Hey all I have been reading through the forums for a couple of days and I have found a bit of this and that as far as the ornates go but I had a quick question. I picked up a little ornate bichir (bout 4 ish inches) the other day and I would really like to do a mainly bichir and rope populated tank. The tank will be either 6x2x2 or 8x2x2 so it should be comfy for a set up like that. I read the Everything you need to know about Bichirs. sticky and it called the ornates a medium variety. I would like to have rope fish as well as several other polys and maybe some spiny eels at some point (fire and tire track). I was also thinking perhaps a couple of smaller species of plecos. Any advice is appreciated. I'm not so much new to the hobby as I am someone who has taken a 15ish year break.
Good tankmates for ornates
- Thread starter lifeon2
- Start date
Welcome back to the wet side.
As for tankmates for the Ornate, you can always to deep body schooling fish (silver dollars, tinfoil bards, bala sharks, etc) or go with really fast fish (giant danios, BA tetras, etc). Either way, you got to be prepared to lose a few to the Poylpertus as they get bigger. Bigger species of plecos, armored cats and Synodontis do pretty well. I have also seen people do well with Arowanna and medium or low aggression big cichlids. I'd stay away from CA cichlids, they can be just too territorial.
As for tankmates for the Ornate, you can always to deep body schooling fish (silver dollars, tinfoil bards, bala sharks, etc) or go with really fast fish (giant danios, BA tetras, etc). Either way, you got to be prepared to lose a few to the Poylpertus as they get bigger. Bigger species of plecos, armored cats and Synodontis do pretty well. I have also seen people do well with Arowanna and medium or low aggression big cichlids. I'd stay away from CA cichlids, they can be just too territorial.
The Ornate can grow over 17 inches if properly cared for. I personally had 3 that were in the aquarium with a Delhezi, Endlicheri, Purple Ery Wolfish and Spotted Silver Dollar and a couple of Geophagus at the time. Tbh I wouldn't trust a mature Ornate with Ropefish, or smaller upper jaw Polypterus.