How often do bichir poop??

It depends a great deal on their diet. Like so many other things--you get out what you put in.

That said, I have seen my ornatipinnis take some monstrous dumps after eating huge piles of bloodworms. I'm serious. You would think bloodworms are 100% fiber or something.

Anyway, I feed as often as I possibly can. On weekends I feed 3 or even 4 times in a day--once every few hours. On weekdays I feed when I wake up, when I get home from school/work, and again before I go to sleep. The more you feed the faster they will grow.

If you are worried about filtration, buy a couple of houseplants and after preparing them, suspend their roots into the tank. With plant filtration you will never have to do a water change, even if you overfeed. I have four tanks up and running, and my params are all perfect. I don't do water changes. Philodendrons and chinese evergreen work especially well for this.

I might add that plant filtration looks amazing both inside and outside the tank, and your ploys will love hanging out in the roots of chinese evergreen.

If you have never tried a plant filter, do yourself a big favor. The results are mind blowing. Consistent 0/0 nitrate/ammonia results week after week. Overfeeding feels good because you know everyone is getting enough food, and your plants will eat the rest.

Oh you couldn't be more wrong..... Absolutely nothing can eliminate the need for regular water changes. There is plenty of stuff the plants can't remove. Things like hormones (that can contribute to slower growth), minerals that will build up when added with evaporation replacement water and heavy metals from add water. I imagine there is other stuff. I would STRONGLY suggest you get some google going and educate yourself soon.
As far as the power feeding you talked about, that just increases the need for regular water changes. Also extremely fast growth contributes to a shortened lifespan.

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I lose 7-12% of my tanks water per week to evaporation. This gets replaced every Friday. I also do a 15% waterchange on my 180gallon once every 10 or so days, because i use that water to feed my ~90+ houseplants. The other tanks have not been recieving this 15% waterchange. Keep in mind that these tanks are all planted as well.

So far as overfeeding goes, none of my fish are obese or growing at an alarming rate. When I feed 4x in a single day the portions are reduced per meal. This is a great way to ensure your fish have a healthy metabolism: more frequent, smaller meals.

Excess food is allowed to sit for up to a half hour at most--or until I have made my rounds to every tank in the house. What remains is removed with a turkey baster.

I was worried about the build up of untestable variables when I initially got my tanks to a point where the levels were consistently perfect. All of my research suggested that the replacement of evaporated water was enough to keep things in check. I saw it debated in a few places, but in others there was no question. I did not read anything about the build up of hormones in the water. Do you have any sources for this? Most of the threads and articles I read were coming from people who keep planted tanks with external cannister and plant filters.

"minerals that will build up when added with evaporation replacement water and heavy metals from add water."

A waterchange cannot remove things that a watechange also adds. Any variables that need to be removed will have to be qualities that build up in a running aquarium that are not present in dangerous levels in tap water.

Also, sorry for the derail OP. I forgot to mention constipation in my reply. Constipated polypterus will wind up with a swollen back end. I have heard it said that peas can help to solve this issue, but getting your poly to eat a pea will not be easy. You could try soaking it in a garlic solution such as kent's garlic xtreme.

hmmmmm,....... the production/secretion of hormones is all true. Other reasons to do water changes is to replenish the micro and macro nutrients in the water column that fish need to function "optimally".

I can see how The Lion WATS, can get away with such a low regimen in water changes.....extremely low bio and lots of plants. This of course it NOT the case for most monster fish keepers who have a higher than average bioload-- in which case large water changes are necessary even with the present of plants.

Bichirs DO NOT need to be fed 4 or 5 times a day. It all depends on the SIZE of the bichir. Babies/juvies -- 2x/day is sufficient....... as the bichir grows, their metabolism or rate of digestion decreases. For example 18" and up bichirs can be fed every 3 days with no problem. I know some who feed every 4 days while others feed every 3 days. For bichirs 6" - 12"s, once a day is plenty.

To OP, how large are your bichirs? keep in mind, some polys will eat themselves to death if given the opportunity.

AND FYI, those with monster bichirs and monster fish know, it is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to keep plants in the tank with MONSTERS unless the plants are in the sump or baki style container.

framcosco said:

AND FYI, those with monster bichirs and monster fish know, it is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to keep plants in the tank with MONSTERS unless the plants are in the sump or baki style container.

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Agreed fully!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't even have monsters I got mini monsters all around 9-14" and I can't keep plants for s***! The most I can do is some wisteria floating at the top of the water for a 2 months or so then I got to by more cause they start dieing


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Also agree with water changes being a must my nitrites and ammonia stay in check never over 0.25 but my nitrates build up super super quick ... Even back when I only had 3 bichirs ... And I only fed once a day ... If u want some great growth out of them at a healthy rate feed massivore .. I can't express enough how freakin good it works ... Iv never had a bichir grow so much as the ones I gave massivore to


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