Can Senegal Bichirs live in Brackish water?

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Polyaddict86 said:
I hope that will work, some sen get stunned at 5”-8”, some will grow 9”-10” but rarely will grow 12”. If it even gets to 9” mark it will take years before hitting 11”-12”. Most people would go for Lower Jaw species when they want a oscar or peacock setup cause a LJ poly will have a huge size difference in growth compared to a senegal.
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See I wasn't sure what species he was until after I got home and researched it.. I was hoping he'd pack on more size than just 8-9inches lol well I guess I'll do some more digging and maybe I'll find a website that sells other types of Bichir.
 
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BMG94 said:
See I wasn't sure what species he was until after I got home and researched it.. I was hoping he'd pack on more size than just 8-9inches lol well I guess I'll do some more digging and maybe I'll find a website that sells other types of Bichir.
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Exoticfishshop is selling a hybrid of lapradei x ansorgii and other lower jaws that can work for the oscar.
 
Exnetics said:
Exoticfishshop is selling a hybrid of lapradei x ansorgii and other lower jaws that can work for the oscar.
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Awesome! I'll have to put about $70 aside on my next check and pick one up from that site.
 
BMG94 said:
See I wasn't sure what species he was until after I got home and researched it.. I was hoping he'd pack on more size than just 8-9inches lol well I guess I'll do some more digging and maybe I'll find a website that sells other types of Bichir.
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Wetspot has alot of bichirs for sale.
 
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NoobAquarist said:
The people on the 2006 thread kept saying it's a different salt...I'd be interested in getting this settled but my SAT is tomorrow so can't do much research right now.
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Rocksor said:
Are you sure that it is calcium chloride in Lake Turkana? According to this there is very little calcium

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When you look up Lake Turkana, there are many scientific articles about it being saline and alkaline, averaging 2.5ppt in salinity. This would definitely put the water in the lake under brackish conditions in terms of sodium chloride content.

A saline solution is sodium chloride and water is it not?
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Just to follow up on this, I’ll link the article when I have more time - but lake Turkana was measured in 2003 and yielded 2.5ppt in salinity, with predictions that it’ll move up to 3ppt, making it a true saline lake.

Well over a decade has passed and I imagine as water has flowed from Omo and Turkwel into Turkana over that time, with evaporation being the only outlet for water, its salinity has increased.

Chief among the polypterus species to be found in our hobby from lake Turkana are senegalus and Bichir Bichir, who, as I’m sure we all know, maintain a distinct morphology different from that of their distant siblings in Lake Chad for example.

Whether this has to do with Lake Turkana’s salinity or with its high PH (8.6 - 9.5) is a question for another day - But I think we wild all benefit from a discussion from all members on this.

But one thing is for sure, wild polypterus can survive and indeed thrive in brackish waters (reproduction of polypterus in Turkana is evidence to this fact).
 
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Alexkoj said:
Just to follow up on this, I’ll link the article when I have more time - but lake Turkana was measured in 2003 and yielded 2.5ppt in salinity, with predictions that it’ll move up to 3ppt, making it a true saline lake.

Well over a decade has passed and I imagine as water has flowed from Omo and Turkwel into Turkana over that time, with evaporation being the only outlet for water, its salinity has increased.

Chief among the polypterus species to be found in our hobby from lake Turkana are senegalus and Bichir Bichir, who, as I’m sure we all know, maintain a distinct morphology different from that of their distant siblings in Lake Chad for example.

Whether this has to do with Lake Turkana’s salinity or with its high PH (8.6 - 9.5) is a question for another day - But I think we wild all benefit from a discussion from all members on this.

But one thing is for sure, wild polypterus can survive and indeed thrive in brackish waters (reproduction of polypterus in Turkana is evidence to this fact).
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This is some great information to know, so at some point that lake will become true saltwater which blows my mind lol
 
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