Ornate bichir colors

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asm129

Gambusia
MFK Member
Dec 28, 2009
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Cafe Lu
Do ornate bichirs' colors fade over time? I'm thinking about getting one, but I want to get a nice dark one and I don't want to have his colors fade out in a year. Maybe I should get another delhezi instead.
 
heres a picture of my 3 year old ornate,i grew her from 3"-4" hope this helps you decide


 
Can't wait till mine is bigger.
About colors, some say the Buettikoferi is the most beautiful, but he's no Ornate:

View attachment 470714

Does every Bichir has external lungs?
 
olllie;3930913; said:
Can't wait till mine is bigger.
About colors, some say the Buettikoferi is the most beautiful, but he's no Ornate:

View attachment 470714

Does every Bichir has external lungs?

No, if the oxygen level is high enough in the water, the bichir might develop external gills, not external lungs. However, when it is placed in one with low oxygen level, it will gradually lose its external gills.

BTW, if you're really interested in ornate bichirs, don't give up the hope on acquiring one. My ornate bichir manage to maintain its dark tone even when she grew up, so I suggest you to get one if you prefer ornate to delhezi.
 
Hao;3929998; said:
heres a picture of my 3 year old ornate,i grew her from 3"-4" hope this helps you decide



Damn, Hao. Nice ornate! Your pics in the photo lounge helped to get me really interested in bichirs and your ornate looks nice. I had an ornate last year but it was kind of light colored and I sold him.
 
olllie;3930913; said:
Can't wait till mine is bigger.
About colors, some say the Buettikoferi is the most beautiful, but he's no Ornate:

View attachment 470714

Does every Bichir has external lungs?

Whoa. That's gotta be the darkest ornate I've seen so far. I want to get one with external gills like that too. How big is he right now? Very cool, thanks for sharing.
 
Just get a black sand and place the ornate. It will darken up soon. I don't really like a not well balance colored bichirs. That's why I place mine in mix of red, tan and black sand. Just like Hao's ornate, that's an example of a well balanced colored ornate. And forget the external gills it will lose them as it grows.
 
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