My bichir tank, please tell me if its ok

[KarstenHeydahl]

The tank has 100 litres. I used lava rock as stones and only ferns and several moose as plants (all anciant stuff )
As invertebrats i did 2 big african snails in it and several small snails, that we have here in ponds in germany (they do pretty well in the warm water).

I have 2 Polypterus senegalus in it. They are young and very active. Next week i´ll get one young Polypterus ornatipinnis too.

Here some pictures from my tank that i did just at the moment:

 

[Spiritofthesoul]

Its perfect for a growout tank. But if you want to keep those for life, you are gonna need a much bigger tank.
Minimum 50g for a full grown senegal and 100g for an ornate.

 

[KarstenHeydahl]

Yes i know, that i´ll have to buy a bigger tank in future.

The two Senegalus are now a bit shorter than my hand is long. The ornate bichir will be 15-20cm long when i get him next week. I did read they´ll go along fine with each other since they are almost same size and i have alot of hiding places in the tank.

I feed them gammarus, rain worms, and stuff i find in our garden, like bugs and so on. I must say the two senegalus are complety different than what i heared about them. They sit on the floor very rare. As you see, they are always swimming through the plants, searching for food and they are very courious and not very shy.

 

[peewee]

nice set up. very cozy for those sens.

 

[JustinDavis]

I wouldn't feed them things you find in your garden, feed them

Carnivore pellets
Ghost shrimp
tilapia fillet
Market Shrimp
Bloodworms
Beefheart

A varies diet = a happy bichir!

I study my Sens a lot, they seem to ignore the bottom of the tank in tell they get comfortable in your tank. I have a 6inch Sen and he has the biggest personality ever, some days I'll feed everyone pellets and he wont touch them until I drop some Worms or Silversides in there. I've never seen mine nip at plants for food, the snails will be fine I have multiple Apple snails with mine and still alive. I would re-arrange that rock so they can get under it, bichirs love dark hiding spots. Just make sure that rock isn't to sharp! I would change your gravel to a fine gravel or sand (Black brings out colors on Sens IMO) If you have any other questions let us know! I would love to see some pictures too!

Justin

 

[tokyogasmask]

the Ornate will grow big very fast and most likely give the senegals some trouble if kept in too small a tank.

 

[titustitus]

man those senegals are cute!

 

[JamesF]

The tank looks good.
Personally I'd ditch the lava rock. It's very rough and can cause abrasions.
I feed lots of stuff from my garden as well, especially worms. But I only use compost and fishtank water for fertilizing.

 

[Kodiakbr]

Nice setup....have one he is very active.

 

[KarstenHeydahl]

I just save some money for a bigger tank. I guess in 4 weeks it will be enough to buy one.

In the new tank, i´ll let the lava out and just put our local sand stone into it.