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I'm sure they would eat live shrimp assuming the bichir could find the shrimp. you can also buy frozen shell-on shrimp at your grocery store pretty cheap to feed them as well. I thaw out a piece of shrimp, remove the shell and cut it into bitesize pieces. assuming not all the shrimp gets eaten by the cichlids I have and some reaches the bottom, the bichirs will gobble it up in a hurry..

Jason

I thaw out a piece of shrimp, remove the shell and cut it into bitesize pieces.

And once your bichir is full-grown, or nearly so, you can leave the shell on the shrimp...just be sure to buy raw shrimp, not cooked.

o ok thanks! i might get my digital camera today and if i do i will get some more pics! i feed them bloodworms last night! and they ate that up in a hurry!

ok this pic thing got really anoing so i didnt do it i will post like 1 pic soon

when i turn the lights out for them to eat, how long should they be off for before i dump in the food? and then what size should the earthworms be when i feeed them to him and should i buy the worms or should i find them in my yard!

If you are 100% sure there have never been any pesticides or other chemicals used in your yard, then you can take earthworms directly from your back yard. Otherwise, I would go to a local bait shop or lfs. Many lfs will sell earthworms, meal worms and nightcrawlers. IME, when my bichirs were smaller they seemed to have a difficult time eating meal worms. You can always take a nightcrawler and cut it in half or even smaller pieces if necessary to get an appropriate sized piece for your bichir.

Jason

If you are 100% sure there have never been any pesticides or other chemicals used in your yard, then you can take earthworms directly from your back yard.

I agree...or at least 3 years pesticideherbicide free. I feed mine just before, at, or just after lights out.

ok so here is the pic of him flying across the aquaruim a pretty good one if i dont say so my self1!http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/8900/DSCF16.jpg

anyone around! i have another question!
how quick will my dinosaur eel have to be moved from my other 33 gallon tank? they are growing! so i think i should be planing on moving them soon is this correct?
and i have another ? about feeding when i have them in their own tank is this a fine rutine for feeding??

sun- water change and pellets
mon-no feeding
tues- frozen brine shrimp
wed- pellets
thurs- no feeding
frid- worms
sat- no feeding

is this ok or should i plan on feeding them every day this is not what i feed them now! so i was just wundering what your guys suggesions would be?!thanks for your help!

Personally i dont like following a strict feeding schedule. I like to mix up foods to the point where i could never organize a schedule out of them. You might want to add feeder fish to the menu, as they get bigger. May I ask why you dont want to feed them every day? As long as you take care not to over-feed (they will make enough of a mess as it is ) I would do feedings everyday.

[span class="edited"][Edited by 2004-07-01 19:40][/span]

You might want to add feeder fish to the menu, as they get bigger.

Just make sure you raise your own. Not only will this reduce the chance of introducing diseases but you'll also know exactly what the feeders are getting to eat. If the feeders haven't been fed a good quality diet then they are of virtually no nutritional use as feeders.

If you raise your own feeders and feed them a high quality diet, then your bichirs will be forever grateful and happy.

Jason

ok ,well, what do you mean by raise your own do you mean like get some from lfs and then feed it worms and shrimp for a week or feed it fry or something? i have guppies and am looking out for some fry! do any of you guys have experience tring to buy the lfs's fry they like always have some and the fry always dies cause they never notice them! also what would be the grow rate of this bichir will he get about 6in and then slow down?

I brought home 6 feeders for my big poly (whom recently did a dive and layed on the floor for hours and is now doing his best to recover and i took 2 small feeders that wouldnt even be a snack for the large poly and put them in my baby ornate's tank, to my delight he ate them up. He is only about 4" but u can almost watch him grow bigger with each feeding.

ok ,well, what do you mean by raise your own

I mean, buy some swordtails, mollies or platys from your lfs' regular tanks. Don't buy feeder anything! I'd set up a separate breeding tank for the livebearers and feed the fry when they are big enough. Or, let the livebearers produce fry, then gradually feed the parents to the bichir while growing up the fry. When the fry get big enough to reproduce, you'd then feed the new parents to the bichir and so on.

If your bichir is small enough, you could just put larger swordtails or mollies in the tank and when they release fry the bichir will most likely find and eat them.

