New to polypterus keeping... and loving it!!!

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hi ian where in uk are you? ive kept polypterus for years now and its so easy to get hooked.mine have never fed from the surface but will feed from my hand.your ornate should come out his shell over time mine seem to be just as active as my senegal and weeksii and the biggest ornate is 21 inches long and as thick as a leg,so you will be amazed how fast they grow.they should all get on fine ive only ever had minor aggression from my ornates and endlicheri around feeding time but never do any damage.a tank with bigger floor space is of most importance and they say around 1.8 metres is more than adequete for them long term.a book you may want to get is the aqualog book of polypterus.its not cheap mind say around 40 quid but is the only decent book on these fish.get some photos on.cheers darren
 
Hey darren, thanks for that... Im in plymouth, I started with tropical fish probably around 12 years ago and in all that time, in the shops that i had visited i never saw a single polypterus, closest was a ropefish, and now in the space of a few months ive seen and got 3. Admittedly the delhezi was mail order, but 12 years ago the internet wasnt what it is today! Ur right, totally hooked, but i need to be sensible cus i dont thinkany more in the current tank will be a good idea, especailly with the other fish... How long did yours take to get to that size? Im hoping february next year for the big tank so fingers crossed they wont outgrow currrent home before that. What brand of pellet do you feed? I got some hikari carnivore today and tried that for the first time. Delhezi ate some which was cool- i think he would have eaten more but the leopard bushfish took one out of his mouth practically. I think the ornate ate 1, he is venturing out a bit more since i got the delhezi (coincidence???) and i saw him chomping on something, so im hoping it was a pellet and not a snail (or a filament barbs eye which is whati saw my senegal eat one time!) The senegal took a pellet in his mouth chewed it for a bit and spat it out so more work needed there i think... I have had him the longest though so hes probably the most used to live/frozen food. Im also wondering if the hikari carnivore is a little too big... Not when it first goes in the water, but by the time they find them they have swollen up and the senegal has a smaller mouth than the other 2. I did try breaking the pellets in half but then they werent reaching the bottom cus they were small enough for the barbs to eat. I ordered some spectrum thera a aswell, found some in the end- thanks for the help on that one james!- so ill give that a go too. I know what you mean about the aqualog books, i got the one for l-numbers many years ago and it cost a fortune, maybe ill save up for that one. Ill get some pics over the weekend so i can show the guys off :)
 
i dont feed pellets at all even tho my senegal,delhezi and small younger other polypterus eat the occasional ones that are ment purely for my other fish.i feed whitebait,lance fish,liver,beef heart,prawns,shrimp,worms,sprats and a favourite is lamprey also very good to get new polypterus feeding as they have a very strong scent.feeding pellets is fine but for older polypterus and for growth i found ones mentioned to be best.i started collecting polypterus 15 years ago! and im only 26 now.my first was a weeksii and still have him today,he was fully grown when i got him so is getting on abit now.females grow alot bigger eventually.im in leicester so cant recommend any shops although a maidenhead aquatics get some rarer polypterus in for me so if you have any local they may use the same suppliers.i keep bushfish in with mine aswell and they work well together my polypterus have never wanted to eat one and there definatly capable of it.they all differ in growth rate you will notice the ornate more than your other two but they will reach sexual maturity sooner than the ornate.i will try and get some pics on too.dont worry bout them not giong mad for food straight away they take a while to settle and them going without food for awhile isnt a problem.as for a possible snail thats fine to they eat crustacens in the wild along with frogs ,crabs and anything else they can find.its a habit of polypteus they do sometimes grab food then spit it out,sometimes its to get a better posistion to swollow it i.e a fish head first or others its being picky
 
I wish I could nominate this thread for the most courteous and helpful award! That was a fantasic and respectful discussion!

excuse the typos sent from my Droid Inc2
 
i love my polys i started with one now i have 7 totally addicted . i feed mine a homemade food that sinks to the bottom. they love it. when i first got my ornate he hid all the time but now that hes about 6in. hes all over the place. i have 2 senegal,2delhezi,2 what i think might be ansorgii they were labeled wrong at the lfs. i've had no fighting or any issues in my tank they are very peaceful but will def pick off smaller fish.
 
lol acoustic... is there a prize for that? Seriously though, appreciate the advice darren. One question though... where on earth would i get lamprey from lol? I would have never even associated that with fish feeding if you hadnt mentioned it. All 3 are eating well, just thought pellets would be a convenient addition for when i dont have time to defrost lumps of fish/krill. Delhezi is definitely eating the pellets, found a small pack of massivore on a trip to a garden centre today (no way i was taking the chance of £24 for a big pack) and the senegal is definitely not eating them, he had to make do with a couple of mealworm instead, as did the ornate who came out to grab his share. No pics today cus the camera needs batteries, wil get to it at some point though! Oh, I was eyeballing a 6x2x2 foot tank today... cant afford it yet, but it will look sweet and fit just right where i want to put it! Cant wait!
 
jtiny... How do you make your food? Ive read about blending a bunch of ingredients together and then adding gelatin so it give a jelly like food. I had a little aggression today, nothing major, delhezi snapped at the senegal at feeding time. he didnt follow through with it so dont forsee a problem
 
i get lamprey from my local fishing tackle shop or ebay sell them from a seller called 'baitandtackle' cheap aswell.he dont always list them but email and he puts them on.i only get snappy polypterus at feeding time but rarely get any issues maybe a split fin once a year or so.
 
Couple of pics of my 3 polys... Hard to see in the pics, but ornate still has remnants of gills sticking out... Senegal made a right pig of himself!!! Ill look into the lamprey next time im near a bait shop!

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cool pics!that senegal is a belly buster. i just uploaded a video on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w70qfJM8IM&feature=g-upl
ive had some fish up to about 20cm with the external gills which could be a sign its been living in good quality water, apparently subjecting it to poor conditions forces it to make use of its air breathing lungs although each individual changes at differant times.
 
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