I have been want to get an ornate for a while now and I have finally found one. I was wondering if you all had any tips for keeping this species. What substrate is the best for this species. Any other good tank mates. What lighting is best for them and what plants would do best in these conditions. Any suggestions and or tips are greatly appreciated.
Ornate bichir questions
- Thread starter graylizard
- Start date
1) the best bet for substrate you have to bring out polypterus colours would be red. Most bichir keepers use red garnet sand to make the markings on their body and head be more prominent. Too light coloured substrate, the bichir would blend in with the surroundings and would have a washed out look. Darker substrate, and the bichir would blend into the dark look which may also have faded markings.
2) Other tankmates, would of course be more bichirs. Note, ornate bichirs are one of the most aggressive bichir species. So never keep them in a pair. The more bichirs there are, the more the aggression is able to be spread out. 3 or more would be suitable. Depending on your tank size, gars, arowanas, other larger sized fish which are unable to fit into the ornates mouth would be suitable as well.
3) lighting is of your choice, although dimmer lighting would be better. Bichirs spook easily and lower lighting would be beneficial. Low light plants include anubias, ask others for more low light plant species I don’t know many, haha.
In another thread I asked about keeping the bichir with my electric yellow cichlids. What are your thoughts on that? And what is some of the things that it eats and where I could get that because my parents what to know about how much it is going to cost to eat it yearly.
You can feed the bichir earthworms cut tilapia or shrimp (not shells), just about any sinking pellet will do as long as it has a good amount of protein
Have already replied you in the other thread. Agreed with
beau1990
.Most frozen seafood should do. Silversides, tilapia, herring, squid, mussels, market prawn… the list goes on. You can feed salmon too, a lot of nutrients, but not in excess cause it not only is fatty but can cause an oil layer on the top of your tank. A packet of seafood mix should last you a long time. It won’t be costly. If you want to save, train it to eat pellets. I myself would recommend hikari carnivore pellets although there are other options.