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They go well with anything that needs roughly the same water requirements and can't fit in their mouths. I've kept one with an African butterfly fish before and it worked out well, and now he's in with a pair of angels, a leopard ctenopoma, and a honey gourami (which he might be able to eat were he full grown)
 
ive been looking at leopard ctenopomas as well.
im thinking of getting them instead of the bichir...
 
Okay. Well I finish setting up the tank last night and now im going to the LFS.

i ordered 3 Senegalus Bichirs.

My list is now:

3 bichirs
1 African Butterfly Fish
1 (? most likely common) Plecostomus

and perhaps 2 kribs. will they be okay in there?
 
Plecs are not recomended as tankmates for bichirs as they often aquire a taste for the slime that coats the bichirs scales and will attach themselves to the bichirs while they rest and rasp of patches of the slime leaving the bichir open to infections which are often fatal.

Kribs are likely to become food for the bichirs at some point.
 
okay. thankyou.

glad someone answered before i got them.

What would you recommend for an scavenger or alage eater?
like a syno or something?

im trying to keep with the "african" feel to it.
is there a larger cichlid or middle dweller that wont become food?

[the lfs has some knifefish but they are 60 dollars each(thats like 120 GDP) way too much for me]
 
Syno's can be dangerous for bichirs too, many of them rasp on rocks for algea and mico organisms as part of their natural behaviour and can develop the taste for bichir slime the same as plecs can, if you choose a Synodontis try to choose one with a prefference for a meatier diet.

Its a shame the knife fish are so expensive, African knives make good tankmates for bichirs and butterfly fish. Unfortunately without knowing whats available to you i cant really suggest any fish but anything with an adult size above 4" and a fairly peacefull nature would be suitable.
 
okay thanks for your help.

theres a huge shipment coming in for christmas, so i neither know whats available to me.

[The owner has me on open credit. since i sell all of my fry to her...i dont think ive ever spent cash in there lol]

Well. I just need to make a list. lol.

POSSITIVLY GETTING:

3 Bichirs
1 A.B.F.

QUESTIONABLY: (these are what i think can go in there..need help here)

syno
knifefish
elephant nose fish
larger african cichlids(jewels)
plec or other catfish

Also. Can anyone tell me what they have in thier tank with thier bichirs..
 
okay. im leaving for the LFS right now.

for catfish. im leaning towards a featherfin syno.

thanks for all the help everyone.
lets just see what I end up with.
 
The elephant nose could work out nicely if you dont stock the tank with any fish which might outcompete it for food, they have very small mouths and cannot be kept with fish which share the same diet and tankspace but because the ABF is a surface dweller and the bichirs are predators that will mostly ignore the smaller food the elephant nose requires you dont have that problem. The African knife fish could be added into this selection as well without any problems.

Avoid jewel Cichlids like the plague unless you enjoy your tank being a war zone, these are one of the most aggressive Cichlids there are and will do serious damage to your other fish.

Synos and plecs see previous posts.
Other catfish could work but would almost certainly mean leaving the elephant nose out due to compatability issues.
 
just got back.
[the tank is like a 47 or 51 gallon tank]

MY HAUL:

3 teeny baby bichirs(3" sooo cute )
1 African Butterfly Fish (he jumped from the tank and the owner caught him in her net she Guaranteed that he survives and live healthful )
2 lace syno
1 Black Ghost (turns out hes from S.A. but I still hopes he can hold his own and not eat my bichirs)

what do ya'll think?
 
I have a 75 USgal community with a Senegal in it, he's the newest and probably last addition until I get more tanks, I've had him for 2 months now.

His tankmates include a tyretrack eel, a black ghost knife, 4 Synodontis nigriventris, an L-081 (Gold Nugget), an L-260 (Queen Arabesque), some mollies, and an SAE.

I so far I haven't had any problems with the plecs or synos rasping on any of the other fish, I do watch carefully though, I will even more so now hearing that Synos can have a propensity to eat slime coats. My fish get a very meaty diet, live blackworms, loaded ghost shrimp, mussels, clam, smelt, brine shrimp, bloodworm, and of course, their veggies.

I enjoy the Senegal very much, he became quite active after settling into the tank. He is great to watch, and jumps right in at feeding time to get his share.
 
Sounds like your going to have a nice set up. I can't comment on the Syno's you picked up but mine usually hide all day long. It does do a good job of cleaning up though.

My african tank consists of:

2 Senegalus
1 Delhezi
1 Buettikoferi
2 ABF's
1 Syno Eupterus (featherfin)
1 Ropefish (almost forgot about him)

My featherfin cat is very territorial to the bichirs but it has not taken a liken to the bichirs slime coat. Actually I've never even heard of that, I guess you learn something new every day.
 
I've kept many different species of Synodontis cats with bichirs and have not personally witnessed the problem that CFC mentions....though I certainly do avoid putting 'pleco'-type cats with my Polypterids. The African knife fish (Xenomystus nigri), which is available from most of the larger 'chain' pet stores like PetCo and PetsMart usually at reasonable prices ($60 is unacceptably high if that is what your lfs is charging for this fish) also makes an excellent tank-mate.

The 'kribensis' (Pelvicachromis pulcher) can be kept successfully with Polypterus senegalus as long as the 'kribensis' are adults. Juveniles won't stand much of a chance with young adult P. senegalus and, of course, any young produced by the cichlids breeding will likely disappear relatively quickly.

Many of the Mormyrids (like the elephant nose, Gnathonemus petersi) also do well with like-sized bichirs. Your Black Ghost knife should also do well with your Senegal Bichirs.

-Joe
 

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