Ornate Bichir feeding stubbornly

[Lindsay]

Hey Bichir keepers i recently aquited my first Bichir a couple weeks ago, and it's a huge one of 16" +.

He's with a slightly smaller silver Arowana and is doing fine.

The thing i was wondering is the way they feed, i've tried sinking pellets to cut up raw shrimp but seems like he doesn't even sense it's there even when under his nose 😤

Then i tried superworms and he eats those like crazy so i've been feeding him 4-6 SW nightly, although he takes his precious time getting to the worms, that i have to babysit him and wave the arowana away from the worm for minutes at a time 😓

Is that feeding behavior normal?

↪️Also i plan on finding a large Endli of his size or more in the future when i get my 300+ g, are Endlis and Ornates max the same size? 😦


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[predatorkeeper87]

thats the textbook definition of bichir eating habits. Unless I target feed mine with tongs they can take up to 30 minutes to find food let alone another 5 of staring at it.

Pretty sure endlis are normally larger at max size but they should be relatively close. The endli will outgrow the ornate though. At least he should.

 

[Dr.B]

For a newly acquired bichir yes it is normal for them to be a bit picky. If you are having trouble getting the arowana away from the bichirs food you can use a PVC tube stick it around the bichir and drop the food in. Another thing you can do is feed the arowana first or feed it floating pellets and while it is eating it's food or after it has eaten it's fair share drop some down to the ornate. Yes they can max the same size however depending on weather you get a CB or WC endli can determine the max size. Either way though it will take a while for them to get to their max sizes. The ornate at 16" right now is probably already slowing down on growth.

 

[Nim Dibbley]

Your main issue is that your ornate is new. Once he gets used to being in the new environment he will become a much better eater.

I have a big gourami with mine and i have to distract the gourami with floating pellets and then over feed with the sinking pellets. The gourami still gets most of the sinking pellets but all the bichirs eat.

I think the gourami acts as a trigger. Once he is in eating mode the bichirs notice and start sniffing around the tank even before i put in any food. Often i will feed the gourami a strawberry or grape or something and the bichirs think food is coming for them. They start sniffing around the sand looking for food as soon as the gourami gets excited. This didnt happen overnight, but now it is an every time reaction to the stimuli of the gourami getting excited.

 

[Lindsay]

Wow thanks for the advices, yeah i find it funny how they do the "sniffing" action when going into feeding mode 😂

I'm pretty sure he's used to his tank i don't expect him to change feeding habit much at this point, i just wish hix previous owner (guy who i bought from at LFS) raised him to eat pellets or alternatives, since i have no idea how i'll manage his feeding of wiggly worms when i go out of state for vacations 😭

Also i noticed at night when all lights are off i hear the aro splashing violently and turn the light on to notice the ornate chases him rarely at times sort of "nipping" at his sides, nothing serious yet though 😓 then he acts all innocent with any lights on, that silly monkey !😰


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[Nim Dibbley]

Your ornate will eventually accept pellets. he just has to get hungry enough. He should be able to go a pretty long while without food. I would just keep feeding pellets and he should come to terms with it eventually

 

[hooliganATV]

i had issues with feeding my bichirs when they first arrived, I chopped up a selection of prawn, lance fish,blood warm and a few other bits and left it soaking in tank water in a jar for half hour. once i was ready to feed i would trickle some of the water in the tank and it seemed to get them active once they moving around i dropped it in at different places in the tank. my jags they share with took there fill and the bichirs go mental round the bottom of the tank getting theirs. i still use this method when feeding defrost although they take pellet now too.