Bichirs

[Ranger]

Hello everyone, I have alot of questions about bichirs because I've realized that they are probably my favorite type of fish. I read through many of the topics that came up when i searched "bichirs" but couldn't fin dthe answers to my questions.

1- I recently made about a post about how I read in a thread that a Pleco would "suck" a Bichir to death because of the removal of toxic slime. Is this a real danger to my Bichir? Or can it live peacefully with my Pleco (who is larger).

2- Can a Senegal Bichir live with a Armored Bichir in a 55 gal aquarium?

I just love these guys to death and I think it would be awesome if I could have 2 living together.

 

[Fruitbat]

Ranger,

1) The question of keeping bichirs and 'pleco' catfish together comes up quite frequently. What it boils down to is this: some individual 'pleco' cats will develop a taste for the protective slime that covers a bichir's scales. The catfish will rasp at the bichir's scales to get the slime and this leaves the bichir with exposed areas on its body that are susceptible to bacterial and fungal infections which can prove fatal to the bichir. I have also read reports of Synodontis species doing the same thing but I've kept Synodontids with my bichirs for many years and have not witnessed the problem. Some people have kept 'pleco' cats with bichirs and never had any problems but there are enough reports of bad interactions to make the risk unacceptable (to me, at least).

2) It is very possible to keep two different species of bichir together in the same aquarium as long as the size differences aren't too great. The Armored Bichir, Polypterus delhezi, does grow a bit larger than Polypterus senegalus but as long as two individuals are roughly the same size there shouldn't be too many problems. As for the 55 gallon tank, a standard tank of this volume is 48 inches long X 13 inches wide (depth is not really a critical factor for bichirs) and isn't really the ideal kind of aquarium for bichir keeping. That being said, you could keep P. senegalus and P. delhezi in a 55 gallon for quite a few years. The 'breeder' type aquariums are actually better for bichirs because they tend to enhance width and sacrifice height. A 50 gallon 'breeder' aquarium, for example, has a length of 36 inches and a width of 18 inches which actually offers more bottom surface area for bichirs than does a 55 gallon.

-Joe

 

[pacuboy]

Ranger,

1) The question of keeping bichirs and 'pleco' catfish together comes up quite frequently. What it boils down to is this: some individual 'pleco' cats will develop a taste for the protective slime that covers a bichir's scales. The catfish will rasp at the bichir's scales to get the slime and this leaves the bichir with exposed areas on its body that are susceptible to bacterial and fungal infections which can prove fatal to the bichir. I have also read reports of Synodontis species doing the same thing but I've kept Synodontids with my bichirs for many years and have not witnessed the problem. Some people have kept 'pleco' cats with bichirs and never had any problems but there are enough reports of bad interactions to make the risk unacceptable (to me, at least).

2) It is very possible to keep two different species of bichir together in the same aquarium as long as the size differences aren't too great. The Armored Bichir, Polypterus delhezi, does grow a bit larger than Polypterus senegalus but as long as two individuals are roughly the same size there shouldn't be too many problems. As for the 55 gallon tank, a standard tank of this volume is 48 inches long X 13 inches wide (depth is not really a critical factor for bichirs) and isn't really the ideal kind of aquarium for bichir keeping. That being said, you could keep P. senegalus and P. delhezi in a 55 gallon for quite a few years. The 'breeder' type aquariums are actually better for bichirs because they tend to enhance width and sacrifice height. A 50 gallon 'breeder' aquarium, for example, has a length of 36 inches and a width of 18 inches which actually offers more bottom surface area for bichirs than does a 55 gallon.

-Joe

I would have to agree with you joe. But I won't put any pleco with a bichir.

-Alex

 

[Ranger]

Ranger,

1) The question of keeping bichirs and 'pleco' catfish together comes up quite frequently. What it boils down to is this: some individual 'pleco' cats will develop a taste for the protective slime that covers a bichir's scales. The catfish will rasp at the bichir's scales to get the slime and this leaves the bichir with exposed areas on its body that are susceptible to bacterial and fungal infections which can prove fatal to the bichir. I have also read reports of Synodontis species doing the same thing but I've kept Synodontids with my bichirs for many years and have not witnessed the problem. Some people have kept 'pleco' cats with bichirs and never had any problems but there are enough reports of bad interactions to make the risk unacceptable (to me, at least).

2) It is very possible to keep two different species of bichir together in the same aquarium as long as the size differences aren't too great. The Armored Bichir, Polypterus delhezi, does grow a bit larger than Polypterus senegalus but as long as two individuals are roughly the same size there shouldn't be too many problems. As for the 55 gallon tank, a standard tank of this volume is 48 inches long X 13 inches wide (depth is not really a critical factor for bichirs) and isn't really the ideal kind of aquarium for bichir keeping. That being said, you could keep P. senegalus and P. delhezi in a 55 gallon for quite a few years. The 'breeder' type aquariums are actually better for bichirs because they tend to enhance width and sacrifice height. A 50 gallon 'breeder' aquarium, for example, has a length of 36 inches and a width of 18 inches which actually offers more bottom surface area for bichirs than does a 55 gallon.

-Joe

Hmm... #1, Wow, call me noob... I didn't know that "Pleco" were a type of catfish . I was really confused until I looked it up. Do the Bichirs "regenerate" their slime? If so I'd like to keep them in the same tank and see if their are further problems between the two, then if there are I will remove the Pleco because I love my Bichir more. What can one do with a fish that is no longer compatable for their tank?

#2 I think I'll try to go through with my bichir idea. I'll try to maximize the surface area on the bottom of my tank. Thanks for the info.