Jason

The senegals get to about 8", then slow considerably, whereas the ornates get to 14"-16" before their growth slows.

well ok i got you. im not sure how good he is going to eat live food though considering hes with neons right now!

well after some quick abserving at feeding time i have realized he is trying to eat the neons hes mouth is litterally 8x to small! but i like the neons so they will be moving soon ( being the bichirs)! all they ate was a couple of flakes and some shrimp pellet! well the shrimp pellet took him a while is there anyway i could break it into smaller hunks so he could eat the hole thing!! i think he is big enough to eat fry so i am going to go to my lfs and see if the have any for sale anyone have any experience with this! i cant get my guppeis to breed but i am giving them time!

here a pic of the 2 that i took this morning the look pretty cool ones behide the heater and the other one you should be able to find!http://img33.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img33&image=EELrezized.jpg

i did some experimenting on feeding the bichirs and i found that they will eat betta bites and freze dried tubifex worms1

One of the ones in that pic (the one swimming downwards) looks really skinny, make sure you fatten him up!!!

ya i will try! ya i need to try today i geuss i will have to give him a couple of good helpings of food! Guess what i have another ? (lol) will it ever be possible to feed him crickets if so what size allso i saw some pretty small feeders at my lfs could i just keep those in a seperate tank for a week or 2 feed them a high protien diet and then feed them 2 my bichirs if so what size?

Well, its been three weeks since we last posted here...I was wondering how everyone's baby bichirs are doing.

hey my man hows that book coming! my bichirs are looking great very fat i think thats a good thing! hmm i'd say much bigger than the eraser of a pencil im feeding them frozen brine shrimp in the morning and worms at night sometimes i skip the worms for pellets! um they are both pretty even in wideth but one of them is now 2.7in and the other 2.3 inch! they have grow a bit from the 2in and 1.7 inches i got them at! eating very well! right now in a small tank 6 gallon since i dumped a can of food into my 33 will be going back into my 33 soon like today and i'm getting my 35 gallon soon to! i would get some pics but the batteries on my camera are low! i will get some tonight or around 4pm easteren time i think i am going bolwing so i will try to get them before then cause then you will see them before 4! also i have a qiuck ?
what type of internet connection do you all have my camera can take with no sound in an avi and i could show you it eating or something! i would make the web site to post it on and since it would be an avi! so i was wundering what type of internet connection you all have! thanks fish1

Well, its been three weeks since we last posted here...I was wondering how everyone's baby bichirs are doing.

I have a hard time calling mine a baby anymore. He is now in my 29g holding and growing very nicely. I am afraid though that i may have to find him a new home eventually because i doubt an ornate can live in a 180g forever.

you can sell him when he gets to big but by that time you will want to hold on to him! i still call mine a baby!

[span class="edited"][Edited by fish1 2004-07-22 10:30][/span]

fish1, I have high-speed cable.

Lunker...if your 180 is wide enough, and he is more or less solitary in it, you sould do fine...and if you do decide to sell him, the going rate in North America for a 24" ornate is $150-$250 (in Aus, he would be a $1500 fish).

ok im thinking of setting up a site were i could post some of those there really cool! um tortios should i be worried about stunting in the 6gallon cause i think i might leave them in a little longer also i dont think this was good about a months ago i was stupid and tossed a little peice of lemon pepper chicken and my eels ate it i emidiately thought that after they ate it ! but it seems it did know harm! im thinking about try night crawlers soon!

Keep up with water changes every 3-4 days on that 6, and you shoul be good for a couple more weeks.

well in that case its do for a change!

Looks like a pair of my P. palmas polli may be doing the spawning dance....its a bit late in the season, but she appears to be ovulating, so keep your fingers crossed.

cool well i moved them from the 6 cause im giong to set it up for fidlers! they are doing good and get fat! i keep em croosed

That would be awsome if they are spawning. I would love to see some of your setups, im sure you have numerous polypterus tanks. I really hate worrying about my ornate becoming too big, im sure it will be awhile before that becomes a problem but i really dont see myself getting a larger tank after the 180. BTW Toirtis, i was wondering what you would say is the PH range on bichirs. Many of the sites i have been to do not list anything higher than 7.5, but i thought some have been found in some of the same very alkaline enviroments as some cichlids?.

