Are Ornate bichir's difficult to care for ????

[tcarswell]

I am working on acquiring one of these specimens and I keep hearing they are difficult to care for? I have a senegalus bichir he is obviously very easy to care for. But the ornate's seem to get a rap they are hard to care for ? Any particular reason ?

[Andri Pogo]

never heard that one polypterus species should be harder to take care of than others... my ornates are not different in any way than my other species when it comes to care.

[Atreyu]

Maybe because they grow a bit bigger (2'). I take care of my ornate the same way as my senegal.

[eternity302]

My personal experience... the ornate gets a little shy to come out and eat compared to the palmas and delhezi! but that's just mine, I've only got one so I'm not sure about others.

[King-eL]

All bichirs are easy to keep if you know what you're doing.

[tcarswell]

Thanks guys so i guess just supply lots of rocks and caves and plants ? Whats best PH ?

[David R]

Thanks guys so i guess just supply lots of rocks and caves and plants ? Whats best PH ?

Just make sure there is nowhere it can get stuck, and remove the caves as the fish grows, then they're over 12" they'll appreciate swimming space more than clutter.

pH somewhere around 6.0-8.0..... ;)

[tcarswell]

sounds excellent cause no matter what my tap PH is pegged at 8.0

[crowxviii]

My ornates have different behavior compared to my other dragons. They tend to be soooo shy. Everytime I try to look inside their hiding place, they move backwards into the dark. I hardly see them coming out from their hiding places to swim. Unlike my senegals and dels and endlis. they're very sociable. well that's the only problem i have with my ornates so far... but they do come out during the night though.

[tcarswell]

That's interesting my senegal acts like he's on a damn hampster wheel 24/7 he's always cruising the entire tank. Fun to watch

[channarox]

cares pretty much the same for all of them...just different sizes.

[Hao]

my ornates are shy but they eat mealworms when i throw a bunch in lol

[Cohazard]

Even though ornates are known for being cryptic, with the right scape design, you can work around that natural tendency.

I never like using caves in a bichir setup. Don't allow them to be completely hidden from you, because then they will.

But, you can still give them a place to feel secure by using large driftwood with lots of open space beneath it.

The bichirs if startled will all congregate there, then eventually they calm down and move about their business.

[uwe]

Hello,

Polypterids are very easy to keep due to the fact they aren't very sensible with the water quality (but - attention! You also have to care for a good water quality ... but in a bad case the bichirs are the last ones living in a severed tank!). The most important thing: Keep care of the possibilities of escaping!

For my experience Ornates are a bit more aggressive than other bichirs - especially males. They tend to bite other males (maybe territorial behaviour).
All my Ornates i had kept or i'm keeping are unfriendly community fish. Against other male bichirs ( no matter what species they are) they are aggressive, against other fish hy tend to kill them. Maybe they are peaceful for months but one morning you will miss a fish (don't wonder about the size thy are able to kill & eat!) or you will find some left-over like a fish puzzle on the tank's ground.
But every Ornate has it's unique character and it is possible all will be OK as told here by other keepers - but you will hear here two kind of stories - or more.

Greetings
Uwe

[BlackGhostKnifelovr]

ornate is a soldier... I have one around 11inch and i made the mistake of putting 40feeders in my tank hoping that it would feed all my fish for the week i was gone, and when i came back everything was dead except for the poly and a clown knife.... i imagine the gold fish lived too long and polluted the water causing my lima catfish to die and him floating around polluted more and killed the rest (4large tinfoils)

the water was murky white and the poly was just swimmin around like nothin was wrong... what a mess that was :(

[tcarswell]

Wow , My poly has survived less than optimal conditions. Right now he is in a 55 with a eheim 2215 , An undergravel filter with powerheads , And a 300 GPH mechanical filter HOB style. He is sharing the tank with three giant danio's and thats it. He has the lay of the land on the tank bottom. Plenty of pots caves and plants he's having the time of his life in there he's only about 6 or so inches