10 inch bichir new 3 inch raphael thoughts

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Nilsafeller

Nilsafeller

Potamotrygon
MFK Member
Apr 9, 2018
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High river Alberta Canada
Maybe the title isnt well written but I have a 10 inch ornate in my 210... I picked up 2 striped Raphael's about 3 inch a peice... I figure the Raphael would be ok because of their armour and thorny body but not even 2 hours in and the ornate is hunting and attacking them... the cats end up shaking the or ate off pretty easily and stand up the the bichir but I'm wondering if this is something that just wont work out? Thoughts?
 
Don’t think it’ll work out. It may try to bite down on the catfish and it can get stuck. This may happen after the lights go out. Both fish will die. Better to separate.
 
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Nilsafeller said:
Maybe the title isnt well written but I have a 10 inch ornate in my 210... I picked up 2 striped Raphael's about 3 inch a peice... I figure the Raphael would be ok because of their armour and thorny body but not even 2 hours in and the ornate is hunting and attacking them... the cats end up shaking the or ate off pretty easily and stand up the the bichir but I'm wondering if this is something that just wont work out? Thoughts?
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I had a similar situation a couple of years ago put a Megaladoras Irwini in 180 gallon with at the time 3 Ornate's , Delhezi, Endlicheri and noticed the Catfish was being harrassed so I removed the Irwini.
 
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My 10 inch endli kept trying to eat my 6-7 inch synodontis even though he could not even get close to eating him. My 6 inch senegal tried to eat my 4 inch platysilurus even though he could not even come close either. So in my experience catfish that are not larger then the bichirs seem to get harassed and attacked, so I would separate if I were you.
 
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Probably wont work. Polys in general are peaceful fish. Ornates however are probably the most aggressive. I think what youare seeing is aggression. I have small fish with my polys with no issues. My old ornate little tore up a juruense that wasnt much smaller. Some of them are just jerks
 
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jaws7777 said:
Probably wont work. Polys in general are peaceful fish. Ornates however are probably the most aggressive. I think what youare seeing is aggression. I have small fish with my polys with no issues. My old ornate little tore up a juruense that wasnt much smaller. Some of them are just jerks
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I'm not sure about that... I have an Asian bumblebee cat in that tank with him for 7 months now... cat is 6 inches full grown but even when he was 4 inches ornate never tried anything and the cats just a softy not armoured like the Raphael's are...if that even matters
 
Nilsafeller said:
I'm not sure about that... I have an Asian bumblebee cat in that tank with him for 7 months now... cat is 6 inches full grown but even when he was 4 inches ornate never tried anything and the cats just a softy not armoured like the Raphael's are...if that even matters
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Oh it sure could be predatory anything is possible but being that your ornate left the little bb alone when it was 4 inches now makes me feel even less confident that its predation. Why pass up and easy meal of a 4 inch bb lol.

If i had to guess the new cats are probably viewed as an unwanted outsider or just something he doesnt like about the raphs. These fish are weird man. For some reason my ornate hated the jur but left a vulture cat alone.
 
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My Senegals are very mild. They were raised with angelfish which they left alone. When they were still small--a couple inches, I added a small group of fast moving large tiger barbs.
After a couple weeks, I noticed a missing Barb one morning. I searched my (planted) tank. No sign of the missing fish. Later in the day one of Senegals pulled the torn up (dead) Barb from a grouping of plants and rocks. The 2 Senegals then proceeded to tear up the carcass with crocodile style twisting bites. I removed the remaining Barbs. The Senegals continue to coexsist peacefully with the (now large) angelfish. The Senegals are about 5 inches now.

I have grown 2 tough but not aggressive Yo-yo loachesnto 4 inches and hope to add them soon to the Senegal tank and observe as carefully as I can.
 
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