[span class="edited"][Edited by 2004-07-24 23:04][/span]

They seem to tolerate pHs between 6.0-8.6 quite well (as you may know, ornates are found in Tanganyika)....I keep mine at around 7.4.

i keep mine 7.0! if that helpswell toirtis i can see them growing like every other other day so im expecting they will polish off those neons soon they only bother the neons during feeding time! but i figure some day they will be down the old gullit! o ya i go to the beach every summer last week of august and we go crabbing every day! well my grandma cooks em in all but i was wundering if i could feed some of that meat 2 my bichirs??it would be un seasoned well this one anyway i would just grab a claw right be she put them in the boil is seperately or when i got home! i will try to get some pics tonight! fish1

Yes, but not too much....it is an incomplete meal, and rather fatty.

ok thanks toitis! um well the smallest neon is missing! so im looking to get that tank like this weekend!] what about minnows could i feed them those?

Sure...feeder minnows, feeder guppies (I prefer using livebearers, especially home-grown ones), or even thawed frozen bait minnows.

yes. i go to a lake in the summer and they have minnows all over the place!

I don't suggest wild minnows, as you could be introducing all sorts of parasites, etc into your tank.

o well what if a qt them for 2weeks or not! i dont really want to feed my eels live fish to often anyway!

hey, here are some new pics that i took tonight! sorry it took so long and sorry that they are kinda junky!I think i might ask babs for some pointers! cause they are always moving now in there ever search for food!
do you know any .avi hosters? im thinking of manking a web site to host bichir movies but not srue!http://img46.exs.cx/img46/4237/usethiseel.jpg
there is the first!
this one is a tad bigger so you should be able to see him better! ]]]
http://img42.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img42&image=eelpics002.jpg





p.s the neons are disapearing trying to get my friends take soon! i lost one and thought it might have been a quinsidnce (sp) but i losts another today and am thinking its those bichirs! They are eating well and are nice and round! looking to start feeding them earthworms soon. sorry for all the ! i can type that faster than a .

{] talk to y'all later!

matthew!

double p.s. did you know that http://www.imageshack.us made it so it can host a little more than a mb for one pic! and it can also hold .swf no quite sure what those are but o well!

Argh! Quit calling them eels!

Im still not sure if i want to house one with african or american cichlids when i get the 180g. I like the africans better but for some reason i keep thinking it would be better off with SAs.

Argh! Quit calling them eels!

darn common name! i saw some more of the at a different petsmart the were a little bigger and 3-4in and they had about 10-12. i was tempted to buy one!

Im still not sure if i want to house one with african or american cichlids when i get the 180g. I like the africans better but for some reason i keep thinking it would be better off with SAs.

Senegals and palmas ssp. all go great with most Africans, and ornates do well with big Africans, like frontosa.

Endlicheri endlicheri, Africans or Americans?

I thought africans like harder higher ph water were as the bichir liked ph more around 7.0 7.4 ish!

I know some (but i am un-aware of all species) are found in the same high PH enviroments as african cichlids.

All Polypteridae are African in origin. They accept pH levels between 7.0-8.6 quite readily, and ornates are actually found in Lake Tanganyika, which has pH values of up to 9.2, depending on the region of the lake.

I know they are all from africa, but i was saying that I was un-sure if all are from high-PH regions since some sites i have read actually reccomend an acidic PH for some species. But then again, Toirtis is the most qualified to answer any polypterus related question .

ya toirtis is great! um toirtis are the any boards that you know of that specialist on polyterus specius in gerneral? thanks fish1

There is an Endlicheri "club" webpage somewhere that i used to look at. I dont remember the URL but they have boards for all differant species and such. I think i found a link to it from predatoryfish. Predatoryfish also has some forums where bichirs are a hot topic.

ok thanks lunker i will look in that!

Hey Toirtis, I was just wondering how that book was coming? Can't say I've seen anything online about it.

