Well in my experience of raising bichir from small little wormy looking things to big tough beasts, i have found that between the sizes of 3 and 8 inches, polypterus experience growth much more rapidly if fed HEALTHY live fish. They really seem to enjoy feasting on a rosy red.....but i'd still recommend self raised feeders such as kribs, convicts, mollys, platies, ect. just for the fact that they are much healthier.
To get the most out of these feeders whether you are raising them or they are quarantined, make sure you starve the feeders 3 days before you plan on giving them to your bichir, and the day before stuff them full of cichlid pellets, high quality flake, algea wafers.....basically the stuff thats really good for your bichir to eat. starving them should empty their system out and also make them hungry, allowing you to put the most of the healthy stuff in them, and eventually into your hungry bichir!
They should reward you with faster then normal growth rate then you'd expect. right now i'm a month and 9 days since i've gotten my newest senegal and he has put on more then 2 1/2" of length and a good amount of girth.
