bichir girth?

[mudskipper]

I see your guyses non sengal bichers and they were thick and plump, and i would look at my worm of a sengal- 5" long, 1.5CM around. And then i saw thick sengals, but they were also quite long. I then thought that they wouuld grow to a certain length and then girth up. I went to the lfs recentlyand they had a chuncky 5" sengal, that was marbe 1" around (maybe a tiny bit more or less) for $12. i have not gotten it yet, but i will when my 55 is up again. no worrys about it being bought. they got good fish, but because of the size/ cost/unpopulariety, they do have some nice monsters that can be there for months at a time.
this has me thinking about how the same lenth of fish can vary so much in girth. is it just that the girthy ones have a big appetite? because i watched mine eat a couple shrimp pellets eat nite. how do the fat ones get fat? was i doing something wrong?

 

[cichla1004]

I see your guyses non sengal bichers and they were thick and plump, and i would look at my worm of a sengal- 5" long, 1.5CM around. And then i saw thick sengals, but they were also quite long. I then thought that they wouuld grow to a certain length and then girth up. I went to the lfs recentlyand they had a chuncky 5" sengal, that was marbe 1" around (maybe a tiny bit more or less) for $12. i have not gotten it yet, but i will when my 55 is up again. no worrys about it being bought. they got good fish, but because of the size/ cost/unpopulariety, they do have some nice monsters that can be there for months at a time.
this has me thinking about how the same lenth of fish can vary so much in girth. is it just that the girthy ones have a big appetite? because i watched mine eat a couple shrimp pellets eat nite. how do the fat ones get fat? was i doing something wrong?

I nearly doubled the girth of my 8 inch senegal in the month or so that I've had him by feeding krill, market shrimp, chopped mussel and mysis shrimp on a varied basis throughout the week. I think it does have a lot to do with individual fish as well. Just like there are big muscular people and small scrawny people.

 

[mudskipper]

I nearly doubled the girth of my 8 inch senegal in the month or so that I've had him by feeding krill, market shrimp, chopped mussel and mysis shrimp on a varied basis throughout the week. I think it does have a lot to do with individual fish as well. Just like there are big muscular people and small scrawny people.

so you think meaty, non dried out commercial crap foods will help? so skinny bichers aren't unhealthy?

 

[mudskipper]

if i get the girthy bicher, do i have to feed it more food than usual for it to stay that way? will it possibly slim down, or get more girthy?

 

[X24]

just feed a good sized amount until you notice a bulge in their stomach, and thats good for all bichir.

 

[Cohazard]

I agree with X24 and cichla1004.

Most bichirs will bulk up when fed shrimp, earthworms, etc..

I've never been able to get my bichirs to bulk up on processed dry foods except for hikari gold.

Even then, my endlis girth increases with a feeding of shrimp, more than on pellets.