Also, I was curious what Polypterids I could keep in my 125 gallon tank? It's current inhabitants are a Bala and a Royal Plec (though a Tigrinus Catfish could be a temporary inhabitant some day). I have seen tanks with plecs that do not suck on bichirs; I'm aware of the danger, but I'd like to try it out. If in fact there is no aggression from the Plec, I'd be more worried about the bichirs taking all of the plec's food! For bichirs, I am planning two Ornates, two Pollis, and maybe two Delhezi for now. Since I've seen what I think is a 180 gallon with over 10 bichirs, I don't think I'm at the maximum number of bichirs quite yet. What do you think?

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

There is an Endlicheri "club" webpage somewhere that i used to look at

Used to be...its been offline for awhile.

Hey Toirtis, I was just wondering how that book was coming? Can't say I've seen anything online about it.

Chances are you won't until publishing date.

Since I've seen what I think is a 180 gallon with over 10 bichirs, I don't think I'm at the maximum number of bichirs quite yet. What do you think?

Depends on the species you pick...10 smaller bichirs in a 180 is just fine, but I cannot imagine more than 4 ornates or endlicheri ssp. in some thing that size.

Well the pollis and delhezis are on the smaller side and could stay in there, but since ornates get to 24"+ you couldnt keep them in there for good.

[span class="edited"][Edited by 2004-08-01 22:46][/span]

That does it. Ornates are lazy fish anyway. So it seems I'll just go with the four Bichirs if there are no further suggestions.:%)

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

I have seen tanks with plecs that do not suck on bichirs;

My bn tried to suck on my bichir i think it was an accident but my bichir bit its fine clean off! it grew back though!

If only I had my 180g already http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fw&1092146484

wow cool, for some reason i thought you were already cycling your 180 but you dont even have it???

Nope i dont even have it yet. Im in the process of remodeling my basement. Once im done, it is going to go down there.
Step1: Plan the new basement
Step2: Clean out basement
Step3: Remove cabinets
Step4: Get someone to check walls (they feel damp, last thing i need is a leaky basement)
Step5: Have someone come to do electrical work (old electrical work down there, tends to crap out on me, not risking running my 180g on a faulty circuit)
Step6 New Carpet or flooring (This is a BIG maybe, the carpetting down there now sucks but this would be extra time and of course extra $)
Step7: Setup Tank

Im on step 4/5, I have people coming this week to check those things out but i doubt any electrical work will actually be done this week. The cabinets were one of the biggest steps, when we moved into the house there was a large area of the basement taken up by what seemed to be a bar. Removing it was an all-day project but its gone now.

o i see. i want to but a 150 gallon in my basement but i dont have the money right now.Or mabe like a 100gallon.


p.s. fishfan doesnt like bichirs]:|]:|]:|

Figured i would jump back into this thread since i got my baby ornate right when fish1 got his baby . The "polypeterus bichir" has been re-labeled "polypeterus congenitis (or something like that) I think that is the Nile/Congo bichir, correct? Its about 10" and im thinking of putting it on hold and putting it in my 90g since my baby ornate still has a while of growth before he is ready for a tank like that. Anyone have a site with good info on the congo bichir?

cool lunker, im getting a bigger tank as soon as my baby bichir grows to be bout 4-6 in.! what do you feed yours

Ive tried krill, shrimp pellets, tubifex cubes, live blackworms and carnivore wafers. He has taken the tubifex cubes, shrimp pellets (his favorite) and the live blackworms.

wow mine dont like the SP as much as the frozen food ow well

add earthworms to the list of foods my ornate will devour . I just went outside for a bit and found 3 small earthworms, dropped one in and it took my poly all of 5 seconds to find it and slurp it up

how big is yours ??? 2 in im not sure mine could hang

it was about 3" when i first got him. I am tempted to say he has already grown and inch but that might just be wishful thinking

awsome according to you siggy you have it in a 10 all bi itself??

yep, but i may put some small fish in their soon as feeders. After seeing him gulp down the worm im sure he will go after some smaller fish already.

cool

That bichir on Aquabid looks like it could, indeed, be a P. p. buettikoferi, and if anyone in the US has them, Rehoboth would be it. $100 is a pretty decent price, too.

