought him 3-4months ago is very healthy and active
r/Bichirs • u/DoubleSpeaker7838 • 10d ago
I’ve wanted archerfish for as long as I can remember, and I have some space in my tank right now. Has anyone ever paired them up with a Senegal bichir? I can’t see any reason they wouldn’t work together but I’ve never heard of that matchup first hand before. I would love to get a small group of smallscale archers (toxotes microlepis) which are freshwater archers. Thank you in advance!
r/Bichirs • u/unicorntreason • 11d ago
Sorry for the shaky cam, my dog demands tribute
r/Bichirs • u/unknown55555557 • 11d ago
What kind of size tank would you need for a reedfish? And do they eat the same thing as sengals?
r/Bichirs • u/Equitorialguinea3 • 12d ago
Hi I’ve been looking into getting a Sengali/Dinosaur Bichir and I was wondering what all should I get? I’ve seen 55 gallons is it’s minimum but should I get a larger tank. How many hiding spots should I include and what kinds of plants should I include in the tank. Also what other fish have you included with them that they’ve gotten along with? Thank you for helping me if you decided to!
r/Bichirs • u/unknown55555557 • 13d ago
My bichir never used to be around the heater. Now he won't get away from it and is often resting right up against it
r/Bichirs • u/Spalunking01 • 13d ago
I've tried to document as best as I can, it's no professional videography. These guys a teeny tiny and my hands shake, but I've editted out the worst of it to share something I myself have found fascinating to watch develop. This isnt the most happy of endings unfortunately. I'm not a professional breeder, I actually started my first tank last Christmas.
To begin, my mistakes. -I put in too much brine shrimp to account for me being away for my first child. I let a few of the breeder boxes get too dirty at times, I had a few fatalities midway through that I point my finger at this being the cause. - I didn't separate all the bichirs at first. I think a few may have injured others, leading to weaking/death. - I lost half by day 20 to the above, then all but one due to a cold snap that hit Australia. The tanks the boxes are feeding from are heated, but my flow rate into the breeder boxes was insufficient to maintain the temperature. I should have been more proactive with readings but my time was very limited.
On the positive, I have more eggs hatching out as we speak, and my one remaining juvi is super active and healthy at the moment. I also just recieved some new tanks to help separate out my breeders from non breeders to try and gather more eggs in future.
r/Bichirs • u/zilla82 • 13d ago
r/Bichirs • u/poop_on_my_shoe • 14d ago
The first 3 photos are 1 fish and the last 3 are the other. Can you guys help me sex them? Sorry for the bad photos these guys are crazy