I'm moving my bichir to a 55 gallon tank pretty soon and i was wondering what tank mate would do well. The food source is live ghost shrimp and zebra dianos and i was thinking about either another bichir, one or two rope fish, or a clown knifefish. but i don't want the bichirs to fight and i don't know if i have room for a rope fish or a knife. What do you guys think?
Tank mate for my senegal bichir, I have ?'s. :(
- Thread starter Mario1994
- Start date
Two Bichirs won't fight as long as there are places to hide. I wouldn't suggest a Clown Knife because they get fairly large but a Brown Ghost Knife or a Black Ghost Knife make a great tank mates for Bichirs. Rope fish are also very fun and won't fight with Bichirs either but Ropes are best kept in groups IMO.
For your 55G I think you could get away with another Sen, A Knifefish, and two Ropes. But hopefully they won't be in there for life
It'll be awhile before they grow out of the 55G if you get them at a young age.
For your 55G I think you could get away with another Sen, A Knifefish, and two Ropes. But hopefully they won't be in there for life
It'll be awhile before they grow out of the 55G if you get them at a young age.
For an idea(s) I'll list out my stock for you...this is in a 90g tank and none of the stock are 100% grown, although they do have some size to them.
2x polypterus senegalus
1x polypterus delhezi
1x polypterus palmas polli
1x ropefish
1x black ghost knife
1x african brown knife
1x jack dempsey
1x pictus catfish
3x glass catfish
Everything gets along fine, the glass cats are new though, I'm still waiting to see how they fare. Basically, with a sen you can add just about anything that it won't be able to eat. I also used to have a shoal of tiger barbs (8 of them) which were great with everything listed up there. Although, depending on the size of your sen & the size of the barbs when you get them you might need to have a place for them to grow out a bit.
2x polypterus senegalus
1x polypterus delhezi
1x polypterus palmas polli
1x ropefish
1x black ghost knife
1x african brown knife
1x jack dempsey
1x pictus catfish
3x glass catfish
Everything gets along fine, the glass cats are new though, I'm still waiting to see how they fare. Basically, with a sen you can add just about anything that it won't be able to eat. I also used to have a shoal of tiger barbs (8 of them) which were great with everything listed up there. Although, depending on the size of your sen & the size of the barbs when you get them you might need to have a place for them to grow out a bit.
The fish i do finally select will have to be able to share a 55 with a senegal permanently.. i can't get a bigger tank for quite a while and it will have to eat ghost shrimp. i don't want to go crazy with this yet because i just started this hobby a few months ago.
Well, I personally wouldn't keep sen's in a 55 permanently, although they will do fine there for a pretty good while.
You could do the African brown knife, pictus cat, leopard ctenopoma ...to name a few.
You could do the African brown knife, pictus cat, leopard ctenopoma ...to name a few.
Yes, they'll eat ghost shrimp. Max size is about 8". They do best with company, preferably a group.
I've had mine for a little under a year now, he's going on maybe 5-6 inches and has been quite content on his own.
I'd assume one would eat shrimp but I've never witnessed it. I've heard some accounts say that they were good in a school as juveniles but eventually get a little territorial towards Eachother later in life.
I'd assume one would eat shrimp but I've never witnessed it. I've heard some accounts say that they were good in a school as juveniles but eventually get a little territorial towards Eachother later in life.
The closest thing I've seen to territoriality is small shoving matches. One of the greatest things about keeping them in groups is feeding time. If they both go for the same piece of food they'll chatter at each other very loudly. It's quite amusing.