Buying a 5" ornate bichir this Wednesday! Very excited. Was wondering if there are any good habits or certain foods or aquarium décor I should start with for him!
Ornate
- Thread starter Layne Conitz
- Start date
ornates from what I've seen and heard tend to fall into 1 of 2 categories:
Either they are constantly swimming the tanks
Or...like mine...they sit in the corner by themselves all day and mysteriously put on 6" of length even though I've never seen mine eat one time. haha.
Mine seems to spend quite a lot of time swimming around hes big now 18" , he eats pretty much anything I feed my other fish , but loves raw prawn/shrimp.
I have to a piece of black PVC pipe he chills in from time to time but doesn't really use it much , they do make good hides for them when small though
I have to a piece of black PVC pipe he chills in from time to time but doesn't really use it much , they do make good hides for them when small though
I feed my bichir and pike and Oscars live a lot. And a lot of beefheart. It won't mind? Should I get a cover for the back? So it doesn't clear out. Just want to know as much as possible.
I'd quit feeding live as much, and definitely cut the beef heart back too. stick with pellets, good prepared foods like tilapia and shrimp. keep the live and beefheart for occasional treats.
My ornate is quite the strange character. I got her at about 5 inches and she is about 14 inches now. 5 months ago I introduced a lap bichir male, he was slightly smaller than her in the 9 inch range. At first she was very aggressive with him and tore his fins up regularly (saw her latch onto his tail once). After a month or so there seemed to be an understanding between the 2, but I still see her push her weight around, just last night she bit his face, not hard but more of a "this is my turf, move it!" He never seems to suffer much damage and his fins are now almost perfect (appear to be more rough around the edges than ornate, but maybe that is a lap).
Personality wise they are slightly different. The lap likes to hide out in plants and doesn't really frighten at external aquarium movement. Ornate likes to hide in a corner and runs when she sees me watching. Excited to rehouse them soon.
Personality wise they are slightly different. The lap likes to hide out in plants and doesn't really frighten at external aquarium movement. Ornate likes to hide in a corner and runs when she sees me watching. Excited to rehouse them soon.
Why is it bad to feed them that? I feed my Oscars and Senegal fish and beefheart and bloodworms. Usually don't feed them much else. Where and what should I feed them? Just buy tilapia at walmart and cut it up?
