Bichir baybay!

6773 Views 57 Replies 10 Participants Last post by djembekah, Feb 15, 2014

Agent13

Discussion Starter · Jul 2, 2013

I was in my fish store today checking the new cichlid stock and then they laid it on me. Knew I had a ton of tanks with more in my future. They had this beauty and oh how cute I coudn't resist. I have now made my upgrade from the 75 to need to be more then 125.. haha.. here I go. ( I have time as you'll see this is a little baby). An ornate bichir -Polypterus ornatipinnis- I need to get better pics. but this is while I was getting it ready to go into the 75. Guess I can kiss all my shrimp goodbye but thats fine and maybe one day the dwarf crays but hey...this new addition in cool. It is black with bright yellow patterns. very vivid colors.

More pics to come.
Any care advice i welcome. Did my research but always willing to listen.

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jaysee

· #2 · Jul 2, 2013

Wow it's little!

Honestly, I'm a bit concerned about it with your cichlids. I think it could easily be bullied and harassed.

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Agent13

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jul 2, 2013 (Edited)

Nooo. You forget how many tanks I have ;-) . This is in the 75 with the balas and angels and a few others. the cichlids would be a dangerous tank for this baby. Only non cichlid in my cichlid tank is a rather nice sized African feather finned cat. This little guy is currently suspiciusly burrowed under the shrimps fav plant in my dinning room 75.

Anyone have a good guess at age for this little one given the size and known to have very good care prior to mee as well as it's parents..??

jaysee

· #4 · Jul 2, 2013

I gave up my 7 inch featherfin in exchange for a krib (still in quarantine). The featherfin harassed my palmas bichir relentlessly, biting it repeatedly. It had gotten progressively nastier and nastier.

Perhaps you could list your tanks in your signature like many people do so that we can keep them straight ;-)

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Agent13

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jul 2, 2013 (Edited)

takes the fun out of it though;-) . Then the creepy weirdos like "mannish" (sp) would have something to target a question with lol. Sorry..weirded out by a new member. I wil eventually tough. My featherfin is good. e is in with my Mbunas in my room in the 72. dinning room have the 75 bala DG angel mix with the new bichir. Along with tons of shrimp that will soon be bichir food and 4 dwarf orange crays that may or may not survive the bichir as it grows. Then of course a few other tanks.. so thats my mini rundown.. k? lol
The 75 which will be a 125 -200 within a yr at most

jaysee

· #6 · Jul 2, 2013

Yeah the dwarf crays will be eaten before the shrimp I bet. It's a shame - they're pretty expensive around these parts. I believe I paid like 20 each for them, off aquabid.

Yeah, you gotta get into a 6 foot tank

. Even my 90 looks small next to the 125.

So if my memory serves me right, you don't have a background on your one (or more) tanks. Backgrounds really make a huge difference with the look of a tank.

What's your opinion about black and white sand mixed together? I'm not sure what I want to do for that. Maybe just a little black mixed in. Maybe equal parts. And everything inbetween. What are your thoughts?

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Agent13

Discussion Starter · #7 · Jul 2, 2013 (Edited)

finally down to 9 tanks..well that have fish. Any tank my kids aren't invloved in I have done 75%white sand 25% black sand(one gravel but still same ratio) I did less black in the blue cray tank but all in all really hapy with the 75white 25black! Its a great look that I will keep using on future tanks. Well two tanks have backgrounds. One my sister painted on a sign behind the 75 with blue behind that but I do plan to work on bakgrounds.

And..dang that sucks. Those Dwarf crays are $9.99 here but cheaper for me because I keep buyin [email protected]! tons of stuff from them since they will take back anything at anytime no matter why. The blue crays were only maybe about $11-14 for me.

Agent13

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jul 2, 2013 (Edited)

Well, Looks a leeettle suspicious at feeding time this morning. The shrimps never come out except during water changes.. however the little thumbnail(just a little bigger) sized orange dwarf crays always come out and eat with the big fish and rather aggressively so at that. There are(or were:hmm

4 of them. One brave soul came out for feeding and I could see another hiding in the bright orange"shrimp tree" but the other two??? Well I'll just hope they are really good at hiding. The bichir came out for food but took it back near the "shrimp tree" lol

djembekah

· #9 · Jul 3, 2013

awwww are you gonna name your new baybay?

Agent13

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jul 3, 2013

Gotta think on it.. This one needs a name fo shizzle. Only others in the tank named are the balas. Sushi, Sashimi and Lucy(ummm ..my daughter chose the last one lol).
BTW I was being paranoid, dwarf crays are all still alive...well today ;-)

Sanguinefox

· #11 · Jul 4, 2013

Just pointing out that the ornate bichir is a heavily shy fish when small. It can easily take 6 months to a year for a individual to grow big enough and trusting enough to come out on a regular basis. Even then they have very...cranky temperaments.

Lovely fish though as an adult. Your baby is a cutie.

