Considering a bichir

[PufferMom]

I didn't know where else to put this and since its a bottom dweller, I stuck it here.

I'm considering getting a bichir for my 125 gallon tank, since the passing of my beloved fahaka puffer. Does anyone know anything about their care? Primarily what I need to know is about substrate and possible tankmates. The tank currently has large pebble substrate which is fairly smooth, but I'm not sure if they need sand or something else. I know they'll likely eat anything that fits in their mouth but I was thinking about maybe an oscar or two.

[Riverfishgirl]

Wish I woulda seen this before. I'm guessing you already got a bichir since I saw mention of an ornate in the other thread. (I think it was you anyway)

I'll post in any case since if not you I'm sure someone else will benefit .

They're not picky about substrate, but I wouldn't personally do gravel since there have been horror stories about small bichirs getting gravel lodged in their throats or not being able to pass it and then dying.

I personally had mine on barebottom, but sand is fine. You may not even have problems with gravel, I didn't with my baby senegals, but I removed it after hearing about some of them eating it and having problems.
Oscars aren't very good tankmates until the bichirs are big enough to NOT be eaten. I can find a couple of pics of oscars and other cichlids with baby bichirs in their mouth. Once your bichirs get some size oscars generally make good tankmates.

They'll eat anything, literally. As juveniles you should be able to get them on sinking carnivore pellets or other meaty pellets just fine. Cocktail shrimp, worms, small fish (I use frozen silversides rather than feeders), pieces of frozen fish filet, bloodworms or other similar frozen worms (only for the very small bichirs), or basically anything else meaty are all very good treats, or even staples if you can't get yours on pellets yet or prefer feeding whole foods. Some people get very good growth out of beef heart and bichirs seem to love it, I just don't personally feed mammal meat to my fish.

Otherwise there's not much to keeping these fish. They're built to be VERY tough, so they're not sensitive in the least to water quality. Basically as long as they're being fed and have enough room there's not much to their care. They breathe air so the amount of oxygen in the water isn't even much of a factor for these fish. Just make sure to leave enough room at the top of the tank for them to suck in air.

[EDIT: I should probably add that if you end up with a bichir young enough that it still has external gills you must have plenty of o2 in the water since their lung is still developing. Most bichirs sold have already lost them.]

[PufferMom]

Yes, I already got him and the oscar, but I appreciate the information. The bichir is about 5 inches long so still a juvenile but hopefully past the sensitive baby stage. The oscar is about 2 inches long so not much of a chance of him eating the bichir or vice versa.

I also don't feed mammal meat to my fish. I've been feeding oscar pellets, krill pellets, frozen human-grade shrimp, black worms and silversides so far. Not sure how much he's eaten.

The gravel in the tank is a very large type of stone, nigh impossible for him to get any into his mouth. The gravel pieces are the size of a thumbnail at the smallest, most are larger than that. The tank has a canister filter with a spray bar that aggitates the water a great deal, a powerhead and an HOB. So hopefully that's sufficient 02 or him.

I also got 3 juvenile clown loaches yesterday, about 2 inches long. Can't find them now, no idea where they are hiding. This morning, I couldn't find the bichir either but since I couldn't find it on the floor anywhere, I figured he was hiding somewhere. When I came home from work, he was near the front of the tank, happy as a clam (are clams really happy?). Then as I was feeding them, I found out where he was. There's a large, tall, artificial driftwood structure on one end. He's managed to find a way to hide up inside it, vertically. He completely disappears, not even a fin can be seen.

Still no idea where the clowns are though. Weird.

[ChilDawg]

I think they're happier at high tide, which is part of the origin of the phrase. Etymology (if that's what it is for phrases and not just individual words) is cool.

[Riverfishgirl]

Sounds good. Just be careful as he grows that he doesn't eat any of your other fish. Not sure how fast they grow since the ornates we had were already 12 and 13" long. They grow pretty slow after they reach that size.

Who knows where your clowns are. They'll wedge themselves into the tiniest spaces. I've taken decorations out before and had them falling out of the little rims on the bottom where I didn't even think they would fit, even after I already looked there, lol.

[Rallysman]

Feed the ornate some nice high protein sinking pellets like HBH super cichlid sinkers and it'll grow at about the same rate as the oscar up to a foot. Mine went from 4" to 12" in about 7-8 months and then it seemingly stopped growing lol

[Riverfishgirl]

Wow, I didn't know they'd grow that fast, lol.

The only babies I had were senegals and they seemed to be slow growers, but then again one of my ornates ended up eating my last senegal before he grew very much. Oops

[Rallysman]

It grew like mad till 12" I think it has been stuck on 1 ft for 3 months now lol.