ornate bichir always hiding???

[Burbotman]

I have one 6" senegal and one 4" ornate in a 100gal. The senegal is always swimming around, while the ornate is almost always hiding. I think it really is just how they are, at least while they're that small.

My experiance echos the above.
I have had my Ornate now for over a year. The ornate stays mostly out of sight at all times-awesome fish that I have come to relize that he may never be as active as I would like.
My senegal is quite the exhibitionist-always active during the day, constanly swimming around....
I guess that is why most of us own more than one bicher-each has their qualities, the ornate has size and coloration, the senegal has personality and visiblity.

Good luck with your ornate, IMO their "positives" far outweigh their secret natures.

 

[Hapdude]

My experiences with bichirs says to keep all the plants, rocks and driftwood in the tank that you can! Makes them HAPPY and SECURE! However as stated above they tend to be secretive, so I use alot of surface floating plants to cut down on the glare from the lights! Also what works wonders is the blue moonlights or a red light! Mine come out then as if there's no lights on at all! Within minutes they come out and cruise the tank searching for food and are TOTALLY ACTIVE!

 

[elykyelsna]

my ornate would rarely come out of hiding when he was smaller, and when he saw another fish, either a senegal bichir or even a pleco, he would dart away. now that he's bigger he's doing much better and is as active as the senegals