How do bichers rate in size

[Dr.B]

I would think people would try harder to breed them in captivity to lesson the parasite problem. Is the weeksi a longer life spanned bicher than the ornate due to its slower growth rate.
I would really like to get a few more weeksi and try and breed them as they are a really good looking fish.

Nah it's more for profit than anything else. If they wanted to actually help the fish and maybe look for more valuable traits like fastest grower or best looking then they would probably jack the price even more up for the fish because more went into the breeding process. To be honest I don't think theres enough info on the life span of bichirs and which ones can get older or if they all die about the same age. Many species and variants were just introduced into the hobby and more variants and species will probably be discovered. As far as breeding I would say good luck but it's harder than it looks especially for weeksii and the slower growing polys. If your really interested though heres a thread just to give you a basic idea of what are the basic what to do's http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?523920-Breeding-Ornates&highlight=Shopko

 

[Burbotman]

UJs:
Mokelembembe 8"-11"
Retropinnis 10"-12"
Palmas Polli 10"-14"
Palmas Palmas 10"-14"
Palmas Buettikoferi 10"-14"
Senegalus 8"-10"
Delhezi 9"-13"
CB Teugelsi 16"-20"
WC Teugelsi 20"-27"
CB Ornate 16"-20"
WC Ornate 18"-24"
Weeksii 20"-24"

LJ:
CB Laps 16"-20"
WC Laps 18"-24"
CB Endlicheri 14"-18"
WC Endlicheri 18"-24"
Dabola 18"-26"
PBB 20"-26"
Congicus 20"-30"
Angsorii 20"-28"

On almost all of the Lower Jaw's sizes they can vary greatly. They all have a very high potential on size, but like humans some get bigger and some stay smaller. There have been some Monster Congicus caught as well as some Monster Angsorii, but those sizes are likely to be reached. However there are some freaks of nature that can and will defy the odds. As far as the Upper Jaws I made a different stat for the CB and WC teugelsi and ornates. The CB teugelsi's though I feel can't really be determined right now, because of their limited time on the market. CB ornates that I have seen don't seem to get as big as their WC counterparts. I left a lot of the variants off, because to be completely honest I am not sure that they will grow much different from the fish they are varied from (Ex. I think farana lap will grow same size as regular lap). However I have not personally been keeping Lower Jaws long enough to grow out a variant and normal polypterus to tell if there is a difference. All of these sizes are what I think they can achieve or what they will stay at. They obviously all can vary a couple of inches or so. These sizes are just basically where it will get and just making sure no one think a CB sen will reach 18".

Dr B this is one of the best lists I have seen on sizes. Most tend to focus on max recorded size and are not as relevant to the hobby. ( how many 35+" congicus have you ever seen in the hobby?)

 

[Burbotman]

Thank you guys have helped a lot. Our male endi is only about10 inches and hasn't changed in size for over 2 years. However our 2 females rival the size of our ornate. The unknown bicher I think is a delhezi. Our weeksi has a lot of growing to do I guess do they grow slower than ornates. As we have some 2 year old ornates that are already bigger than the weeksi. When we got our big ornate it was just 6 inches and I wasn't really impressed with these fish. As time has gone by they are becoming one of my favorites.

Nice to see a fellow Albertan polypterus keeper!

Pisces in Calgary has a new batch of cb dels, cb Ornates and had a beautiful WC lap (had as I picked it up yesterday

Love to see some pics of your bichirs, I will keep an eye on the polypterus media lounge

 

[wild bill]

Where are you in Alberta if you are not far from Three Hills you are welcome to come see our fish room.
I would like to get a few more bichers but my wife wants to concentrate on the ones we have. Our goal is to breed the ornates and the endis if all goes well.

 

[Dr.B]

Dr B this is one of the best lists I have seen on sizes. Most tend to focus on max recorded size and are not as relevant to the hobby. ( how many 35+" congicus have you ever seen in the hobby?)

the only polys I've seen above those rises are a couple 30"+ congicus I heard about one being about 33-35 but never saw a pic. I actually say a pic of a 40" or so Congicus it we really an amazing specimen. I've also heard about a 39" or so angsorii never saw a pic so can't say if it was real or not but I just say it is cause it was said so in this site. Another is a Turkana sen. I wasn't going to make a size for WC sens because they usually don't appear in the hobby as much as CB do. But if I did make a column Id then have to make another column for a lake Turkana sen. Biggest I saw was like 19" but since they are almost impossible to get I left them out.

 

[Karl K]

When theyr bred by injecting hormones, they achieve there cb size too eh? I dont know if the hormones part would make a difference

 

[Dr.B]

When theyr bred by injecting hormones, they achieve there cb size too eh? I dont know if the hormones part would make a difference

I'm saying that after numerous fish being bred in captivity the fish has adapts to captivity and isn't growing as large. The hormones are injected to help the breeding process along and speed it up.

 

[wild bill]

Would the CB's also take to pellets easier than WC? All of our ornates come over when I feed our midas. However the small endi who never seems to grow stays away. Makes me wonder if there is a chance he could be WC.
I fed NLS h2o wafers the other night and he did come nosing around but actually was more interested in the large endi female.
A sticky should be started with the info you have posted Dr. B and maybe add possible life span.

 

[Karl K]

I'm saying that after numerous fish being bred in captivity the fish has adapts to captivity and isn't growing as large. The hormones are injected to help the breeding process along and speed it up.

Ok I imagined it was something happening before the birth...

 

[Dr.B]

Would the CB's also take to pellets easier than WC? All of our ornates come over when I feed our midas. However the small endi who never seems to grow stays away. Makes me wonder if there is a chance he could be WC.
I fed NLS h2o wafers the other night and he did come nosing around but actually was more interested in the large endi female.
A sticky should be started with the info you have posted Dr. B and maybe add possible life span.

I would assume that CB would take pellets faster and easier than WC because that obviously have a way batter chance of being introduced at a young age than WC have. However that's not always the case. I have never had any polys refuse pellets so I can't really say from experience which one would accept them and which wouldn't. Judging whether it's WC or CB by weather it accepts pellets or not wouldn't be a very accurate way.