What poly species did I buy today..?

[Mighty Wizard]

Obviously it's very hard to say exactly how much bigger it'll get, but it does look like a more or less grown poly; it seems to have "filled out" so to speak and it doesn't have that juvenile look to it. I don't think it'll grow much more, but as it stands, that's really just a wild guess. It really depends on exactly which species it's crossed with, whether it has been fed properly growing up, and whether it actually is grown. It could be only halfway to monster.

The fish should go fine together with your senegals, in my experience upper-jaws are fine together with other bichirs of half their size and even smaller. Of course it could still be that it's an aggressive individual but that remains to be seen.

That really is one of the most beautiful bichirs I've ever seen, it really has that "dinosaur" look.

 

[Mighty Wizard]

Actually as twentyleagues mentioned it is somewhat reminiscent of a Delhezi, as such it might be possible that it's a del x other UJ hybrid, in which case it probably won't get much bigger.

Pictures from above would actually really help in determining whether it's a delhezi hybrid.

 

[Dragon2]

Turns out it is not that easy taking a 'top-shot'

Best I can do ATM:

Does that help?

Hmm these Delhezi look like the bluetongue skinks I used to have! LOL
https://nl.pinterest.com/pin/363595369894918567/
https://nl.pinterest.com/pin/832743787320317140/

 

[thefredpit]

to be honest I'm a little jealous

 

[Vancouver_98683]

There are no bad guesses when identifying these type of polypterids, just only wrong ones. Nice grab on this polypterus!

 

[Mighty Wizard]

Woah yup definitely Delhezi hybrid. Head shape is just right. It's probably crossed with another upper-jaw species judging from the jaw lenght. In the previous pictures it also seems to have well developed neck muscles, despite being rather skinny, which is also typical of delhezi.

Figuring out the other half is trickier. Is it as brown as in the pictures? I can only think of a few brown upper jaw species, and the ones with few dorsal finlets are pretty much excluded. I suppose that leaves P. Palmas Buettikoferi, P. Weeksii, P Retropinnis, and possibly Teugelsi or Mokelembembe. Maaaaybe Senegalus.

I think you can be pretty confident that it's a Delhezi x something at least. Might even be a purebred del with unusual colors. Do post some more pics once it fattens up and settles in.

 

[Vancouver_98683]

These types of CB Lapradei are prevalent in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, India, and Phillipines. It is evident from the amount of hobbyists share on the social media outlets.

 

[Mighty Wizard]

It's either a Delhezi, or a Delhezi hybrid, I'm absolutely positive. Let me show you exactly why...


That's literally the only Lapradei I could find online that looks remotely like OP's Bichir. It looks captive bred, and although its lower jaw is small and the colours faded, it's easily recognizable as a Lapradei. I don't think it looks like OP's fish at all. If someone can find a better match then please share.

Now, here are some pictures of OP's fish compared to similar(ish) laps, and delhezis. Lap on top, OP fish in middle and Del bottom, and another tilted Lap in right corner:


The shape of the jaw, head, finlets, eyes, and body, as well as overall proportions are consistent with a male Delhezi, albeit a skinny one. After it has gained some healthy weight it should very much have the body shape of a Delhezi. Really, the only thing that stands out is colour and pattern, but even so the "texture" looks very similar in OP's fish and Delhezi, high contrasting, almost hard or grainy, while PBB and PBL seem to have a much softer and low-contrast texture, especially on light/faded colour specimen.

Lastly, what makes me absolutely certain that there's some serious Delhezi going on here, namely the shape of the head, as viewed from above:


Top three are two Lapradeis and an Endlicheri, middle one is OP's fish, and bottom three are Delhezi. You'll note that OP's fish matches the distinctive arrow shape seen in the Delhezi. The head is long with straight sides as viewed from above. The tip of the jaws, or mouth, is very narrow compared to other Polys, and almost square shaped. This is uniform in P. Delhezi, and that exact shape only occurs in P. Delhezi. While other species might have similarly shaped heads, I've yet to see any other species with such a clearly defined arrow-head shape. It really is consistent in Delhezi and seemingly exclusive to them. The heads of lower-jaw species always terminate in a U-shape, and quite obviously so in the P. Bichir Bichir group.

Either you see it or you don't. Judge for yourself I guess.

And OP please post more pictures of that lovely, enigmatic fish

 

[Hao]

Thank for the help so far

I didn't clean the tank yet for fear of stressing him more. He is showing more pattern today:

From these pictures, I'm 100% sure it's a captive bred Lapradei.

 

[Hao]

Here are pictures of my old CB lap back in 2010. Headshape might not look the same but you get the idea.
When I first got it (Looks like your typical lapradei)

few months later