 

[nmonks]

My royal plec lived for many years with Polypterus palmas, as did a Synodontis nigrita, without any problems. (Though that S. nigrita was a bit of a thug otherwise.) Royal plecs (and other Panaque, most likely) are such specialised feeders -- eating wood and greenstuffs -- that fish slime is way down the list of what I think they consider tasty.

On the other hand, I've had Otocinclus eat the skin from large gobies. Whether that's normal behaviour or more about the lack of green algae in the tank I cannot say.

So I'm sure the bichir vs. plec question depends a lot on the species in question. As Panaque spp. are a low risk, I'd assume Acanthicus adonis, an omnivorous plec, would be a much bigger risk.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[cane76]

as far as i know only a few species of plec do this sucking on other fish,i have kept a sailfin and common plec with delhezi and ornate with no problems

 

[Ranger]

Yay, ok thank you. That makes me happy.

 

[beblondie]

SLIMECOAT
its function
Is a mucous created by the continal replacement of glandular cells know in the fishes skin that produce a glycoprotein which is called mucin. This when mixed with water forms the mucus that makes up the slime coat of fish.Fish with poorly developed scales tend to produce more of this slime coat.. The slime coat does threee basci things- it reduces turbulence for the fish when swimming by smotthing over the areas between the fishes scales-it helps regulate the internal/external ionic balance and the efficiecy of gases exchanged through the skins surface-ie-osmoregullation and it provides a slipery surface that in it's sloughing off prevents bacteria from attching themselves to the skin. Bacteria is simply washed away from the skin with this process. It also aids in acting as a wound bandage.Stressed fish have a change in their slime coat-either too much or too little.One sign of a stressed bichir is usually overproduction of its slimecoat

WHY ITS OFTEN MADE A MEAL
Areas of the amazon where a number of plecos exist there is little in the line of protein based foods.Plecs are very adaptable to feeding on availiable food sources and one is the mucus coating of other fish,There is good evidence of these fish doing this in the wild and plenty of evidence of these fish doing this in captivity.There It really would not be a suprise to find that mucus feeding is a common feeding method in many Loricariidae catfishes.

While it is often replaced within 24 hour it does leave the victim open to infection more worrisome tho
is the rasping teeth delaminating the scales this can result in open wounds and while bichirs are hardy fish
fixing one can be a long and costly(meds) process thats best to avoid-Anne

 

[Ranger]

While the topic is here, I was wondering if anyone could tell me the correct way to pronounce "Bichir". I have been surfing the net for a couple hours now and have got that it started out as a sort of... Bee-sheer but then evolved into Biker and some(one of my LFS) even now call them Bikes.

Any input would be great

 

[beblondie]

While the topic is here, I was wondering if anyone could tell me the correct way to pronounce "Bichir". I have been surfing the net for a couple hours now and have got that it started out as a sort of... Bee-sheer but then evolved into Biker and some(one of my LFS) even now call them Bikes.

Any input would be great

WHY BICHIR?

When Europeans (French) discovered the genus Polypterus in 1809 it had already been known along the Nile since the time of the pharoahs. The local peoples referred to them as bichirs (unknown pronunciation and spelling). While unable to come up with an exact meaning for the word it was most likely a descriptive term (''whip'' has been suggested) for this type of fish.

The French most likely pronounced it as phonetically as possible to the orginal native word and came up with bee-sheer as a pronunciation and spelled 'bichir'. Since this would be the name of these fish for
several years until they were scientifically described and put into the proper family it became an accepted common name.

However the correct English pronunciation is up for grabs. Several dictionaries all have their own pronunciation including the below:
bee cher
beech er
bikir
biker
bercheer
bi cher
bir chir is common in England
Also known by the common name lobed fin pike,dinosaur eel.
The name Polypterus : poly=many + pterus=fins and is pronounced po-lyp'-terus.

 

[Ranger]

yeah that was one of the articles I read through. I found it very interesting.

 

[Ranger]

I've heard of people teaching their bichirs to handfeed. I'd like to attempt this but I'm currently feeding mine blood worms. Whats something more... substancial? that I could feed him?

 

[beblondie]

I've heard of people teaching their bichirs to handfeed. I'd like to attempt this but I'm currently feeding mine blood worms. Whats something more... substancial? that I could feed him?

Silversides or lance fish,strips of beef heart,earthworms come to mind-Anne

 

[darknyght5]

bichirs will readily eat minnows as well, but be careful because they are not always the healthiest fish in stores because they're over crowded. You might also be able to get away with using krill for a while, although it seems to drain the color of their skin quickly, or you can try raw shrimp from your local grocery store. Buy 51-60 counts, de shell and vein them, and then cut them into chunks and see how they like it. since processed shrimp contains nothing but shrimp, salt and water, you should not have any problem adding this into your tank.

 

[Ranger]

bichirs will readily eat minnows as well, but be careful because they are not always the healthiest fish in stores because they're over crowded. You might also be able to get away with using krill for a while, although it seems to drain the color of their skin quickly, or you can try raw shrimp from your local grocery store. Buy 51-60 counts, de shell and vein them, and then cut them into chunks and see how they like it. since processed shrimp contains nothing but shrimp, salt and water, you should not have any problem adding this into your tank.

I rarely feed him minnows. I've had my fish contract something from those filthy creatures one too many times. I don't know anything about shrimp what does "51-60" counts mean, and how do I devain them? I figure that deshelling them is obvious as to what you do. Basically I'm going for whatever will make him grow the fastest, I switched from Frozen blood worms to feeding him frozen beefheart(i heard it was good).