upgrading bichir tank soon. can i mix upper and lower jaws?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
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XRAYZ

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 23, 2005
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Tucson, AZ
i am going to be upgrading to a 224 gallon acrylic tank with a footprint of 72"L 30W , 24H. it will have a built in overflow and a 56g sump 36x20x18.

my question is..... can i add a lap and endi to my collection? i already have most of the upper jaw sp. and i will be adding a buettikoferi too. i know some people have them together when they are similiar size but i will not be upgrading again or doing multiple big tanks probably for several years. so my real question is will they be okay together for life (full grown)?

my current stock.
2 senegal, 1 albino sen, 1 weeksii, 1 polli, 1 del, 1 retro(moke?), 1 ornate

could i add?
1 buett, 1 lap, 1 endi ...... in a 224G for life?
 
I would not see why you could not....I have an Ornate, and an Endi, and 2 Palmus together, and my Endi & Ornate are far bigger than the 2 Palmus.

I also have a Welksii and a Delhizi, and a Short Bodied Albino Sengalis together....They all are doing just fine! The more the better!!!

Jen ;)
 
As long as the size difference is not to big, then yeah. But remember, bichir have large mouths. So on the long term it's not adviseble.
 
you should be fine just like everyone else said the size is keyy..so watch that..
 
224g should hold your bichirs fine for quite some time... and like what everyone else is saying, size similarity is the key to keeping a sucessful poly community! :thumbsup: GL and enjoy!
 
agree upper/lower jaw doesnt matter when it comes to mixing, as long as sizes are compatible. by compatible im not saying they all have to be roughly the same size, as long as no one is small enough to be swallowed or harassed, you should be fine.

btw looking at your current list, the albino senegal needs to get bigger in order to stay with the endlicheri in a tank for life. and the reason i single this out is because sometimes albino senegals don't get to their promised size of 10"-12" due to possibly overbreeding/inbreeding by the farms (and regular senegals are to an extent susceptible to this too)
 
lower jaw bichirs grow quite bigger compare to lower jaw species, there is a risk of one eating another bichir, make sure there are lots of hiding places, base on CDM and Infblue observation aggression tends to lower as the community of bichir grows, hope this helps
 
more the merrier, i also would like some lower jaw bichirs but i feel my 120g is already full.
 
Mixing upper and lower jaw bichirs should be ok, as long as they are quite equal in size, and IMHO another thing you should give an extra attention is do they all get the food you give them, because all polys have different characters, even the same species. Some eat slow, and some eats like there's no tomorrow. That's about it from me
cheers
 
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