Ive had a p. Polli for about a year and P. Sengalus for a few months. Out of all these i have seen zero aggression towards other fish but i recently acquired a P. Lapredei who within the first few days decided to make a snack of a small rainbow river darter that was in the tank, while this isnt a big loss i just wanted to know if should be careful of future aggression. THanks!
Polypterus Lapredei Aggression
- Thread starter KiiNGGiiNGER
- Start date
All lower jaw bichirs are much more aggressive than the upper jaws except for the ornate which is equally as aggressive. My lap has shown no aggression at all towards the tank mates but each individual is different. If the fish is thinner than the bichir is, there's a good chance that it might look at it as good so be weary of that. Other than that, laps are amazing and I love mine to death! What's the sizes on all of yours? You usually don't have to worry about them eating other bichirs unless there's a huge size difference.
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Maybe it's just going by the rule "whatever fits in its mouth will get eaten". Either than or depending on how new it is it could be that it's establishing territory, it's nervous, etc
, wait till things settle down and there should be little to no aggression unless of course something can fit in it's mouth. What are the sizes of your polys?
A big factor in aggression as you are describing is diet. If that lap has been on a live food diet before you got it then it's behaviour is really to be expected. I have found that bichirs grown out from a small size with no live food have a low aggression level. I place my grow outs when they hit 7" into the main tank with 20" plus bichirs with no problems
Butttttttttt no firm rule
Butttttttttt no firm rule
Since i received him all i have been feeding is shrimp or blood worms and while he picks at them he doesn't seem entirely pleased like my Sengalus that devour any shrimp or krill that comes within a few inches of them. But the sizes on them are the Polli is about 6 inches, sengalus are 4.5 and 5 (Got them at 2.5 inches but are little monsters) and the new Lap is around the same as the polli. He seems very calm so nervousness shouldn't come into play but that also might mean hes so calm he kinda does what he wants haha. But thanks for the info doesnt sound like anything i need to be too worried about for the future since they will all be in my 75 with my bigger fish before long but being my first bottom jaw bichir I just wanted to make sure that there wasnt a large difference. Oh and adding a Delhezi next week as well! Thanks all!