lix.. have you kept bowfin before lol?
theyre fine with eachother, kept 14 incher with senegals 1/4 the size, they were fine together. even kept small one with large bichirs back in the day. again, fine together.
I agree with what you are saying here, but the wording may be a little confusing to other not familiar with the bowfin. I feel the need to expound upon this statement and clarify the message.
The Bowfin aggression toward other fish is generally not a major issue with a few notable exceptions:
1. Feeding time. Bowfins are active feeders and aggressively take meaty foods that they have developed a taste for in a fast "attack" mode. Any fish competing for that piece of meat in a feeding is likely to get bitten by the Bowfin.
(Perceived aggression)
2. Self defense. I have now kept close to a dozen Bowfin, and they are excellent fighters well capable of defending themselves from similar sized aggressive tank mates that have taken to "picking" on them. They are capable and willing to kill these type of tank-mates. In reality this is not aggression at all in my oppinion.
3. Major size difference. If a bowfin can easily swallow a fish, it is food! (This is in no way, shape or form aggression toward other fish, this is nature and common sense!) neildie, 14" bowfin with any 3.5" fish is risky and I bet you had kept the bowfin extremely well fed for it not to devour the 1/4 sized Senegal bichir. I personally would use at minimum 50% (1/2) the size of the Bowfin as a bare minimum in selecting a bichir tank-mate to the Bowfin.
Co-specific aggression:
This is where I am concerned that the wording of your post can be confusing to those who have not kept bowfins!!!! Their legendary uber-aggressive toward other Bowfins and will extremely commonly fight to the death against one another. They are not communal as a good number of the Bichir family are. Female bowfin are similar to male betas in their aggression toward one another.
One Bowfin with a number of Bichirs would be ideal!