Can a bichir eat too big a pellet?

The pellet probably soften up by the time he engulfed it lol, my sen's will do that too.

Yes they can definitely eat too big of a piece of something. Some even die from eating this such as gravel that they will either choke on or eat and it wreak havoc on their intestines. I would wait a couple more hours or so (with close monitering) and see if like tlindsey says it softens up. If it doesn't soften up in the next couple hours then I'd get a little worried. Right now the worst thing you can do it try and pull it out. It will stress the fish to no end and increase the chance it chokes. So Id just play the waiting game unless you see obvious signs of it choking.

teqvet said:

Looks like he's still struggling with it at this time, but he's swimming around every so often. Hits the top of the water. Not sure what their characteristics generally are.

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When poly goes to the top and hitting the water as stated it is collecting air, that's why water level should 1 or 2 inches low. Apparently poly is still getting air which is good, in the future do what DrB recommended.

For future, can always feed the cichlids a little slower to make sure they get the big pellets, or pre soak the large pellets shortly. Hope it pulls through