Hey guys, I'm new to this message board, but not new to fish keeping. I started working at a PetSmart when i was in highschool, and fell in love with the hobby. At my peak i had a senegal bichir housed in large 55gal showtank with a m/f pair of frontosas, 3 large clown loaches, and a gibbiceps pleco. This was a wonderful tank, i had all the firsh from ages 17-21 without any problems. I moved out of my parents house at age 20 and would maintain the fish tank a couple times a week, but eventually my parents got tired of it and wanted it out when they decided to convert my former bedroom into a storage room. I ended up giving away all my fish to a neighbor who had many large aquariums and ponds, He still has all of the fish today!
I recently purchased a 20gal tall tank to put in my little 1000sq ft apartment i share with my girlfriend because i was itching to get back into the hobby. We have had the tank for about 7 months. After cycling it and adding fish slowing we had 3 angel fish, clown pleco, 2 dwarf gouramis, and 3 clown loaches. My original idea was to get my girlfriend excited about aquariums so when we move into a bigger place she would let me get a bigger tank. Mission accomplished.
We have talked "end game" fish tanks many times. She knows how much i loved my original bichir, so for my birthday she decided to surprise me be getting me an ornate bichir, which was actually mislabeled at the LFS, and is actually a endli bichir i believe. It looks exactly like this
http://forums.****************/uploads/post-16287-1195627842.jpg
I call him Lars, my gf calls him a huge mistake.
Here's the problem. when we originally got him he was about 4 inches, tank raised according to LFS. I tried to feed him some sinking cichlid pellets, as well as some bottom feeder tablets, but he wasnt interested. My prev bichir ate these the day i bought him, which i know is unusual. I then moved to frozen food, talapia, blood worms, shrimp, etc. but i still couldnt get him to eat. I decided to go out and by a bunch of ghost shrimp, and several feeder guppies. He ate a dozen guppies (full grown) in about 2 days. He also quickly worked through the ghost shrimp. I have been continuing to try to ween him to frozen or dried food but havent had any success. He is now about 5.5 inches long. Last week he took out one of our 3 inche clown loaches. He was so fat he couldnt swim really well. I gave the other two clown loaches away fearing they would soon turn into food as well.
I feed this guy all the time. He typically always has some sort of live food in his tank because i cant get him to eat anything else. My concern is today when i dropped a sinking wafer in his direction my girlfriends favorite angel fish was chasing it to the bottom, right in front of him, he went for the angle. These angelfish are all pretty good sized right now. Their bodies are larger than a quarter, but not quite a 50 cent piece. There is no way Lars is going to swallow of of these things. The angel was in his mouth for about 5 seconds before i stuck my hand in the tank to scare him, he let the angel go. The angle seems to be okay, but not to happy about things.
My girlfriend has taken interest in fishkeeping, and spent many hours reading online about bichirs, as well as talked to the LFS (for those in utah it's Fish 4 U). She had read that angels and gouramis made suitable tank mates because they "couldnt fit in a bichirs mouth" and werent "bottom dwellers" (her words.)
Even though i have owned another bichir for many years, I still consider myself a newbie. Is there any hope for my bichir in my tank with my angels and gouramis or will he be a problem as long as he is in there. I think i already know the answer to this. The problem is im kind of stuck when it comes to moving him to another tank. I have considered buying another 20g tank to house him in until we move in August, but if it would be better to get rid of him (meaning give him to someone) I would probably consider it.
What do you guys think?
Sorry for the long post, but any input is appreciated!
I recently purchased a 20gal tall tank to put in my little 1000sq ft apartment i share with my girlfriend because i was itching to get back into the hobby. We have had the tank for about 7 months. After cycling it and adding fish slowing we had 3 angel fish, clown pleco, 2 dwarf gouramis, and 3 clown loaches. My original idea was to get my girlfriend excited about aquariums so when we move into a bigger place she would let me get a bigger tank. Mission accomplished.
We have talked "end game" fish tanks many times. She knows how much i loved my original bichir, so for my birthday she decided to surprise me be getting me an ornate bichir, which was actually mislabeled at the LFS, and is actually a endli bichir i believe. It looks exactly like this
http://forums.****************/uploads/post-16287-1195627842.jpg
I call him Lars, my gf calls him a huge mistake.
Here's the problem. when we originally got him he was about 4 inches, tank raised according to LFS. I tried to feed him some sinking cichlid pellets, as well as some bottom feeder tablets, but he wasnt interested. My prev bichir ate these the day i bought him, which i know is unusual. I then moved to frozen food, talapia, blood worms, shrimp, etc. but i still couldnt get him to eat. I decided to go out and by a bunch of ghost shrimp, and several feeder guppies. He ate a dozen guppies (full grown) in about 2 days. He also quickly worked through the ghost shrimp. I have been continuing to try to ween him to frozen or dried food but havent had any success. He is now about 5.5 inches long. Last week he took out one of our 3 inche clown loaches. He was so fat he couldnt swim really well. I gave the other two clown loaches away fearing they would soon turn into food as well.
I feed this guy all the time. He typically always has some sort of live food in his tank because i cant get him to eat anything else. My concern is today when i dropped a sinking wafer in his direction my girlfriends favorite angel fish was chasing it to the bottom, right in front of him, he went for the angle. These angelfish are all pretty good sized right now. Their bodies are larger than a quarter, but not quite a 50 cent piece. There is no way Lars is going to swallow of of these things. The angel was in his mouth for about 5 seconds before i stuck my hand in the tank to scare him, he let the angel go. The angle seems to be okay, but not to happy about things.
My girlfriend has taken interest in fishkeeping, and spent many hours reading online about bichirs, as well as talked to the LFS (for those in utah it's Fish 4 U). She had read that angels and gouramis made suitable tank mates because they "couldnt fit in a bichirs mouth" and werent "bottom dwellers" (her words.)
Even though i have owned another bichir for many years, I still consider myself a newbie. Is there any hope for my bichir in my tank with my angels and gouramis or will he be a problem as long as he is in there. I think i already know the answer to this. The problem is im kind of stuck when it comes to moving him to another tank. I have considered buying another 20g tank to house him in until we move in August, but if it would be better to get rid of him (meaning give him to someone) I would probably consider it.
What do you guys think?
Sorry for the long post, but any input is appreciated!