The "polypeterus bichir" has been re-labeled "polypeterus congenitis

It could be a congo bichir, Polypterus endlicheri congicus (I have two), and if it is, a 10" specimen is just a baby, as this beastie can hit 42" or more (the largest known bichir species).

add earthworms to the list of foods my ornate will devour

...and all bichir species...I believe earthworms to be the favourite food of all my bichirs.

If only I had my 180g already http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fw&1092146484

Hey, thats Rudy's...he was supposed to give that one to me!]

Toirtis, do you have a favorite species?

Ohh...thats a hard one...my top four are ornatapinnis, endlicheri endlicheri palmas polli and bichir bichir.

I think i showed u that auction of the Endlicheri endlicheri that was listed as a color variation or possibly a new species, you remember it?

Copeir nice FAKE premieum member lunker i knows its fakes cause i dont see any award in your profile nice try!

Fake? I signed up for the trial this morning and just subscribed for 3 months, I dont see how that is fake...:%)

last night you still had the trail. so i thought you screwing around with it congrats on becoming a premie.

Step 4 is done, and even better is that my walls are fine so no need to replace them. This speeds things up a bit. Hoping to get the electrician in later this week.

[span class="edited"][Edited by 2004-08-04 20:12][/span]

cool. how long to you think it will till you get your new tank?

New carpetting or flooring is going to be the biggest pain for me. I can fix up the room as much as possible but walking on a stained, torn up carpet will just keep ruining the goodness of it. I HOPE early september/late August, but thats if i keep working hard at it to get it done. Plus im not the only one to worry about, I need other people to work on the room and they all have their own schedules that I need to follow.

I think i showed u that auction of the Endlicheri endlicheri that was listed as a color variation or possibly a new species, you remember it?

Well anyways, I ordered a 8" one for my 180g and im holding him in my 29 for now. He seems to be doing fine with plenty of room to move around even with the rocks and cave i left in there. I was going to re-do the setup once i got him but he seems to have plenty of room so far. He is a BEAUTY!

post some pics your a premie.!!! what do you feed it lunker since its 8in do you have any experience with feeding him/her small crikets or mabe water bugs or some other insects? thanks fihs1

Well he arrived 10:30 am this morning, so i havent had much experience feeding him yet. Im going to pickup some ghost-shrimp later and get some frozen beef-heart and feeder minnows. He had a tough journey though, his bags leaked (yes, both bags had leaks) and lost alot of water. The USPS guy was holding the box in a plastic container when he delivered it because it was soaked from all the water . But he seems to be doing fine, breathing normal, pretty active. Toirtis, do you think its fair to say ornates are more of a "slender" polypterus species? Ive dealt with some 7" ornates at the LFS I work at but this endlicheri is so much bulkier . BTW my baby ornate is eating feeders like crazy now. I took him out and put him in the 25g (he has left everyone alone so far) but I will be putting him back into the 29g once the endlicheri goes to the 180.

Slender is Zaire Green, IMO. Ornates can be pretty hefty as well; maybe not as hefty as some endlicheri I have seen, but they can be fat.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

I thought that toirtis said that Ornates could get as big around as your rist or was that jason rs? btw i wish i have another tank to i wanted to get some of the bichirs on aquabid that they had. they were so cool. also how big is your Ornate right now? i cant wait till i can geed mine(being the polypterus sengulas) feeders.

[span class="edited"][Edited by fish1 2004-08-05 13:30][/span]

Ornates get pretty hefty once they hit 14" or so. About the heftiest are the female palmas polli, but since they only get 12"-14"...

Some endlicheri endlicheri can get pretty hefty as they mature.

Toirtis, the topic of ounciation came up earlier. Is it ounced Polyp-terus or Poly-terus with the second P silent?

i thought we were discussing the unctation of bichir. o well i always said polterus and i spelled it that way then when i wasnt finding anything i figured it out. but i've never said polterus to anyone i always says bichir

It doesnt seem to want to chase down its food, but it is taking dead/wounded feeders. This was with the lights on though, who knows whats going on right now in the dark.

wounded??? as in like stabbed by you im thinking of raiseing my own feeders. Im think of getting some guppies and useing those but im not sure if i would want to.

here are some new pics that i took today.

