Healthy bichir feeding habits

[NowFuzzySays]

Thanks guys! Is water conditioner the same as stress coat? I know water conditions helps restore the natural slime coat, but we also have stress zyme. I'll put in a little water conditioner right now, but I've read good things about stress coat. Sounds like a good product to have handy. Del is still alive, and doing well actually. His wound has continued to look as if it's mending itself back together, and appears to be getting smaller each day. He has been eating flakes that we feed to our mollies, we just break them up into very tiny pieces as to not upset his wound. We're going to try introducing him back to brine shrimp tonight, which I'm sure he will be VERY happy about.

And on the note of endlicheris…. oh my goodness, they are PIGS! Our biggest endli inhaled a goldfish feeder in a matter of three seconds (not exaggerating) and he's only 7.5"! The two endlis we have in the tank have demonstrated exceptionally substantial growth. Del would be second place. Tegeulsi is still really small, but we haven't had him for very long. The slowest growth has been displayed by one of our senegals. He (she?) was one of the very first two polies we put in the tank, we've had him for almost a year, and he literally hasn't appeared to grow! Not even an inch! Really disappointed with his size, which is interested because he eats a lot and is constantly on the prowl. I'm hoping some growth spurt might kick in…


But I'll keep ya guys posted on the status of the del, and try to get some pictures when I can. Thanks for all the advice!

 

[Dr.B]

Well it is supposed to have some water conditioner in it, but I use it along with with water conditioner and haven't had any problems. Stress zyme (from what I've read) is more of a way to kick-start an aquarium so I would definitely not use that. He should be ok with the bring shrimp, but make sure that it doesn't come out the wound, but if it does try and see if all of it comes out or only half of what he eats. If he stresses the wound, but at least gets some food in his stomach I would be pretty happy, because the flakes aren't enough to sustain him. I also would not feed feeder goldfish. The only feeders I would recommend would be home bred guppies. Feeders from the store can carry parasites that will transfer to your fish. I would still not recommend feeders at all even if they are home-bred, because they tend to cause more aggression in polys. If you want to feed a fish like food with a similar fishy look and taste to the polys I would feed silversides. They are pretty much frozen fish and don't have parasites. IMO a way better option than live feeders

 

[mmurry]

I had an ornate bichir die because of the barb on the clown loach he was eating got stuck in his throat. In my opinion bichirs and loaches are a bad combo.


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[Dr.B]

Update?

 

[Smithmode]

Like yours my S bichir ate a farely large piece of gravel. He has a pretty big bump where u can see it behind his front fins. Is this something to worry about? I just don't understand how he can possibly pass this one.

 

[Smithmode]

Here is a picture

 

[Smithmode]

 

[NowFuzzySays]

Hey y'all,

The Delhezi is alive and well. He's still in the 36G bow front tank with the mollies & the teugelsi, and it seems to be going really well. A couple weeks ago, we had as many as 30 baby mollies in the tank. We now have four. The ted & del have polished off quite a few, and the del seems to be taking it in stride. We noticed a couple days he had a prominent bump on his belly but the wound has completely shut itself and no undigested food is coming out of the wound. Almost all of the redness has been dissipated, but he does have a slight indent where a scar looks like it might be forming. He's not entirely healed, but he's making excellent progress. Other than attacking our cute baby mollies, we've been feeding him brine shrimp, very small cut up pieces of krill, beef heart (as a treat, 1-2x month) and cut up massivore pellets - he has a special fondess for those.

He's acting very normal, and seems to be healthy. He lost a noticeable amount of weight through the healing process, but now has a little bit of a belly starting to come back so I see that as a sign that digestion is going as it should, and he's finally receiving valuable nutrients. He and the teugelsi don't show much aggression towards each other, and he hasn't been swimming like a maniac, so I don't think there's been too much stress put on his wound. I got a semi-decent picture and a couple videos of the teugesi and delhezi. Videos are still loading I'll post links later.

 

[NowFuzzySays]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzuJFbPn2Mw&feature=youtu.be

Sorry the about the video quality. iPhone 5s POS.

 

[ccp2007]

IMO I would steer clear of any live food except red worms (go to a local bait shop, you usually get 20+ for $3), black worms, crickets from pet store and earthworm). I used to gut load minnows and gold fish not knowing how harmful they can be. But that's just my humble opinion. I enjoy watching them eat live food

Mommy of 3 babies, 2 fur babies and 12 gilled babies