Severely deformed ornate help!

[Mal_]

Hi! Im new to this forum and I need some help. I have a roughly 4 inch ornate bichir that I named "L", for the reason that his back is so poorly kinked that he looks like a swimming L. I'd saw him at my LFS for about three months before his price dropped and I couldn't help myself. I have a young 90 gallon peacock/hap tank that I was told he would co-exist just fine, also that he was likely to not reach full size because of the kink.

Lately I noticed he was looking very skinny. It's sometimes downright impossible to target feed him with my ravenous red empress, lol. Right now he is in a heated, filtered 5 gal. bucket with a lid and some guppy fry until I can set up the tank. Unfortunately, i dont have very much room in the house for anything much more than a 20 gallon. Would he be alright in a 20, considering he is already severely deformed? (He was very healthy otherwise when I purchased him.) Would I ever be able to reintroduce him to the cichlid tank? Is he better off staying isolated?

Thank you for the help!

 

[MooseTheWizard]

He would not be fine in the 20 for life - as a quarantine to get some size on him, it will be fine.

Whether or not he can be reintroduced to your cichlids is to be determined. If he can compete, probably. AFAIK the Ornate is found in the rift lakes naturally, though I believe sparsely (hopefully someone more knowledgeable can confirm).

However, a full sized ornate would not be able to thrive in a 90 gallon. Obviously due to his deformity, his max length is up in the air.

There are a few too many variables to answer all of your questions, frankly. For now, keep him isolated and fatten him up. Tilapia is a great way to do this. I mix mine with Boyd's Vitachem for freshwater fish.

Please post a photo of the poly as well. Good on you for rescuing a fish that was unlikely to be picked up by anyone else.

 

[Mal_]

He would not be fine in the 20 for life - as a quarantine to get some size on him, it will be fine.

Whether or not he can be reintroduced to your cichlids is to be determined. If he can compete, probably. AFAIK the Ornate is found in the rift lakes naturally, though I believe sparsely (hopefully someone more knowledgeable can confirm).

However, a full sized ornate would not be able to thrive in a 90 gallon. Obviously due to his deformity, his max length is up in the air.

There are a few too many variables to answer all of your questions, frankly. For now, keep him isolated and fatten him up. Tilapia is a great way to do this. I mix mine with Boyd's Vitachem for freshwater fish.

Please post a photo of the poly as well. Good on you for rescuing a fish that was unlikely to be picked up by anyone else.

Thank you for the advice! I'll definitely be growing him out in the 20 and give him a second chance in the 90. I have a friend who has a 150 and expressed interest in the bichir as well - but I am a little concerned seeing as he houses a couple plecos in that tank as well as an aggressive fish that I can't remember the name of for the life of me.

Although my bichir is a slow swimmer, I watched my tank for agression and luckily there were no signs of it for the time he was in there.

Here's a picture of him safely in the quarantine. Difficult to get a clear pic of, but that's kinda expected on day one. (Don't worry - the light is only on to take this picture.) you can really see why his name is "L" in this picture, albeit backwards. It is a little sadenning, but he is a charming little fish!

 

[twentyleagues]

Thank you for the advice! I'll definitely be growing him out in the 20 and give him a second chance in the 90. I have a friend who has a 150 and expressed interest in the bichir as well - but I am a little concerned seeing as he houses a couple plecos in that tank as well as an aggressive fish that I can't remember the name of for the life of me.

Although my bichir is a slow swimmer, I watched my tank for agression and luckily there were no signs of it for the time he was in there.

Here's a picture of him safely in the quarantine. Difficult to get a clear pic of, but that's kinda expected on day one. (Don't worry - the light is only on to take this picture.) View attachment 1332483 you can really see why his name is "L" in this picture, albeit backwards. It is a little sadenning, but he is a charming little fish!

Omg that poor fish! Hopfully it will heal and become straighter but more likely he was hurt in shipping and has healed like that. They have great regenerative healing but thats pretty awful. Price dropped huh. Like free to good home? Sounds like the lfs are kinda jerks. Sorry if you really like them but that probably should have been euthanized after the injury or at the least written off by the suppler if shipped like that or during shipping and given up for a loss as that shouldnt be sold. If your lfs got it like that they should have made a claim if it happened with them they should have taken the loss. If someone is good enough to offer it a home and try to care for it that's payment enough at this point. Good for you to take it in! I'm unsure of your lfs integrity atm though.

 

[Mal_]

Omg that poor fish! Hopfully it will heal and become straighter but more likely he was hurt in shipping and has healed like that. They have great regenerative healing but thats pretty awful. Price dropped huh. Like free to good home? Sounds like the lfs are kinda jerks. Sorry if you really like them but that probably should have been euthanized after the injury or at the least written off by the suppler if shipped like that or during shipping and given up for a loss as that shouldnt be sold. If your lfs got it like that they should have made a claim if it happened with them they should have taken the loss. If someone is good enough to offer it a home and try to care for it that's payment enough at this point. Good for you to take it in! I'm unsure of your lfs integrity atm though.

Ha ha, don't worry. I am close friends with the manager and many of the employees. This little guy came in deformed and yes, when I say price dropped I mean I got it for $5 -- and that was only because the manager wasn't in and they couldnt allow me to leave the store with a free fish without him present lol. Otherwise, he technically wasn't up for sale and sat in a tank without a label. He was there for a while and I was kinda expecting him to pass as I was eyeing up a brand new shipment of senegals. I guess myself and a few employees got attatched to the little guy because he (at least, seems like he) has a personality - hence why he wasnt euthanized.

I dont know how to explain it, but he seems like a happy lil dude despite his situation. Maybe im just personifying him? Dunno. Just wanna do my best for the little guy.

 

[justarn]

Great your giving him a chance. Well done.

 

[Polyaddict86]

Very nice of you to pick him up even it has a defect, not alot of people will do that.

 

[twentyleagues]

I agree that you did a great unselfish thing, you'll have your work cutout for you. I doubt he will ever be able to compete in the tank with the cichlids unfortunately. Im also glad to here there are still some ethics involved within the retail world. Ive worked retail for a long time and I know especially in instances like that the store doesnt want to incure loss, and at the same time if you put it out for free some dummy that cant take care of it is probably going to take it and make it suffer more. So you have to assign a price tag to it to assign some sorta "worth" to it. Yes I agree that alot of them do have personalities not all but alot, you are not imagining it.

 

[Mal_]

Thank you all for the kind words and advice!

As a little update, he's eaten a couple guppy fry as well as a mouthfull of mysis shrimp. Lovely little fellow!

 

[Vancouver_98683]

You’ll see this broken back issue with elongated fish such as arowana, snakehead, bichirs, and several others. It can also be a genetic deformity. See them sometimes on my southern Cali lfs visits.