Proud mom of 2, and I got some questions...

[Cthulhubone]

I know next to nothing of these fish "cepting what I learned here" but I do admire your dedication to learning as much as you can to keep them thriving. My 2 cents!

If you love something, love it well

Welcome aboard

Senegal bichirs are awesome! I got my two a year ago, the captive bred one (like you have) is closing on 6" after that time. Your tank should last a while but I'd recommend a 55 for long term care.

Okay for feeding; try and skip live if possible. Pellets are they way. I also include earthworms, tilapia, frozen bloodworm or mosquito larvae and occasionally feeder insects. Live food is a health risk and puts bad habits in for feeding, as an example: A shop here recently recieved an endlicheri that had just been sitting in the suppliers tanks and chowing whatever it could. The night it was sent to the shop it bit the resident ornate to death and a week later still was refusing pellets. Please try and get pellets in as soon as you can! Polys should quickly get into the swing of things, you can also feed them after lights out

As for aquascapes, they are doable. I keep my polys in this mess:View attachment 1318322

They like having spaces to chill around the tank and are particularly fond of water sprite roots, almost like a poly hammock

Hope this helps! This poly forum is full of the most helpful people around here, enjoy your stay!

I intend for my bichir's to dominate the tank, anything else I put in it is just food for them to me. So as far as aggression goes, not something I care to discourage. I figured live food would have to be carefully monitored because it is a risk via parasites and god knows what else. The live fish I'm feeding now were born and raised in a tank I trust so its a closed circuit in my mind and relatively safe. I've planned to convert my 20 gallon into a quarantine tank of sorts so if I do buy outside live fish, I can monitor them for a period of time before offering them.
Either way, I'll be getting pellets to just to be on the intelligent side of things. It may be fun for me to do the live portion, but it's clearly not the best/safest way to go for them.
I've been ghosting around this community's forum for a bit now and I'm very pleased with what you guys have here. & I appreciate the community you all have created

Welcome to MFK! Senegals are a great specie to start off with. Definitely the most active.

Fortunate for me! I happened on this particular species by chance.

 

[Cthulhubone]

Welcome aboard

Senegal bichirs are awesome! I got my two a year ago, the captive bred one (like you have) is closing on 6" after that time. Your tank should last a while but I'd recommend a 55 for long term care.

Okay for feeding; try and skip live if possible. Pellets are they way. I also include earthworms, tilapia, frozen bloodworm or mosquito larvae and occasionally feeder insects. Live food is a health risk and puts bad habits in for feeding, as an example: A shop here recently recieved an endlicheri that had just been sitting in the suppliers tanks and chowing whatever it could. The night it was sent to the shop it bit the resident ornate to death and a week later still was refusing pellets. Please try and get pellets in as soon as you can! Polys should quickly get into the swing of things, you can also feed them after lights out

As for aquascapes, they are doable. I keep my polys in this mess:View attachment 1318322

They like having spaces to chill around the tank and are particularly fond of water sprite roots, almost like a poly hammock

Hope this helps! This poly forum is full of the most helpful people around here, enjoy your stay!

Water sprite roots are officially on my list! <3 Thank you!

 

[Kris P Bacon]

If you love something, love it well






Fortunate for me! I happened on this particular species by chance.

Agreed, I call it "single minded focus" When I take an interest in something, I immerse myself into it.

 

[Hendre]

Water sprite roots are officially on my list! <3 Thank you!

Water sprite is a wonderful floating surface plant.

If you love something, love it well



I intend for my bichir's to dominate the tank, anything else I put in it is just food for them to me. So as far as aggression goes, not something I care to discourage. I figured live food would have to be carefully monitored because it is a risk via parasites and god knows what else. The live fish I'm feeding now were born and raised in a tank I trust so its a closed circuit in my mind and relatively safe. I've planned to convert my 20 gallon into a quarantine tank of sorts so if I do buy outside live fish, I can monitor them for a period of time before offering them.
Either way, I'll be getting pellets to just to be on the intelligent side of things. It may be fun for me to do the live portion, but it's clearly not the best/safest way to go for them.
I've been ghosting around this community's forum for a bit now and I'm very pleased with what you guys have here. & I appreciate the community you all have created



Fortunate for me! I happened on this particular species by chance.

As long as you keep it monitored. My polys are just two of 10 fish in my tank, you can run a nice community around them.

Home bred guppies would be best

 

[kewpiefishypewpie]

That tank will be fine for many years, they grow to about 5-7" fast and then really slow down.

There can be aggression issues when it's only two polys in the tank, something to keep in mind.

There's no need to worry about supplementing with vitamins as long as they're on a good pellet, I do suggest NLS but you're already wise to that. My poly's that I have took to it relatively quickly.

Make sure to have a good tight fitting lid with no gaps whatsoever.

 

[Cthulhubone]

That tank will be fine for many years, they grow to about 5-7" fast and then really slow down.

There can be aggression issues when it's only

That tank will be fine for many years, they grow to about 5-7" fast and then really slow down.

There can be aggression issues when it's only two polys in the tank, something to keep in mind.

There's no need to worry about supplementing with vitamins as long as they're on a good pellet, I do suggest NLS but you're already wise to that. My poly's that I have took to it relatively quickly.

Make sure to have a good tight fitting lid with no gaps whatsoever.

Oh, that kind of agression. I figure with enough space... but how many would be needed to minimize aggression?

 

[Hendre]

Three is the magic number. Apparently.

I have two sens and the male is a pest. Not sure if his wild caught blood has anything to do with it. With just two one can become more dominant, so more is better.

 

[kewpiefishypewpie]

I didn't mean to imply that their will be aggression but rather that there can be aggression, and under such a circumstance the addition of polys can be a possible solution.

 

[Rocksor]

I figured live food would have to be carefully monitored because it is a risk via parasites and god knows what else. The live fish I'm feeding now were born and raised in a tank I trust so its a closed circuit in my mind and relatively safe. I've planned to convert my 20 gallon into a quarantine tank of sorts so if I do buy outside live fish, I can monitor them for a period of time before offering them.
Either way, I'll be getting pellets to just to be on the intelligent side of things. It may be fun for me to do the live portion, but it's clearly not the best/safest way to go for them.
I've been ghosting around this community's forum for a bit now and I'm very pleased with what you guys have here. & I appreciate the community you all have created

Gut load the "trusted" live fish with New Life Spectrum flakes or micro pellets. After feeding the live fish, immediately feed to your bichirs. This will give them the vitamins from the pellets/flakes before it is digested.

If you buy outside live fish, you should wait at least 4 weeks in quarantine and treat the feeders with different types of medication for parasites. It won't be cheap. Reason not to feed https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...yone-against-feeder-fish.704271/#post-7939203

The simplest method is buying frozen tilapia and cutting off small pieces while semi-frozen.

 

[Deadliestviper7]

Diet can include pellets, handfed crickets, tilapia and trout pieces,triops,minnows (pen raised is good),earthworms,edible tadpole species (avoid toad tadpoles),guppies,ricefish,wild caught aquatic insects (such as may fly larvae,damselfly larvae) etc.

You can soak bits of fish in vitachem for a more nutrient rich diet.

A good tankmates that would produce babies bichirs can eat is neolamprophagus brichardti