fish1 attached this image:
[img]http://www.fishprofiles.net/attachments/410272.jpg"]

another.
fish1 attached this image:
[img]http://www.fishprofiles.net/attachments/410276.jpg"]

another
fish1 attached this image:
[img]http://www.fishprofiles.net/attachments/410278.jpg"]

last pic
fish1 attached this image:
[img]http://www.fishprofiles.net/attachments/410283.jpg"]

looks like i've killed the thread with those pics. Well i have some great news my neighsbors fish died and so he MIGHT want to get rid of it its a 46 gallon. with stand gravel 2 pengiun 170 filters fake plants etc. not sure how much hes willing to sell it for but im going to talk to him tomorrow would this be a better tank for my bichirs?

Bigger is always better.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Agreed...all my bichirs would be in 500 gallon aquariums, if I had the room.

ok then i have another ? should i get my friends and my neighbors tank and spilt the bichirs up??

Im trying to upload some pics, but im not satisfied with the quality of any of the ones i took so far. His diet (at this point) consists of
krill (freeze-dried)
Ghost Shrimp (live)
Minnows (live)
Beefheart (frozen)
I also tried dropping in half of a frozen ball of bloodworms (my 25g gets half a serving and i usually just re-freeze the rest) and he did gobble it up, so i guess i will add that to the menu. Any input?

Oh and I was wondering Toirtis, i assume hand-feeding them is unwise? I wouldnt be worried about my 5" ornate (he is too shy to hand-feed anyways) but the bite from my 8" endlicheri seems like something to stay away from. The endlicheri will closely watch my hand as i try to plant some krill for him in the gravel and will even follow it if I move it around and he will come upto it, but ive never let him feed from my hand.

[span class="edited"][Edited by lunker101 2004-08-11 21:47][/span]

i might have to try some small ghost shrimp soon im running out of thing to feed him.

Well i put 2 3" cichlids in there thinking that they would be too big for him. Boy was I wrong. You can even see a bulge in his body like a snake gets. Here are some pics i took.
lunker101 attached this image:
[img]http://www.fishprofiles.net/attachments/414042.jpg"]

how do i put multiple pics in one post?

i dont think you can well i think you might be able to upload it to photbucket and use the img tags that works.

[span class="edited"][Edited by lunker101 2004-08-12 21:12][/span][/font]


[span class="edited"][Edited by lunker101 2004-08-12 21:13][/span][/font]

[span class="edited"][Edited by lunker101 2004-08-12 21:13][/span]

I know some (but i am un-aware of all species) are found in the same high PH enviroments as african cichlids.

All Polypteridae are African in origin. They accept pH levels between 7.0-8.6 quite readily, and ornates are actually found in Lake Tanganyika, which has pH values of up to 9.2, depending on the region of the lake.

I know they are all from africa, but i was saying that I was un-sure if all are from high-PH regions since some sites i have read actually reccomend an acidic PH for some species. But then again, Toirtis is the most qualified to answer any polypterus related question .

ya toirtis is great! um toirtis are the any boards that you know of that specialist on polyterus specius in gerneral? thanks fish1

There is an Endlicheri "club" webpage somewhere that i used to look at. I dont remember the URL but they have boards for all differant species and such. I think i found a link to it from predatoryfish. Predatoryfish also has some forums where bichirs are a hot topic.

ok thanks lunker i will look in that!

Hey Toirtis, I was just wondering how that book was coming? Can't say I've seen anything online about it.

Also, I was curious what Polypterids I could keep in my 125 gallon tank? It's current inhabitants are a Bala and a Royal Plec (though a Tigrinus Catfish could be a temporary inhabitant some day). I have seen tanks with plecs that do not suck on bichirs; I'm aware of the danger, but I'd like to try it out. If in fact there is no aggression from the Plec, I'd be more worried about the bichirs taking all of the plec's food! For bichirs, I am planning two Ornates, two Pollis, and maybe two Delhezi for now. Since I've seen what I think is a 180 gallon with over 10 bichirs, I don't think I'm at the maximum number of bichirs quite yet. What do you think?

--------------------------------------------
The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

There is an Endlicheri "club" webpage somewhere that i used to look at

Used to be...its been offline for awhile.

