Throwing together a thread to show the growth of my polypterus since picking them up and go over my care for them.
They currently reside in a 125g (72"x18" footprint) and there is a senegal, delhezi, teugelsi, weeksii, and five ropefish. The teug and weeksii are both small still, but I know will eventually grow out of the 125g. They'll eventually be housed in an 8'x4'x2' plywood tank, but that's a way away at this point.
Here is my senegal in the first week I had him. This was a 15g quarantine tank to get him eating and make sure he was alright. He took to food right away.
Here are my teugelsi when I first picked them up. They are CB and presumably from the same spawning. Unfortunately, one was quite runty and was picked off. I have noticed this happen with a few fish (had an undersized bumblebee catfish and banjo catfish killed) and I presume it happens to eliminate competition for food and mates, though the fish with stronger genes do not seem to be aggressive to one another - solely to the weaker fish. While upsetting, I understand this is nature and it does create stronger fish down the line.
Here they are out of the 5g tote and into 15g growout.
The gimped pectoral fin was caused by a sibling fight very early on. The fish with the damaged pectoral is the one I still have, and the pectoral is still damaged though I notice no impact on the ability to swim. Here it is now.
My weeksii when I first got her...
... and in a frenzied group of rope fish!
She is lacking eyes, and was picked up from the LFS like this. She was in a tank of "assorted polypterus" for $40 ea, but I got her for $20 due to her lack of eyes. She finds food and navigates fine without them, though her colouring is extremely dark.
Lastly, early delhezi pics.
I don't have any pics of the del currently, but will take some soon.
I don't have any specific pics of the ropefish, but there are five and you can see them throughout some of the pics and videos above. They hide most of the day until the lights go off/food is added. I'll do my best to take some pics when I am back from vacation.
Note: I refer to fish as he/her at random, and this doesn't necessarily indicate the sex of the fish. I don't know why I am like this.
They currently reside in a 125g (72"x18" footprint) and there is a senegal, delhezi, teugelsi, weeksii, and five ropefish. The teug and weeksii are both small still, but I know will eventually grow out of the 125g. They'll eventually be housed in an 8'x4'x2' plywood tank, but that's a way away at this point.
Here is my senegal in the first week I had him. This was a 15g quarantine tank to get him eating and make sure he was alright. He took to food right away.
Here are my teugelsi when I first picked them up. They are CB and presumably from the same spawning. Unfortunately, one was quite runty and was picked off. I have noticed this happen with a few fish (had an undersized bumblebee catfish and banjo catfish killed) and I presume it happens to eliminate competition for food and mates, though the fish with stronger genes do not seem to be aggressive to one another - solely to the weaker fish. While upsetting, I understand this is nature and it does create stronger fish down the line.
Here they are out of the 5g tote and into 15g growout.
The gimped pectoral fin was caused by a sibling fight very early on. The fish with the damaged pectoral is the one I still have, and the pectoral is still damaged though I notice no impact on the ability to swim. Here it is now.
My weeksii when I first got her...
... and in a frenzied group of rope fish!
She is lacking eyes, and was picked up from the LFS like this. She was in a tank of "assorted polypterus" for $40 ea, but I got her for $20 due to her lack of eyes. She finds food and navigates fine without them, though her colouring is extremely dark.
Lastly, early delhezi pics.
I don't have any pics of the del currently, but will take some soon.
I don't have any specific pics of the ropefish, but there are five and you can see them throughout some of the pics and videos above. They hide most of the day until the lights go off/food is added. I'll do my best to take some pics when I am back from vacation.
Note: I refer to fish as he/her at random, and this doesn't necessarily indicate the sex of the fish. I don't know why I am like this.
