I would like to know how bichers rate in size from largest to smallest. It would be nice to know how big each will get as well. We have some right now ranging in size from 20 inches down to about 8 inches. There are 5 ornates 3 endis 1 weeksi and 1 unknown. They are all living in a 4x4 200 gallon with our midas.
I would like to know the sizes all bichers not just the ones we own.
Im sure someone has a complete list but it seems to be that besides ornates the very large ones are all lower jaw as a general rule. Senegalus stay the smallest at a foot. And Lap Congus are the largest at up to 39". Do you have a picture of your unknown?
Lower jaw species are larger , congicus being largest, the rest are all very close in potential size. For upper jaw species Weeksii and ornatipinnis both can get quite large, comparable to the smaller end of the lower jaw species. I've read teugelsi can also get quite large but i haven't managed to get my hands on any yet so not sure if they are as bulky as the other big guys.
The rest of the upper jaws along with rope fish are smaller and not as bulky.
LJ:
CB Laps 16"-20"
WC Laps 18"-24"
CB Endlicheri 14"-18"
WC Endlicheri 18"-24"
Dabola 18"-26"
PBB 20"-26"
Congicus 20"-30"
Angsorii 20"-28"
On almost all of the Lower Jaw's sizes they can vary greatly. They all have a very high potential on size, but like humans some get bigger and some stay smaller. There have been some Monster Congicus caught as well as some Monster Angsorii, but those sizes are likely to be reached. However there are some freaks of nature that can and will defy the odds. As far as the Upper Jaws I made a different stat for the CB and WC teugelsi and ornates. The CB teugelsi's though I feel can't really be determined right now, because of their limited time on the market. CB ornates that I have seen don't seem to get as big as their WC counterparts. I left a lot of the variants off, because to be completely honest I am not sure that they will grow much different from the fish they are varied from (Ex. I think farana lap will grow same size as regular lap). However I have not personally been keeping Lower Jaws long enough to grow out a variant and normal polypterus to tell if there is a difference. All of these sizes are what I think they can achieve or what they will stay at. They obviously all can vary a couple of inches or so. These sizes are just basically where it will get and just making sure no one think a CB sen will reach 18".
Thank you guys have helped a lot. Our male endi is only about10 inches and hasn't changed in size for over 2 years. However our 2 females rival the size of our ornate. The unknown bicher I think is a delhezi. Our weeksi has a lot of growing to do I guess do they grow slower than ornates. As we have some 2 year old ornates that are already bigger than the weeksi. When we got our big ornate it was just 6 inches and I wasn't really impressed with these fish. As time has gone by they are becoming one of my favorites.
I noticed that you said wild caught grow larger than captive bred is there any reason for it. Are most bicher able to be bred in captivity or only the ones you mentioned?
I noticed that you said wild caught grow larger than captive bred is there any reason for it. Are most bicher able to be bred in captivity or only the ones you mentioned?
As for size of CB vs WC Captive bred polys are still capable of growing to nice sizes, but since they are in captivity they usually don't have the need to hunt and survive themselves. Senegals and endlis are the ones I have seen that usually stray far from their WC counterparts. They both have been bred for a long time and after a lot of breeding once you get down the line the fish have no need to grow large to avoid predators or anything in captivity. WC's have to grow larger to survive and eat and compete in the wild. CB are still capable of large sizes, but you usually don't see as big sizes in CB as you do WC. As far as which ones are bred in captivity the CB ones you usually in the store aren't bred the normal way. Most of the breeders don't have the time to wait for the fish to get comfortable or to find the right mate so they use hormones. I'm pretty sure theres many polys being bred I know that there are CB sens, ornates, endlis, laps, teugelsi, delhezis as they are very common on the forum. I'm pretty sure theres CB angsorii because they are making hybrids of them with endlis. There is probably more being bred or that have been bred. Usually members in Asia have a better knowledge of what has been or is being bred because most of the breeders are based in Asia or somewhere near it.
I would think people would try harder to breed them in captivity to lesson the parasite problem. Is the weeksi a longer life spanned bicher than the ornate due to its slower growth rate.
I would really like to get a few more weeksi and try and breed them as they are a really good looking fish.