Hey Toirtis, I was just wondering how that book was coming? Can't say I've seen anything online about it.

Chances are you won't until publishing date.

Since I've seen what I think is a 180 gallon with over 10 bichirs, I don't think I'm at the maximum number of bichirs quite yet. What do you think?

Depends on the species you pick...10 smaller bichirs in a 180 is just fine, but I cannot imagine more than 4 ornates or endlicheri ssp. in some thing that size.

Well the pollis and delhezis are on the smaller side and could stay in there, but since ornates get to 24"+ you couldnt keep them in there for good.

[span class="edited"][Edited by 2004-08-01 22:46][/span]

That does it. Ornates are lazy fish anyway. So it seems I'll just go with the four Bichirs if there are no further suggestions.:%)

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

I have seen tanks with plecs that do not suck on bichirs;

My bn tried to suck on my bichir i think it was an accident but my bichir bit its fine clean off! it grew back though!

If only I had my 180g already http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fw&1092146484

wow cool, for some reason i thought you were already cycling your 180 but you dont even have it???

Nope i dont even have it yet. Im in the process of remodeling my basement. Once im done, it is going to go down there.
Step1: Plan the new basement
Step2: Clean out basement
Step3: Remove cabinets
Step4: Get someone to check walls (they feel damp, last thing i need is a leaky basement)
Step5: Have someone come to do electrical work (old electrical work down there, tends to crap out on me, not risking running my 180g on a faulty circuit)
Step6 New Carpet or flooring (This is a BIG maybe, the carpetting down there now sucks but this would be extra time and of course extra $)
Step7: Setup Tank

Im on step 4/5, I have people coming this week to check those things out but i doubt any electrical work will actually be done this week. The cabinets were one of the biggest steps, when we moved into the house there was a large area of the basement taken up by what seemed to be a bar. Removing it was an all-day project but its gone now.

o i see. i want to but a 150 gallon in my basement but i dont have the money right now.Or mabe like a 100gallon.


p.s. fishfan doesnt like bichirs]:|]:|]:|

If only I had my 180g already http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fw&1092146484

Hey, thats Rudy's...he was supposed to give that one to me!]

Toirtis, do you have a favorite species?

Ohh...thats a hard one...my top four are ornatapinnis, endlicheri endlicheri palmas polli and bichir bichir.

I think i showed u that auction of the Endlicheri endlicheri that was listed as a color variation or possibly a new species, you remember it?

Copeir nice FAKE premieum member lunker i knows its fakes cause i dont see any award in your profile nice try!

Fake? I signed up for the trial this morning and just subscribed for 3 months, I dont see how that is fake...:%)

last night you still had the trail. so i thought you screwing around with it congrats on becoming a premie.

Step 4 is done, and even better is that my walls are fine so no need to replace them. This speeds things up a bit. Hoping to get the electrician in later this week.

[span class="edited"][Edited by 2004-08-04 20:12][/span]

cool. how long to you think it will till you get your new tank?

New carpetting or flooring is going to be the biggest pain for me. I can fix up the room as much as possible but walking on a stained, torn up carpet will just keep ruining the goodness of it. I HOPE early september/late August, but thats if i keep working hard at it to get it done. Plus im not the only one to worry about, I need other people to work on the room and they all have their own schedules that I need to follow.

I think i showed u that auction of the Endlicheri endlicheri that was listed as a color variation or possibly a new species, you remember it?

Well anyways, I ordered a 8" one for my 180g and im holding him in my 29 for now. He seems to be doing fine with plenty of room to move around even with the rocks and cave i left in there. I was going to re-do the setup once i got him but he seems to have plenty of room so far. He is a BEAUTY!

post some pics your a premie.!!! what do you feed it lunker since its 8in do you have any experience with feeding him/her small crikets or mabe water bugs or some other insects? thanks fihs1

Well he arrived 10:30 am this morning, so i havent had much experience feeding him yet. Im going to pickup some ghost-shrimp later and get some frozen beef-heart and feeder minnows. He had a tough journey though, his bags leaked (yes, both bags had leaks) and lost alot of water. The USPS guy was holding the box in a plastic container when he delivered it because it was soaked from all the water . But he seems to be doing fine, breathing normal, pretty active. Toirtis, do you think its fair to say ornates are more of a "slender" polypterus species? Ive dealt with some 7" ornates at the LFS I work at but this endlicheri is so much bulkier . BTW my baby ornate is eating feeders like crazy now. I took him out and put him in the 25g (he has left everyone alone so far) but I will be putting him back into the 29g once the endlicheri goes to the 180.

