can i keep a bichir

FishForums.net Pet of the Month
🐶 POTM Poll is Open! 🦎 Click here to Vote! 🐰

IKeepAngels

Fish Fanatic
Joined
Oct 29, 2018
Messages
79
Reaction score
1
i'm currently planning on getting a senegal bichir for my tank. I have 4 angels (1 adult, 3 juveniles all veil), 1 juvenile royal whiptail catfish about 2-3 inches), 2 juvenile yoyo loaches and 8 kuhli loaches. i have gravel for substrate (almost all are somewhat smooth and half an inch long, mixed with very few 1/2-1 inch long lava rock). i have live plants such as val, dwarf sag (not a carpet of it), anubias, christmas moss (which are both attached to the wood i have, dwarf water lettuce and duckweed (covering the half of the top of the tank). can i keep a senegal bichir until maturity?
 
I wouldn't put a birchir in that tank because it will try to eat the loaches. The khulis will be first and then the baby whiptail and then the yoyo loaches. They will stick their spines out and the birchir will die with the loach in its mouth.

Your yoyo loaches need a group of at least 6 and preferably more.
 
I wouldn't put a birchir in that tank because it will try to eat the loaches. The khulis will be first and then the baby whiptail and then the yoyo loaches. They will stick their spines out and the birchir will die with the loach in its mouth.

Your yoyo loaches need a group of at least 6 and preferably more.
thanks for the info. about the loaches, there was a massive die out in my tank because of the disease that the rummynose i bought last january brought. i will restock on losaches as soon as i re-visit my lfs :)
 
If you have a spare tank, you should quarantine all new fish for at least 2 (preferably 4) weeks before adding them to the main display tank.
 
If you have a spare tank, you should quarantine all new fish for at least 2 (preferably 4) weeks before adding them to the main display tank.
i will next time. the time i bought those fish my used 15g tank was dirty and outside. i was not really good at fish keeping (i didn't know what the nitrogen cycle was, or ammonia) so whenever i clean (which is every 2 months or so,i'm sorry i was really bad), i'd drain the tank completely and wash it with soap. how do you suggest i make it safe again for fish? oh and by the way, will the case be the same if i kept a ropefish? thanks :)
 
Ropefish are a type of birchir.

Just wash the spare tank out with water a few times. Then fill it with tap water and leave it to sit for an hour so before draining it and refilling it again. Do this several times and rinse everything with fresh water when you drain it. Then it should be safe to set up.

If you have a second filter you can run that in the main tank and when you get new fish, you transfer the second filter from the main tank into the quarantine tank and you have a cycled filter for the quarantined fish.
 
thanks! :) although, can you suggest another type of oddball fish that's relatively easy to keep and will fit my tank's conditions?
 
You know about the nitrogen cycle now don't you?

How big is the tank, (length x width x height)?

What is the GH (general hardness) and pH of your water supply. This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).
 
You know about the nitrogen cycle now don't you?

How big is the tank, (length x width x height)?

What is the GH (general hardness) and pH of your water supply. This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).
i know most things i need to know about basic fish keeping however, i've only studied and researched specifically on loach and angel care. the tank is 36x18x18 as for the general hardness, i haven't asked about it yet so it may take some time before i'm able to answer that but for ph,it's around 7 or lower
 
I'll just comment on a couple of things that stand out here now that we have the tank dimensions. Four angelfish will very soon need a much larger space, 48 inch length and deeper (height). Angels attain six inches body length with a vertical fin span of 8 inches.

The Yo Yo loaches are not good tankmates for angelfish as they have been known to nip fins of upper fish. You realize they need more to provide the social structure they expect, but given the tank size this is not advisable. This species needs more room too.

All these fish are juveniles now, but fish grow and need adequate space and conditions as they do or internal problems will occur.

Colin dealt with the bichir/ropefish and obviously this tank will not support those as well.
 
I'll just comment on a couple of things that stand out here now that we have the tank dimensions. Four angelfish will very soon need a much larger space, 48 inch length and deeper (height). Angels attain six inches body length with a vertical fin span of 8 inches.

The Yo Yo loaches are not good tankmates for angelfish as they have been known to nip fins of upper fish. You realize they need more to provide the social structure they expect, but given the tank size this is not advisable. This species needs more room too.

All these fish are juveniles now, but fish grow and need adequate space and conditions as they do or internal problems will occur.

Colin dealt with the bichir/ropefish and obviously this tank will not support those as well.
ok then :) i'll return an adult and one of the little ones. the yoyo loach problem is about to be dealt with already as their original purpose is to eat the snails i have in my tank but from what i've observed, none of them ate or even touched a snail. my tank is already starting to get boring with the lack of fish in it. can you suggest any other fish i can add that will bring life to my tank again? thanks:)
 
What sort of snails do you have problems with?
Most loaches won't touch Malaysian Livebearing snails because their shell is very hard. Some big loaches might try but those snails are just hard to crack.

What's the GH of your water?
 
ok then :) i'll return an adult and one of the little ones. the yoyo loach problem is about to be dealt with already as their original purpose is to eat the snails i have in my tank but from what i've observed, none of them ate or even touched a snail. my tank is already starting to get boring with the lack of fish in it. can you suggest any other fish i can add that will bring life to my tank again? thanks:)

If you mean return two of the angelfish, this may well create more problems. Angelfish are a shoaling species and while five is the recommended minimum, if you have four it may be as well to leave them, or remove all of course given the tank size issue in the near future. Not knowing the genders, if two males are left they will fight until one is dead.

Not all loaches are effective snail eaters; some not at all. And it depends upon thee snail species. Pond, bladder and Ramshorn are easier to get into than Malaysian Livebearing. But this only points up why one should never acquire fish to solve any problems--often they don't but they bring their own requirements/traits/issues with them.
 
What sort of snails do you have problems with?
Most loaches won't touch Malaysian Livebearing snails because their shell is very hard. Some big loaches might try but those snails are just hard to crack.

What's the GH of your water?
I haven’t checked yet
 

Most reactions

trending

Staff online

Members online

Back
Top