Putting my money where my mouth is

[kewpiefishypewpie]

I'm all about biotopes and all about bichir, but honestly a bichir biotope could prove to be a pretty boring display. Or to put it in a better, different way; it would be very difficult to do one that would both look good and allow you to see the fish.

 

[Stanzzzz7]

I'm all about biotopes and all about bichir, but honestly a bichir biotope could prove to be a pretty boring display. Or to put it in a better, different way; it would be very difficult to do one that would both look good and allow you to see the fish.

I know very little about bicher, so excuse my ignorance but I must ask, why would it be so difficult?
From the little I do know is that they have a huge distribution.
Senegal bichirs are found in 26 different countries across Africa, so I have read.
There are even species from lake tanganynika .
Am I missing something? I presume they mainly inhabit the shallows due to their adaptions for land? Is their habitat really that much of a niche that they can be found with no other aquarium fish?
I'm keen to learn more about this subject if anyone has the answers.
Jaws, sorry for the derail.

 

[jaws7777]

I know very little about bicher, so excuse my ignorance but I must ask, why would it be so difficult?
From the little I do know is that they have a huge distribution.
Senegal bichirs are found in 26 different countries across Africa, so I have read.
There are even species from lake tanganynika .
Am I missing something? I presume they mainly inhabit the shallows due to their adaptions for land? Is their habitat really that much of a niche that they can be found with no other aquarium fish?
I'm keen to learn more about this subject if anyone has the answers.
Jaws, sorry for the derail.

no no worries. Almost every thread in this section gets derailed most of the time by the original poster LOL.

I think maybe Hendre is trying to say that they May hide a lot.

I think you're totally right though the distribution is so wide the difference in Decor or biotope could range from a swampy bog type of area to a rocky open River Bottom.

We've seen pictures of congicus in what looks like a wide open river with nothing but large boulders.

Other than picking plants from that area I don't know that any one biotope could be incorrect. Probably boils down to the preference of the keeper on amount of decor and what the catch location of the particular poly resembles.

Maybe instead of picking the poly 1st. Look into the type of biotope you prefer, then start poly shopping

 

[Polyaddict86]

Ive seen some picture of some UJ in a swampy area with alot of plants.

 

[jaws7777]

Ive seen some picture of some UJ in a swampy area with alot of plants.

Had a discussion with kingel about congicus catch locations and he said they also come from both swampy waters and open rivers

 

[Stanzzzz7]

no no worries. Almost every thread in this section gets derailed most of the time by the original poster LOL.

I think maybe Hendre is trying to say that they May hide a lot.

I think you're totally right though the distribution is so wide the difference in Decor or biotope could range from a swampy bog type of area to a rocky open River Bottom.

We've seen pictures of congicus in what looks like a wide open river with nothing but large boulders.

Other than picking plants from that area I don't know that any one biotope could be incorrect. Probably boils down to the preference of the keeper on amount of decor and what the catch location of the particular poly resembles.

Maybe instead of picking the poly 1st. Look into the type of biotope you prefer, then start poly shopping

Funny you should say that as I have been looking at cichlids that live in the same rivers as some of the bicher species and hoping to find some common ground.
I've found pictures of them in lake tang and it was just rocks and sand like you would expect from rift lakes.
I also stumbled across a video of a biotope aquarium in dubai. They were with synodontis cats and tiger fish.
I'm still really into my South American tank at the moment, next time I change things up I will definitely be looking into polys. For now I just want to learn all I can about them, particularly the natural habitats.
It's your bloody fault.

 

[Polyaddict86]

Here are some picture of the other thread about how they catch the poly and where they catch them

 

[tlindsey]

Here are some picture of the other thread about how they catch the poly and where they catch them

View attachment 1325273 View attachment 1325274 View attachment 1325275 View attachment 1325276 View attachment 1325277 View attachment 1325278 View attachment 1325279 View attachment 1325280

I see Electric Eels and Ctenopoma in the catch basins with the Polys.

 

[kewpiefishypewpie]

I know very little about bicher, so excuse my ignorance but I must ask, why would it be so difficult?
From the little I do know is that they have a huge distribution.
Senegal bichirs are found in 26 different countries across Africa, so I have read.
There are even species from lake tanganynika .
Am I missing something? I presume they mainly inhabit the shallows due to their adaptions for land? Is their habitat really that much of a niche that they can be found with no other aquarium fish?
I'm keen to learn more about this subject if anyone has the answers.
Jaws, sorry for the derail.

It’s just that if you give bichir territory they’re going to hide and you’ll never see them. Most people keep little to no potential territories in their tanks. I don’t doubt that you could replicate a biotope successfully, I just doubt that it would look like it had any fish in it.

I don’t mean to discourage, doubt or be a downer but it’s just a fact regarding bichir and territory. You probably could manage a way to do it but it would be difficult to find the balance.

 

[sevs and sajicas for me]

If anyone can Stanzzzz7 will