bichir hiding question

[sericinda]

I have a senegal bichir, had him for about 2 months...he was ALWAYS at the surface of the tank, usually hovering around the filter outtake spout or behind a heater. All of a sudden he is gone. My tank is tightly sealed so I know he didn't jump, and my filter tubes are protected so he didn't get sucked up.

My question is...do they bury themselves in sand like dragon gobies?

I have a dragon goby in my 90 brackish that I don't see for months at a time as he buries himself in the sand. Its a bit odd to me that he would suddenly start doing this when he always preferred to be nearer to the surface. He was pretty friendly, I could hand-feed him. None of the other fish in the tank ever paid him any attention, so I doubt they hurt him.

 

[Darth Scohin]

What are his tankmates?
I'd suggest tear everything out to see if you can find him in the tank check inside any Decorations if you don't find him he may have escaped....Polypterus are Extreme Escape artists if you don't think it escaped he may have....So check under every stone sift your fingers through the sand....

 

[spwd]

When did you last see him?
IMO he has escaped as they do hide and sometimes bury themselves a bit but not completely for days,
How big is the tank and tankmates and you would be surprised how small a hole they can get out of.
Good luck.



Steve

 

[phillydog1958]

Spiny eels bury themselves in substrate and hide in various tank ornaments, but bichirs never do that for a long period of time. He might be gone. I'm also surprised that you stated that your bichir spends much time floating near the surface of the water. My bichirs do swim at varoius levels, but they tend to spend most of their time foraging on the bottom.

 

[sericinda]

I really don't see how he could have escaped, I have a glass custom canopy that covers the entire tank top with very tight cutouts for tubing which also has packing material shoved into the tiny gaps....so it's pretty solid.

Tankmates are parrot cichlids, angelfish , queen botias and corycats. it is 125 gallons.

I just think if he had died and they ate him, I would see some sign as I pay a lot of attention to my tanks, but have seen no sign at all. I moved the caves and sand around a bit last night to no avail, but I'm not going to shift through all the sand and cloud up the tank.

He could be coming out at night, he just always used to have his spots at the surface of the tank and now he's nowhere in sight so if he IS hiding, it's a new behaviour for sure.

Either that or my other fish eat bones.

Like I said though, I thought my violet goby in my 90 was a goner as I didn't see him for MONTHS even when I shifted and moved everything in the tank looking for him, and he was a LOT bigger than my bichir. Then one day there he was merrily swimming around. I couldn't believe it.

 

[sericinda]

Spiny eels bury themselves in substrate and hide in various tank ornaments, but bichirs never do that for a long period of time. He might be gone. I'm also surprised that you stated that your bichir spends much time floating near the surface of the water. My bichirs do swim at various levels, but they tend to spend most of their time foraging on the bottom.

He would swim around but he really liked to just hover around the tubings or the floating plants at the top. He would NEVER spend very much time on the bottom, which is why any prolonged hiding is really out of character for him.

Another disappearing mystery I had a knifefish completely disappear in another tank, never did figure that one out,.

 

[StewiesFish]

Did you find him lol or is he still hiding 10 years later