Bichir With Angels?

[always4lora]

Just wondering if a small bichir would live along side angels? tank is 4ft, seen people having bichirs with other fish but not angels

 

[nmonks]

Certain bichir (note spelling!) species can be kept with angelfish. Polypterus senegalus would be the obvious choice, being fairly peaceful and not too big. The fish traded as Polypterus palmas would be another choice for the same reasons.

This does of course assume the angels are fully grown. Juvenile angelfish kept with bichirs are at risk of being eaten. The two species mentioned here feed primarily on invertebrates in the wild, but they will not turn their noses up at small, slow-moving fish! The tank would also need to be sufficiently big that everyone had some space. Angels become territorial when mature, and can be surprisingly aggressive. Bichirs also far poorly when combined with nippy fish, so choose tankmates carefully.

Cheers, Neale

 

[Straydum]

i agree with neale. you'll have quite a hard time feeding the bichirs since they only rely more on touch to get their food. unlike angels which swarm in on food based on sight. i feed my bichirs directly and use a net to block away on coming fishes

 

[always4lora]

Corrected my spelling the angels are around 3inch body so about 4-5inch fin to fin roughly, could i not get a juvi Bichir? My angels are growing at a fairly decent rate. One thing i noticed with my angels if that they dont bother with food once it's passed them particullay. when the pelltets go down to the bottom quarter of the tank they just leave it.

 

[the_evil_duboisi]

Every one of my old senegalus came up to the surface to feed when they were at least 3" long....Meaning almost instantly, of after a bit of growing. And they also did root around for food often and fairly accuratly on the bottom.

I think senegalus could work

 

[Macaroni]

have had no problem with between my bichir and angelfish. Only problem I could see is if the bichir was full grown and the angel being very small.

 

[england]

Before i sold my breeding pair of angels i used to house my senegal birchir with them, all was hunky dorey,but when they layed you would catch him hanging from the top cover plants munching away at the eggs, angels would try to scare him off but he didnt care, was addamint for a egg lunch which he always got,,

 

[always4lora]

My tanks a little small for some of the bichir's, not the length of height just the width which is only 12 inch (25cm?ish) most seem to grow a little longer than that , do they have dwarf species or are the ones that grow to 30-40cm classed as dwarf? Hopefully will upgrade my tank in a few years but most fish are pretty much full size by then

Edit just noticed the sengal bichir supposadly does alright in 30 gallons mines a little left than 40 and well over filtered , if i could get a juvi would it be ok?

 

[Straydum]

i would say the smaller bichir species would include senegals, palmas and delhezi. yes you could have a juvenile in your tank only if you're able to make sure it gets its share of food, which most of the time would require direct feeding and chasing away other fishes

 

[always4lora]

That's cool then , 'ill be on the look out for a Juvi one are they hard to find ? noticed they're not on trimar , will ask my lfs if they can order them in. Feeding them should be fun but i like a challenge

 

[blaqk]

my ornate bichir is fine with my angels, and there of different sizes and have never had a problem

 

[1411939]

my ornate bichir is fine with my angels, and there of different sizes and have never had a problem

they both should be fine as long as they are both full grown(angel: 6"/6"height, and bichir 12" long which is the smallest), lets say the angell is 3", but 4" tall, then u can combine a bichir that is 6" the most, im telling you this because i keep my 3" angel with my 5", and there is no problem within them, UNLESS i FORGET

my ornate bichir is fine with my angels, and there of different sizes and have never had a problem

they both should be fine as long as they are both full grown(angel: 6"/6"height, and bichir 12" long which is the smallest), lets say the angell is 3", but 4" tall, then u can combine a bichir that is 6" the most, im telling you this because i keep my 3" angel with my 5", and there is no problem within them, UNLESS i FORGET

SORRY MY EDIT BUTTON DOESNT WORK, SO I HAD TO CLICK REPLY, if u forget to feed ur bichir one night, then u r more likely to see the angel's fins torned off, but is very difficult for my bichir to eat my angelfish though

 

[always4lora]

this is an old thread, now have the Senegal and he's not bothered anything else ,even when i went on holiday for a week just setting thr autofeeder to do one small feed a day