No restraint…

[Magnum Man]

Got a group of 6 platies to add to my bichir tank… thought if they had babies might perpetuate a food source… 1st night and he’s fat an happy, and no platies to be found… My bichir is currently about 10 inches, & is a Polypterus delhezi… don’t want him to grow so fast he tries to eat the smaller of the silver dollars in the tank… smallest silver dollar is about a 2 inch and it’s a tiger stripe… that would be harder to replace… they have been tank mates for about a month… so hoping they are good...

this is a representative picture... but mine is about this size & looks just like this...

https://www.aquariumfishsale.com/cdn/shop/products/Delhezi-Bichir-Fish.jpg?v=1511468955&width=493

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Yeah, saw that coming as soon as I read the first sentence. I would think hard about finding new homes for those silver dollars if I were you.

 

[Magnum Man]

I've read in several places a bichir will eat anything that fits in it's mouth... I was buying Mosquito fish as feeders, hoping they would breed... apparently "Dezi" has trouble catching them... as there are still a few in the tank... maybe the remaining mosquito fish have gotten smarter??? the Platies are gone in 1 day, so no learning curve there...

I'm thinking / hoping, that the silver dollars appear too big to the bichir, to fit in his mouth ( being a tall fish, rather than a long fish )... so far, they have been fine, & I've not seen the bichir even try to eat one... but being ambush predators, that could change in a flash...

also I had bought a big bag of dried whole soldier fly larvae from the feed store ( supposed to be chicken treats ) I've been chopping them up for treats for my tin foil barbs, but also dropping 5-6 whole into the bichir tank, when I feed them to the Tin Foils... they have been disappearing over night, so I assume he's eating those... they are about the size of a plump meal worm... maybe need to feed him more worms, though the hunt instinct is strong in this one... thinking he would eat as many as I put in there, & still try to grab a fish if he gets the chance...

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

It would be a terrible shame if he chomped those dollars...expensive bichir chow