the best polypterus tank

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DariusAmurdarja

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 22, 2011
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I clicked through some topics here and watched pictures of the tanks that some users here keep their polypterids in. I must say what i saw doesn´t make me happy at all. I won´t argue about tanks filled with plastic decoration like skulls and colorized substrate....

But even the ones who don´t use that stuff doesn´t make it any better. Some here keep their Polypterids without any substrate or even places to hide. There are no plants in many tanks and the general idea behind that is, to force the animal into the open water to make it easier to watch it. Those guys forget, that those animals live mostly in relative shallow waters full with plants, wood and stones.

I believe that we should not just keep such animals as decoration for our living rooms. We are responsible for them. I just upload pictures of my polypterus tank and you will see how i keep my P. ornatipinnis.
 
where are the pics??
 
Here they are
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DariusAmurdarja said:
I clicked through some topics here and watched pictures of the tanks that some users here keep their polypterids in. I must say what i saw doesn´t make me happy at all. I won´t argue about tanks filled with plastic decoration like skulls and colorized substrate....

But even the ones who don´t use that stuff doesn´t make it any better. Some here keep their Polypterids without any substrate or even places to hide. There are no plants in many tanks and the general idea behind that is, to force the animal into the open water to make it easier to watch it. Those guys forget, that those animals live mostly in relative shallow waters full with plants, wood and stones.

I believe that we should not just keep such animals as decoration for our living rooms. We are responsible for them. I just upload pictures of my polypterus tank and you will see how i keep my P. ornatipinnis.
Click to expand...

First off, welcome to MFK. I can see how your thread is rubbing some members the wrong way. Believe me when I say there are tons of members here who have incredibly impressive bichir collections, some of which use substrate and some of which do not. I should be offended but am not as inexperience/newbie is written all over your thread. I am not responsible for my bichirs because I don't use substrate? Let me tell you -- I take care and love my bichirs. I put them in the biggest tank i can afford, overfilter my tanks, do water changes twice a week, feed them high quality foods such as tilapia, mysis shrimp, krill, hikari pellets etc. Please do more research and learn the different schools of thought. One is not better than the other... there are pros and cons to each. I personally do not use substrate as I believe in the home aquaria bichirs tend to swallow the substrate that can lead to complications. Bare bottom is also easier to clean... especially when you have many bichirs in one tank. I have found that a large group of bichers do very well in tanks with minimal decorations. The more bichers, the calmer they are. I also don't like to use stones/lava rock because bichirs can be skittish and can cause major damage to the bichirs. The other school of thought saids it's more natural, bichers like to "dig", and hiding places/decorations allows the bichir to act more naturally. One of the stickies explains these natural behaviors in detail (written by cohazard).

BTW, I like your tank. How large is it? planning on upgrading in the future? Adding more bichirs? It must be lonely -- all by itself. best of luck.
 
So your hands on experience is a lone small to mid sized Ornate?
When you are housing a number of LARGE Bichirs (say of the 50cm+) then maybe you will understand the lack of planted tanks.

Most of my large tanks with large (and medium to small) Bichirs have rocks, and wood and substrate, but plants no thanks won't last a day.
 
framcosco said:
First off, welcome to MFK. I can see how your thread is rubbing some members the wrong way. Believe me when I say there are tons of members here who have incredibly impressive bichir collections, some of which use substrate and some of which do not. I should be offended but am not as inexperience/newbie is written all over your thread. I am not responsible for my bichirs because I don't use substrate? Let me tell you -- I take care and love my bichirs. I put them in the biggest tank i can afford, overfilter my tanks, do water changes twice a week, feed them high quality foods such as tilapia, mysis shrimp, krill, hikari pellets etc. Please do more research and learn the different schools of thought. One is not better than the other... there are pros and cons to each. I personally do not use substrate as I believe in the home aquaria bichirs tend to swallow the substrate that can lead to complications. Bare bottom is also easier to clean... especially when you have many bichirs in one tank. I have found that a large group of bichers do very well in tanks with minimal decorations. The more bichers, the calmer they are. I also don't like to use stones/lava rock because bichirs can be skittish and can cause major damage to the bichirs. The other school of thought saids it's more natural, bichers like to "dig", and hiding places/decorations allows the bichir to act more naturally. One of the stickies explains these natural behaviors in detail (written by cohazard).

BTW, I like your tank. How large is it? planning on upgrading in the future? Adding more bichirs? It must be lonely -- all by itself. best of luck.
Click to expand...

I feel sad for your fish bro, get it a better tank and more darker environment places, its too bright for it.
 
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