LIVE FOOD FOR BICHIRS???

[JamesF]

Do pellets magically drop from the sky in the congo basin?

I've never been to the Congo. Maybe they do? That would be seriously cool!
As for the OP, bichirs are like any carnicorous fish, opportunistic. While they have certain foods they will lean towards, they will take anything that presents itself.

Zfishies, check out the sticky at the top of the page. The results of the study are there.

 

[Alexandrian]

There were around 6% "unidentified remains". The fish could have been a part of that, but who knows.

I'm sure that in the wild a fish would dart away before a bichir even saw it, unless ambushed. My bichirs are clumsy when catching pellets, I doubt they could catch a moving fish with more than one brain cell.

It means that the CL and the Khuli loach i lost to two different bichires didn't have a brain at all

 

[mother monster]

incidentally, my bichir is very adept at catching fish. he loves them~ he's eaten every type of fish i've ever thrown in there, and stuffs himself x)

 

[Spiritofthesoul]

I've never been to the Congo. Maybe they do? That would be seriously cool!

Pellet-bearing trees! Now I know where Hikari harvest their pellets from!

 

[JamesF]

Bichirs can be formidable predators. If the mood strikes them. They just don't really need to be in captivity. I'm sure most tigers in the zoo would be equally inept at catching live prey if they were presented with it.

 

[reptileguy2727]

Goldfish, rosey red minnows, guppies, crayfish, or any other live food don't fall from the sky either though.

The healthiest thing for them in many ways is pellets.

 

[JamesF]

Goldfish, rosey red minnows, guppies, crayfish, or any other live food don't fall from the sky either though.

The healthiest thing for them in many ways is pellets.

That's kind of a silly statement since there are plenty of fish and crayfish in their native waters at all times.

 

[reptileguy2727]

Falling from the sky?

The point is that almost all live foods that would be used to feed bichirs are far form natural for them to eat.

Unless your bichir is absolutely refusing to take pellets, there is no need to feed pellets. They are not as healthy.

What crayfish species are native to Africa?

 

[JamesF]

Unless your bichir is absolutely refusing to take pellets, there is no need to feed pellets.

This sentence doesn't compute.

No actual crayfish are native to Africa that I know of, but several shrimp exist there, including Atya gabonensis which gets larger than most and fills a similar niche as far as food goes.

 

[reptileguy2727]

Sorry,thanks for catching that. Unless they are refusing pellets, no need to feed live.

"That's kind of a silly statement since there are plenty of fish and crayfish in their native waters at all times."

"No actual crayfish are native to Africa that I know of"

Thanks for clearing that up.