Senegal bichir tankmates

[Bloby762]

Algae eater will likely kill the bichir if it's the one I'm thinking of. The Chinese algae eater?

How would it kill it

 

[Bloby762]

Algae eater will likely kill the bichir if it's the one I'm thinking of. The Chinese algae eater?

I have them together in a tank right now and they seem to be friends

 

[Dr.B]

It won't directly kill it, but there's a possibility at some point the algae water will suck on the slime coat of the bichir, which make the bichir succeptible to infections and such. Everyone usually starts out by saying that they are getting along fine, which is what happens until you start seeing white blotches on your bichir. You can keep them together, but I'd keep an eye out for any signs of missing slimecoat.

 

[Bloby762]

OK so they are both fairly small and I've been keeping them together and yeah so they will have been together basicly there whole lives would the algae eater eventually become aggressive?

 

[moe214]

It won't directly kill it, but there's a possibility at some point the algae water will suck on the slime coat of the bichir, which make the bichir succeptible to infections and such. Everyone usually starts out by saying that they are getting along fine, which is what happens until you start seeing white blotches on your bichir. You can keep them together, but I'd keep an eye out for any signs of missing slimecoat.

This, and Chinese algae eaters are known to be a little aggressive, giving it more motive to suck on the bichir, in the end killing it

 

[moe214]

Keeping anything together it's whole life is never a guarantee, fry kill eachother all the time, there won't be a difference if you keep it with a different species, it really comes down to the specimen. This can be done but you'd need a good size tank to keep the encounters to a minimum, and keep the algae eater well fed to reduce chance and motive of it to suck on the bichirs slime coat

 

[Bloby762]

OK so if I give the algae eater enough food it will make a less chance of it eating the slime coat also the dinosaur is bigger than the algae eater right now so it will stay bigger than the algae eater will it possibly stay fine if it is always be bigger than the algae eater? Also thanks for the replys

 

[Bloby762]

OK so if I give the algae eater enough food it will make a less chance of it eating the slime coat also the dinosaur is bigger than the algae eater right now so it will stay bigger than the algae eater will it possibly stay fine if it is always be bigger than the algae eater? Also thanks for the replys

Would that help?????????

 

[Dr.B]

Theoretically yes if you keep it well fed it won't suck the slime coat, but there's always a chance. And as long as the bichir can't fit the algae eater in its mouth, size differences shouldn't be a problem

 

[Bloby762]

Theoretically yes if you keep it well fed it won't suck the slime coat, but there's always a chance. And as long as the bichir can't fit the algae eater in its mouth, size differences shouldn't be a problem

OK thx