Ornate Bichirs

[Slayer2533]

Ornates are great but reports are mixed some say very shy and aggressive. Mine is very ourgoing and active but also aggressive towards smaller polys.

As fae as the cichlids its a dice role. Ine thing with cichlids there temperment can change quuckly. Keep a close eye

Thanks for the advice jaws7777. I have read quite a few of your posts on here your tanks are amazing you are a bichir legend lol. That is very true about Cichlids unpredictability but it is also the reason I have been drawn to them in the hobby. I have multiple tanks and I am ready and willing to swap out fish as needed to prevent fatalities.Hopefully my Ornates will be outgoing also but not aggressive to the Senegals. I will keep an eye on things. Also pics when I get the Ornates .

 

[jaws7777]

Woa woa im no legend man i appreciate the compliment but ive been fortunate and have gotten lots of great advice from other members....only thing smart about me is i know who to listen to lol

Ibe always loved cichlids too but for me unless it was the milder south americans i always had some sort of issues wether it be aggression or just being too fast to the food. Lots of members make it work though amd have beautiful set ups as a reward fpr their patience. The musical tanks just drives me mad lol

 

[Slayer2533]

Woa woa im no legend man i appreciate the compliment but ive been fortunate and have gotten lots of great advice from other members....only thing smart about me is i know who to listen to lol

Ibe always loved cichlids too but for me unless it was the milder south americans i always had some sort of issues wether it be aggression or just being too fast to the food. Lots of members make it work though amd have beautiful set ups as a reward fpr their patience. The musical tanks just drives me mad lol

Yeah I have noticed sometimes it can be difficult to get the food to the Bichirs and BGK. The trick for me is to feed them at opposite sides of the tank or early morning before I go to work as all the other fish are still asleep asleep lol. I have just had the dream of growing out a couple of monster cichlids and bichirs. The musical tanks can definitely get a bit tedious but you do what you gotta do. All we can do is learn from our mistakes to determine what will work and what won't.

 

[magpie]

Can't wait to see your ornates! Post pics when you have them.

 

[Slayer2533]

Sorry for the poor pictures. By the time I got home and got them setup in the quarantine tank it was quite dark.I will try to get some better shots later today. They are smaller than I thought and still have those external gills. Does anyone know roughly when they lose them? Also what did you guys feed yours at this size? Not sure these guys are too keen on bloodworms or Hikari carnivore pellets. They may just need some time to adjust. Also here is a picture of my Senegal's from a few months ago. The guy I bought the Ornates from had some amazing high quality fish. He had a huge Tiger Bichir (sorry not sure of the correct name) it was massive (would love it also but swear it would eat my current stock lol), 6 Senegal's two were huge nearly fully grown, 3 ornates (I bought two hopefully male and female from my research) a freshwater ray, two spotted gars (I want one also) and a bunch of Torpedo barbs. He was maintaining like 5 tanks all 5 ft or over. Crazy stuff I loved it.

 

[Slayer2533]

Has anyone ever lost a Bichir to American Cichlids? Or it normally the American Cichlids that get taken out?

 

[jaws7777]

Unless the cichlid was small enough to be eaten imo it would be the ciclids you'd have to watcg closer.

Not saying it would be an issue all the time as there are allot of peaceful comm's on the site but if a semi aggressive american cichlid didnt want the poly around there isnt much the poly could do about it.

Most of the time it will be bichir on bichir crime as they really arent aggressive fish.

I had one pbb that nipped at my pearsei a few times when the pearsei had enough it threw a beat down on the pbb which never left its corner except for feedings after that.

Just put some research into what species of cichlid you want to mix with the polys and you should be fine. Most importantly would be the size of the cichlid, known aggression level, and esting habbits (big eaters are a pain)

 

[jaws7777]

There are a couple of times that i would have lost a poly to a cichlid but those were on the upper end of the spectrum in teems of aggression (zonatus and argentea) and i was able to move the fish before it got too serious

 

[Slayer2533]

Unless the cichlid was small enough to be eaten imo it would be the ciclids you'd have to watcg closer.

Not saying it would be an issue all the time as there are allot of peaceful comm's on the site but if a semi aggressive american cichlid didnt want the poly around there isnt much the poly could do about it.

Most of the time it will be bichir on bichir crime as they really arent aggressive fish.

I had one pbb that nipped at my pearsei a few times when the pearsei had enough it threw a beat down on the pbb which never left its corner except for feedings after that.

Just put some research into what species of cichlid you want to mix with the polys and you should be fine. Most importantly would be the size of the cichlid, known aggression level, and esting habbits (big eaters are a pain)

Wow sounds like a pretty intense beatdown. As I mentioned I haven't seen any fin damage or any level of aggression to the Senegal's from any of the following cichlids they just completely ignore them - jack dempsy, red terror, red devil, green terror, salvini, convict, jag, robertsoni, green texas, flowerhorn cross, green severum. Keep in mind most of these guys are only 3-4 inch at this stage and I am just growing them out to see what I like and what will work. I also have 6 silver dollars as dither fish....Well 5 now as I came how to a half eaten one the other night not sure who the killer is as of yet... It may change but so far from my limited experience cichlids seem to be agro only to other normal shaped fish and their own kind. but I will keep an eye on stuff and move out and change my stock as they grow. Bichirs and my larger BGK are my priority fish to keep long term.

 

[jaws7777]

Wow sounds like a pretty intense beatdown. As I mentioned I haven't seen any fin damage or any level of aggression to the Senegal's from any of the following cichlids they just completely ignore them - jack dempsy, red terror, red devil, green terror, salvini, convict, jag, robertsoni, green texas, flowerhorn cross, green severum. Keep in mind most of these guys are only 3-4 inch at this stage and I am just growing them out to see what I like and what will work. I also have 6 silver dollars as dither fish....Well 5 now as I came how to a half eaten one the other night not sure who the killer is as of yet... It may change but so far from my limited experience cichlids seem to be agro only to other normal shaped fish and their own kind. but I will keep an eye on stuff and move out and change my stock as they grow. Bichirs and my larger BGK are my priority fish to keep long term.

Thats awesome your findong success with thst group as there are some pretty heavy hitters in there lol. All you can do is keep an eye, hooe for the best and act when needed. Sounds like you jave back up plans if needed so kudos to you