Hey, just picked up my first P. bichir lapradei "Nigeria". Actually my first bichir of any sort. He is about 10 inches long, so definitely not a baby. What I know is that he is a lower jaw bicher, and read a few of the stickies on them and the other types of bichirs. So I learned what they all look like, patterns and such, but what about temperament and behavior. How does a lapradei compare to the other lower jaw bichirs in the way they behave. Do they kind of just chill and do their wait and ambush for food thing, or are some of the other bichirs more active, less active, same? Are there any favorites amongst you, and why? If at some point down the line I want to add another bicher, could I get an upper jaw, like an ornate, or should I stick with lower jaw bichirs as far as compatibility?? Any info will be greatly appreciated thanks people!
My first lapradei "Nigeria"...how do they compare?
- Thread starter rmkblades
- Start date
My Nigerian laps are the least aggressive out of all my bichirs but are also 1 of the most active. My 14" is constantly swimming around exploring the tank. The do like to sit there and wait for food as well but mine move around mostly. So far is say my least active bichir is my congicus but in love them all. You'll definitely wanna get more because no one can be content with just 1 bichir. My gf now wants a tank with just bichirs and she used to be the girl that wants stupid angelfish and tetras but as far as upper jaws go, ornates are your best bet cuz they're the only ones that are aggressive enough to compete with the lower jaws
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The behaviors tends to vary between different individuals. Some will be active, some will be non-active, others will be a mix of both. For their food I'm pretty sure once they get settled in they'd probably start going after their food. If you wanted to add any other Upper Jaws then you could add ornate, teugelsi, and weeksii. However I would recommend staying away from weeksii, because IME and from what others have experienced they grow very slow, so I'd either not get one, grow it out, or buy a larger one, because Lower Jaws are known to be a little more cannibalistic then Upper jaws. However since the lap is 10" you could probably add some more UJ that are on the larger end. If you plan on getting more LJ I would suggests just sticking to the UJ listed. If you do not plan to get many more LJ then you could probably get a couple UJ that are in the 10" or so range so when the LJ are full grown they won't be small enough to get eaten.
+1 ^ always good advice from the Dr.. Teugelsis are another UJ that grow larger and better looking IMO. You shouldn't have issues w/ more lowers, if you do add uppers though as Dr.B already said go for at least 10 inchers.
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