senegal? ornate?

[aeri]

i'm new to the whole bichir scene. and i'm considering picking up a senegal and an ornate on a good deal.

i've read so far that an ornate will outgrow a senegal, and that they both grow rather slow. but aside from their colouration, what's the main difference between the two?

and do they do well with tankmates? i'm deciding between putting it an arowana/clown knife tank or a catfish tank. or their own smaller tank.

and is gravel ok or is a bare tank better? (don't have sand. don't want sand)

does it NEED hiding space?

 

[beblondie]

Q.aside from their colouration, what's the main difference between the two?
A.Basicly size,price and possible tankmates,Also ornates tend to be fairly nocturnal compared to senegals which tend to be very outgoing and swimming about during the lights on period
Q.do they do well with tankmates?
A. totaly depends on the individual but generaly they should be kept with non agressive
species.And species to big to fit in thier mouths.
Q. gravel ok or is a bare tank better?
depends pretty much on your tastes I have kept them on bare bottom tanks and fine crushed gravel.Gravel can in some cases cause problems if ingested.
Q.does it NEED hiding space?
A. Not really but they should be given a shady are in the tank to get out of the light
if they want to.-Anne

 

[likestofish]

pool filter sand could be used instead of gravel. I switched when my enli got a big pebble lodged in its mouth while trying to catch a ghost shrimp.

 

[Zeppelin3k]

I think a big diffrence will be that the senegal will be alot more active and fun to watch were the ornate will just lay on the bottom and cruise around once and a while.

 

[pwmin]

I think a big diffrence will be that the senegal will be alot more active and fun to watch were the ornate will just lay on the bottom and cruise around once and a while.

on the other hand, as far as bichirs go, senegals are boring-looking and ornates aren't (IMO, of course)

 

[Bichirs4life]

Yeah Senegals are boring looking in comparison to Ornates, Ornates are boring acting in comparison to Senegals. As for gravel vs a bare bottom, it is a matter of taste. I personally have to have something on the bottom of my tank. I hate seeing waste and old food floating around my tank. If sand isn't your taste, try some 3M pool filter substrate. A few of the members here like XRAY have some in their tanks and it looks great. I plan to get some myself because my bichirs have been trying to eat stuff within the gravel and I'm afraid that one of them is going to swallow some eventually. temperment really depends on the bichir vs the type of bichir. My senegals are aggresive towards other bichirs in my tank, as is my Ornate so it depends. Most of the aggression is territory based however.

 

[thefishguy7]

sens would get eaten by an arowna, ornate, a ck, and a catfish. I personally like the larger species of polypterids. (ornates, endi's, congicus, bichir bichir, teugelsi, etc...)

Poly's will do fine with larger tankmates. I actually keep some of mine with large cichlids.

Why don't you want sand? (it looks awesome and it isn't too hard to clean IMO)

 

[snake513]

My ornates used to get gravel stuck in their mouths all the time they do much better on sand or bare bottom from my experinec

 

[Zeppelin3k]

sens would get eaten by an arowna, ornate, a ck, and a catfish. I personally like the larger species of polypterids. (ornates, endi's, congicus, bichir bichir, teugelsi, etc...)

Poly's will do fine with larger tankmates. I actually keep some of mine with large cichlids.

Why don't you want sand? (it looks awesome and it isn't too hard to clean IMO)

i have senegals with ornates and clown knifes.... they dont get eaten....

 

[aeri]

thanks alot everyone

they sound like they aren't too aggressive.
i think i'll place them by themselves for a while then bc my other tanks maybe too aggressive.
would they do well with malawi cichlids?

sand is nice it's just the amount of work i'd have to go through, especially with my flying arowana who's already hit the ground 3x already (during water changes). plus my gf disapproves of it.

my catfish, ck, and giant gourami sometimes eats gravel when they pick up food. but spit it out right away. bichirs can't taste apart gravel?