Does the tail on bichirs heal.

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Aweshade9

Aweshade9

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Oct 18, 2012
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My larger bichir bit a chunk of my smaller bichir's tail. Will it heal back?
I feel I need to mention this. I think the smaller one is somehow stunted. I got that one first, 3 months before the other one, but the second one is 3 inches bigger and so much thicker. When I got the second, he wads smaller than the first, but he just shot up and the first just stopped growing. I'm not sure is the first was just intimidated or what. I think the possible stunting may affect whether the tail grows back or not.
 
The tail will regenerate provided there's no injury to the caudal peduncle (fleshy part at the base of the tail).

Are the 2 the same species? several species grow only to a foot or less. Others can grow to multiple feet. And being predators, big fish will eat smaller fish. Polys are indifferent towards preying on conspecifics.
 
It will grow back (like oddball said) if the bite was not deep enough. IF you could post a pic I think that would help greatly as to whether it will grow back or not. For the stunted poly it could just be growth rate. Without a species it's very hard to tell whether it's slow growth or stunted, because some species grow slower than others.
 
Oddball said:
The tail will regenerate provided there's no injury to the caudal peduncle (fleshy part at the base of the tail).

Are the 2 the same species? several species grow only to a foot or less. Others can grow to multiple feet. And being predators, big fish will eat smaller fish. Polys are indifferent towards preying on conspecifics.
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They're both senegal bichirs as far as I can tell. I got them both at petsmart, not the same petsmart though.
Dr.B said:
It will grow back (like oddball said) if the bite was not deep enough. IF you could post a pic I think that would help greatly as to whether it will grow back or not. For the stunted poly it could just be growth rate. Without a species it's very hard to tell whether it's slow growth or stunted, because some species grow slower than others.
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They are both senegals, I had to move the stunted one to a different place because, he is impossible to find in the big tank and the quarantine is full.
 
I'll grow back to normal. My weeksii had his tail bitten off 2/3 and it grew back....in two occasions.
 
senegals have different growth rates because of all the mixed genes. It could take it a while to even looks like it's grown or it could possibly be bad genes, stunted or SB.
 
Dr.B said:
senegals have different growth rates because of all the mixed genes. It could take it a while to even looks like it's grown or it could possibly be bad genes, stunted or SB.
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I doubt it's SB. I guess it's combo of stunted and bad genes
SickSauce said:
the actual tail will grow back but if a the Back spine is broken that wont grow back. take a long time tho
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it is just the fin, so it should heal.
 
Agree it'll heal , As for size difference this could be bad genes , but it's much more likely that one is just the more dominate and aggressive eater. If it gets more of the food with each feeding then it'll grow significantly faster. Another thing to consider would be the gender, Female bichirs tend to grow larger and be heavier bodied and typically will grow a bit faster as well.
 
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