Bowfin and Bichir as tank mates?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Yeah,a nineteen pound bowfin is going to do whatever it wants pretty much.
 
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Eating tankmates is a potential problem with virtually any species of fish, if the size discrepancy is great enough. Big fish eat little fish.

So, if you're going to worry about an aquarium-raised bowfin reaching record-book size...you'll also have to forget about keeping peacock bass, arowanas, redtail cats, alligator gar and many other MFK favourites. All of these, and many more, exceed (sometimes by a huge margin!) the measly length and heft of even the largest bowfin. And many of them are much more aggressive, equipped with larger mouths and nastier attitudes to boot.
 
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My bowfin is currently in a 75 gallon tank and is maybe 8-9 inches long. His current tank mates are a red bay snook and 2 silver dollars. He gets along with them very well and I haven't had any issues with aggression, he just kinda hangs out but I'm concerned about putting my bichir in with him. My bichir is still small maybe 3-4 inches long and won't be going into the tank until he's closer in size to my bowfin. I'm not concerned about my bowfin being aggressive towards him, I'm concerned about my bichir being the aggressive one. Currently he's not aggressive towards anything other than shrimp or small feeder fish, but that can always change over time.
 
Nah bichirs aren’t aggressive towards other fish. They only harm fish they find are food to them, and with the bowfin larger or same size as the bichir I wouldn’t worry.
You should be more concerned about the bowfin attacking the bichirs lol
 
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