Senegal Or Ornate?

[Dave Ehl]

which, senegal or ornate bichirs, would work best with

1 oscar
1 L001/L022 plec
8 silver dollars
6 clown loaches
1 severum

These are all kept in an overfiltered 180g 6x2x2 tank.

 

[england]

well i have a senagal birchir with my oscars and he gets on fine, but people say you have to watch that the plec doesnt get a taste for its slime coat!!!
Ive always wanted an ornate but havent come across one yet, havent got space now

 

[Dave Ehl]

thanks. how long have you had your senegal? i am able to get them at my lfs for $6, but i want to know if they get any meaner looking as they mature. if they do, then i'm getting one. if not, then i'll try to track down an ornate.

 

[Dave Ehl]

no! i bought 2 at six inches, and now one of them is only three inches! i figured that if i bought them the same size as my oscar, there wouldnt be a problem. but i made a sandwich, came back, and i only have one and a half senegal bichirs! the other one is hiding on top of my spray bar. how can i get my oscar to leave it alone?

 

[shroob]

Sorry to hear that, have the polypterus got enough hiding spots? Hiding on the spraybar makes it sound like there isn't anywhere else to go.

If you have got a bare tank, I recommend bogwood or some safe plastic tubes, somewhere the polypterus can get to but not the oscar.

 

[Zawiha]

id probly recommend an ornate.
They usually grow around 18+ inches and get quite thick.
Once senegals reaches around 6.5 inches the usually start to fill out.
I dont think they look mean though

make sure there is plenty of hiding places though

 

[Dave Ehl]

I've got a tree root with small openings that the bichirs hid in. the holes aren't big enough for my oscar to fit through, but it forced it's way through the gravel underneath it to chase them out and then grabbed one of them. i restarted my 10 gallon tank, moved my guppies into it and put the bichir in the 20 gallon. i also went back to the lfs and they were nice enough to give me another. its about half the size though. i'll let them grow out in the 20 until they are big enough to hang with the oscar. atm the oscar is still snooping around the roots

 

[Straydum]

i found it okay to not have hiding places for senegals or ornates. they're one of the more active species of bichirs and hiding isnt something you'd find common in them.

on another note, why is an issue on bichirs in the new world cichlids forum?

 

[Zawiha]

not a clue,
dont think a mods moved it yet.

Keep an eye on the two bichirs.
From m experience polypteruspecies can be quite quarrel-some
with there own species. Some even killing what ever ones they find
(an example of that is the evil lil poly at my lfs, who jumped tanks to kill her brothers and sisters

 

[Dave Ehl]

sorry. i started a thread about bichirs because i wanted advice from people who had experience with both oscars and bichirs. sorry about that. but thanks for the help and opinions.

 

[Starfishpower]

i could be wrong on this so take what i say with a grain of salt but from what i have heard about oscars i dont think you will ever be able to put your senegals with one. one of my close friends is a cichlid fanatic and his last oscar was aptly named Napoleon. in highschool him and his friends fed it a mouse, so im assuming sennys only get about the same width as a mouse (idk since mine hasnt grown up yet) which makes me think the oscar's still gona see an adult as food. on the other hand P. ornatipinnis can get to 27" (max found in the wild, safe to assume its gona be smaller in the aquarium) so an ornate might actually get to the size where itcould eat the oscar or atleast hurt it. the only other thing i can think of that might be of some help to you is that P. lapradei ('Lapradei' bichir) can get to 24" - im guessing 20" in the aquarium - which sounds like a safe length for both it and the oscar if you wanted to put some sort of polypterid in there with him. an ornate might be just fine, i talked to a guy a lfs that keeps his with an 8"ish catfish and they are fine though, im no expert.... yet . hope some of this helps and im sorry to hear about how that one senny of yours got eaten

 

[Dave Ehl]

it's alright. it wasn't a very smart move to just put them in there like that anyways. i am going to try to stick with the senegals because i have grown pretty fond of them in the last couple days. besides, mice arent that great at swimming and getting away from an oscar. with the growth rate of my oscar (6" currently) with the growth rate of my bichirs (6" and 3"), the shelter i have in the tank should fit only the bichirs and not the oscar (although he'll probably try for awhile). we'll see what happens in a few months when the oscar is distracted by the clown loaches, silver dollars and a severum and the bichirs are bigger. i hope my timing will work out.