Just before christmas I bought myself a present, a very tiny delhezi that I quickly named Crunch. Crunch was sooo tiny (less than 3in!) and oh so skinny. His name came from the fact that 3 of his dorsal rays were damaged in a way that suggested he had been crunched by a net. I do not blame the lfs, Crunch arrived in this condition.
My heart went out to this poor little starved creature, I intentionally did not take "before" pics of him. I'd prefer not to remember he ever looked that way, poor little guy.
This is what he looks like after a steady diet of tilapia, market shrimp, mysis shrimp and New Life Spectrum pellets. Approximately one inch longer and way fatter, still too skinny but vastly improved.
You lookin at me?
You ARE lookin at me!
Hi! Got food?
These next pics aren't the best but they show his messed up dorsal rays pretty well.
The setup (and rearing method) is something I saw reccomended for very young bichirs. Bare five gallon with sponge filter, heater. Decorations are kept to a minimum, one chunk of slate, floating plant, daily multiple feedings, daily multiple w/c to remove uneaten food. A very important part of my husbandry is he never gets feeders, and even though I do feed him shrimp it's kept to a minimum, his main staples are pellets and tilapia. After some reading about their ph requirements and natural habitat I added some catappa leaves. He really took off after that, improved color, feeding response and overall activity level. I reccomend trying it.
I will continue growing him out this way, slowly upgrading tank size and adding gravel/more decorations, raising ph to 7ish, til he's 5"-6". He should be more than ready for any normal setup at that point. Ironically enough Crunch doesn't look so "crunched" anymore. He was so little when the damage occured, now that he's larger it doesn't show nearly as much as it did. I'm thinkin by the time he/she reach's adulthood it will barely show.
My heart went out to this poor little starved creature, I intentionally did not take "before" pics of him. I'd prefer not to remember he ever looked that way, poor little guy.
This is what he looks like after a steady diet of tilapia, market shrimp, mysis shrimp and New Life Spectrum pellets. Approximately one inch longer and way fatter, still too skinny but vastly improved.
You lookin at me?
You ARE lookin at me!
Hi! Got food?
These next pics aren't the best but they show his messed up dorsal rays pretty well.
The setup (and rearing method) is something I saw reccomended for very young bichirs. Bare five gallon with sponge filter, heater. Decorations are kept to a minimum, one chunk of slate, floating plant, daily multiple feedings, daily multiple w/c to remove uneaten food. A very important part of my husbandry is he never gets feeders, and even though I do feed him shrimp it's kept to a minimum, his main staples are pellets and tilapia. After some reading about their ph requirements and natural habitat I added some catappa leaves. He really took off after that, improved color, feeding response and overall activity level. I reccomend trying it.
I will continue growing him out this way, slowly upgrading tank size and adding gravel/more decorations, raising ph to 7ish, til he's 5"-6". He should be more than ready for any normal setup at that point. Ironically enough Crunch doesn't look so "crunched" anymore. He was so little when the damage occured, now that he's larger it doesn't show nearly as much as it did. I'm thinkin by the time he/she reach's adulthood it will barely show.