Agent13

Discussion Starter · #12 · Jul 4, 2013

Thank you! Yes I figured as much with the shyness. Honestly expected the baby to not be seen for a while. The tank has serious crazy plants and hiding spots. So far seems not very shy during feeding time but spends a good part of the day in the thicker plants. Very cute and was ok with timidly taking food from my hand. I'm very excited to see it grow up. Extraordinary colors and adorable behavior.

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Agent13

Discussion Starter · #13 · Jul 6, 2013

update

The little one has now made a regular routine of coming out for feeding time in the AM then in the middle of the night a few loop de loops of the tank and a little interaction with me through the glass. Only thing I find it doing is testing the boundaries with my dwarf orange crays. It is having trouble believing they (while the smallest in the tank) are some of the most aggressive. Every feeding the bichir seems to target food near the crays followed by a crazy fly at you and pinch you routine by the crays. I almost think given the circumstance it is provoking a reaction for entertainment. honestly I really believe that.

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djembekah

· #14 · Jul 6, 2013

Sounds like fun

you should get videoss

Agent13

Discussion Starter · #15 · Jul 8, 2013

I really should! When I get my new phone. Or steal my sisters new awesome camera. Because .. Well ... Um someone says my videos suck( lol they actually do.. I'm the iPhone murderer). Actually I'm going to make her take at least pics of some fish tonight if she remembers her camera.

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jaysee

· #16 · Jul 8, 2013

Agent13 said:
Um someone says my videos suck

What a jerk!

Agent13

Discussion Starter · #17 · Jul 8, 2013

jaysee said:
What a jerk!

I knooowww. And as you can see I'm super hurt n stuff like that about that comment . I may or may not have cried for days over that... :lol: . I'm all sensitive n [email protected] ;-)
... She better bring her camera. My sister got an awesome pic of one of the crays last week.. off subject.. but dis mah thread mah rules.

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Agent13

Discussion Starter · #18 · Jul 12, 2013

the hunter??

OK now I have questions. I noticed the baby hadn't made a big deal of feeding time for the last couple days but still did her nightly rounds like clockwork. I knew I'd have to kiss my dwarf crays and shrimps goodbye but had no idea it would be this quickly. I managed to catch one of the..it think 4 or maybe 5 dwarf crays I had and put it in another tank just to keep one. I saw the bichir at feeding today but ..well it wasn't eating what I put in the tank..lol. Suspiciously slinking through the jungle that is at the back of my tank where the shrimp seek shelter. And can't see any shrimp (unless there are a few really good at hiding) and found during a water change the remains of at least 2 murdered crays in the bichirs hiding spot. Now have estabished it prefers live food:shock:. Do I just supply my tank with a weekly amount of ghost shrimp or do I discourage this altogether? How do you do that? Will the bichir give up when no more inverts are around to eat?
Also do they kill for vengence sometimes? It looked like it hadn't really wanted to eat the cray more like it just killed them and took a few bites then left them. I saw the crays and the bichir having it out a few days before over some food during feeding time.

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Sanguinefox

· #19 · Jul 12, 2013

Agent13 said:
OK now I have questions. I noticed the baby hadn't made a big deal of feeding time for the last couple days but still did her nightly rounds like clockwork. I knew I'd have to kiss my dwarf crays and shrimps goodbye but had no idea it would be this quickly. I managed to catch one of the..it think 4 or maybe 5 dwarf crays I had and put it in another tank just to keep one. I saw the bichir at feeding today but ..well it wasn't eating what I put in the tank..lol. Suspiciously slinking through the jungle that is at the back of my tank where the shrimp seek shelter. And can't see any shrimp (unless there are a few really good at hiding) and found during a water change the remains of at least 2 murdered crays in the bichirs hiding spot. Now have estabished it prefers live food:shock:. Do I just supply my tank with a weekly amount of ghost shrimp or do I discourage this altogether? How do you do that? Will the bichir give up when no more inverts are around to eat?
Also do they kill for vengence sometimes? It looked like it hadn't really wanted to eat the cray more like it just killed them and took a few bites then left them. I saw the crays and the bichir having it out a few days before over some food during feeding time.

It's nothing to be worried about. Pretty certain your little bichir is eating everything that looks smells and tastes like a shrimp.

Now that said I wouldn't continue to allow the fish to eat live foods. Once he kills off what is in there don't introduce anything else. Feeding purely on prekilled from this age will go a long way to make this fish much more friendly/less aggressive to future tank mates.

Agent13

Discussion Starter · #20 · Jul 12, 2013

Well then .. I guess dwarf crays don't taste too much like shrimp:lol:. Or the bichir was feeling like murder could be a sport and a way to eat sometimes lol
Ornates get pretty darn big, knowing that how would you saw my 3 male DGs will do once it's larger? Once everyone is full grown they will be very small compared to the other tank mates. They are peaceful even though generally DGs have a reputation for aggression... does that make a difference at all?

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