Slender is Zaire Green, IMO. Ornates can be pretty hefty as well; maybe not as hefty as some endlicheri I have seen, but they can be fat.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

I thought that toirtis said that Ornates could get as big around as your rist or was that jason rs? btw i wish i have another tank to i wanted to get some of the bichirs on aquabid that they had. they were so cool. also how big is your Ornate right now? i cant wait till i can geed mine(being the polypterus sengulas) feeders.

[span class="edited"][Edited by fish1 2004-08-05 13:30][/span]

Ornates get pretty hefty once they hit 14" or so. About the heftiest are the female palmas polli, but since they only get 12"-14"...

Some endlicheri endlicheri can get pretty hefty as they mature.

Toirtis, the topic of ounciation came up earlier. Is it ounced Polyp-terus or Poly-terus with the second P silent?

i thought we were discussing the unctation of bichir. o well i always said polterus and i spelled it that way then when i wasnt finding anything i figured it out. but i've never said polterus to anyone i always says bichir

It doesnt seem to want to chase down its food, but it is taking dead/wounded feeders. This was with the lights on though, who knows whats going on right now in the dark.

wounded??? as in like stabbed by you im thinking of raiseing my own feeders. Im think of getting some guppies and useing those but im not sure if i would want to.

here are some new pics that i took today.

fish1 attached this image:
[img]http://www.fishprofiles.net/attachments/410272.jpg"]

another.
fish1 attached this image:
[img]http://www.fishprofiles.net/attachments/410276.jpg"]

another
fish1 attached this image:
[img]http://www.fishprofiles.net/attachments/410278.jpg"]

last pic
fish1 attached this image:
[img]http://www.fishprofiles.net/attachments/410283.jpg"]

looks like i've killed the thread with those pics. Well i have some great news my neighsbors fish died and so he MIGHT want to get rid of it its a 46 gallon. with stand gravel 2 pengiun 170 filters fake plants etc. not sure how much hes willing to sell it for but im going to talk to him tomorrow would this be a better tank for my bichirs?

Bigger is always better.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Agreed...all my bichirs would be in 500 gallon aquariums, if I had the room.

ok then i have another ? should i get my friends and my neighbors tank and spilt the bichirs up??

Im trying to upload some pics, but im not satisfied with the quality of any of the ones i took so far. His diet (at this point) consists of
krill (freeze-dried)
Ghost Shrimp (live)
Minnows (live)
Beefheart (frozen)
I also tried dropping in half of a frozen ball of bloodworms (my 25g gets half a serving and i usually just re-freeze the rest) and he did gobble it up, so i guess i will add that to the menu. Any input?

Oh and I was wondering Toirtis, i assume hand-feeding them is unwise? I wouldnt be worried about my 5" ornate (he is too shy to hand-feed anyways) but the bite from my 8" endlicheri seems like something to stay away from. The endlicheri will closely watch my hand as i try to plant some krill for him in the gravel and will even follow it if I move it around and he will come upto it, but ive never let him feed from my hand.

[span class="edited"][Edited by lunker101 2004-08-11 21:47][/span]

i might have to try some small ghost shrimp soon im running out of thing to feed him.

Well i put 2 3" cichlids in there thinking that they would be too big for him. Boy was I wrong. You can even see a bulge in his body like a snake gets. Here are some pics i took.
lunker101 attached this image:
[img]http://www.fishprofiles.net/attachments/414042.jpg"]

how do i put multiple pics in one post?

i dont think you can well i think you might be able to upload it to photbucket and use the img tags that works.

[span class="edited"][Edited by lunker101 2004-08-12 21:12][/span][/font]


[span class="edited"][Edited by lunker101 2004-08-12 21:13][/span][/font]

[span class="edited"][Edited by lunker101 2004-08-12 21:13][/span]