Senegal Bichir Life & Length

[lovestoeatfish]

hi everybody i am pretty new to this website but not to keeping fish. i have had 3 years experience with fish.
 
But recently i got a Senegal Bichir, and i added him into my tank. So its been about 6 months and he has only grown about half an inch, to where he is now about 3 1/2 inches long. some people are still telling me that he is still a baby, but i would like to know about how big he will get and how long will it take for him to reach his max length? I have him in probably to small of a tank (20 gal ) but i plan on moving him into a bigger tank as he gets bigger.
 
Any help with this would be much appreciated.

 
 

 

[sputnick]

Birchir tend to grow to 12"+ Also I believe they are know escape artists so have a tight fitting lid on your tank. I would say for a few months he will be fine in the 20 gallon but he will need a much larger tank soon or his growth might be stunted. As for life I haven't a clue but I'm sure that its really long if kept in the right environment

 

[wrightt3]

Senegal bichirs generally have a slow growth rate, especially the captive bred ones but diet is an important factor. To keep it healthy you should be feeding it a specialised carnivore pellet as its base diet, supplemented with frozen foods such as prawns or bloodworm every other day.
 
They usually grow to about 12 inches but can exceed this given the right conditions. It can take a few years to reach it's full potential though so you will need to be patient. I would say a tank with base dimensions close to 48x18 inches would be needed to keep it for life but it could probably stay in your 20g until it reaches 6 inches in length.

 

[Corey90]

My Senegal grew really fast he went from about 3" to almost 9 in a year.  I have mine on a primary diet of protein shrimp pellets, I also feed blood worm and brine shrimp.  Occasionally I put feeder fish in the tank and he will just eat them as he sees fit.  Anything that can fit in his mouth will though be careful.  Mine once ate a 4" BGK that I tried adding to my tank.  They are scent hunters though if you get them used to the scent of a fish they will be fine.  My Giant Danios had fry and I kept them in a breeder net for a while but nobody in my area want them so I let them free in my tank and he totally ignored them.