Make sure to do weekly or biweekly partial water changes on your tank so that new water is adding nutrients while removing any nutrient buildup. They should never be trusted in a tank where they can easily eat their tank mates. Other than being wary of their diet, the dinosaur bichir is actually a very active species of fish for its size.
They like to push themselves along the bottom of the aquarium with their pectoral fins and will often be seen going to the surface of the water to breathe. However, it is not unheard of to slowly acclimate a bichir to become more present in the tank during the day.
So if bichirs are likely to eat any other fish that is kept with them, can you get tank mates for your dinosaur bichir tank?
Yes, you can! Good tankmates include other bichirs, knife fish, oscar fish, Jack Demspey fish, and flowerhorn cichlids. Feel free to add as many easy or hard freshwater plants as you want to your bichir tank!
Because bichirs are carnivorous fish, they need a diet filled with a variety of high protein food; their diet is what makes them more difficult than other freshwater fish as the typical fish flake and pellet will not ensure good bichir health.
However, some bichir keepers have had luck supplementing cichlid pellets. Bichirs need a large assortment of living, frozen, and freeze-dried food, such as bloodworms , shrimp, brine shrimp, earthworms, and other small fish.
While the dinosaur bichir is a nocturnal fish species, it is possible to change when they eat. At first, offer food shortly after the tank lights go out. Continue changing this time to a little earlier each day until the food is accepted at a suitable hour.
Though this may work for your own convenience, it is still highly recommended to allow your dinosaur bichir to eat at its natural nocturnal feeding time. Also, remember that your dinosaur bichir does not have good eyesight. You may drop the food into the middle of the tank and your fish will surely find it by using its sense of smell to scan the water. Breeding dinosaur bichirs in a home tank setting is unheard of, though it has been achieved at the professional level.
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The ornate bichir is a very large and interesting looking fish. They can grow to reach two feet in length and have a neat yellow base color on their bodies. Scattered throughout the yellow are black flecks that get closer together on their spiny dorsal fins. The saddled bichir Polypterus endlicheri is massive. These fish can reach two and a half feet in length which makes them the largest type of bichir without a doubt.
One different feature of the endlicheri bichir is their protruding lower jaw. The delhezi bichir has the typical shape and size of other bichirs. The biggest feature that makes this type stand out is their interesting color patterns. The average bichir fish size is between This wide range is determined primarily by the type of bichir you get. Other factors like care and genetics influence this as well.
Bichir care is not exceptionally difficult, but there are some things you need to be aware of. On the bright side, these are hardy fish. There is a fairly generous range of water parameters that any semi-experienced aquarist should be able to maintain. On the other hand, there are behavioral and dietary considerations that make them a little more time-intensive. All in all, we think this evens out to make bichir care moderate in terms of difficulty.
If you really want one, you should be able to handle it if you stick to our recommendations below! The minimum recommended tank size for these fish is around 90 gallons for one.
The size of these fish and their activity level means they need ample room so they can swim and feel comfortable. There are a lot of owners who have kept bichir in tanks as small as 40 gallons but we disagree with this approach. While they might survive we always recommend that you give your fish the optimal habitat for them to be happy and healthy.
Bichir are pretty hardy and can survive in a fairly wide range of water parameters. With that being said, there is a recommended window that you should aim for if you want them to be as healthy as possible. Even though bichir can get their oxygen from the surface you should always perform regular water changes and monitor the levels in your aquarium with a test kit.
Being consistent with this will ensure that they live a long healthy life. One of the nice things about bichir is that they do well with a variety of habitat decorations.
We highly recommend a sandy substrate for bichir. Senegal Bichirs can endure extremely poor water conditions because they have many ways to counter their problems.
But as responsible pet owners, we should always spare no effort to make their new home habitable as it can ever be. Before anything else, do Bichirs need a filter and an air pump? This question has been asked quite a lot. For the most part, yes. Even if you already have an air stone, I recommend you use a sponge filter, as it provides biological filtration in addition to aeration.
You may also use a powerhead with a timer to blow the poop around, reducing it to bits that your filter can suck it up. Senegal Bichirs will be happy swimming in soft water with pH levels between 6 and 8.
Perform partial water changes each week and monitor the water parameters of your aquarium regularly using a test kit. Be proactive and handle anything that might seem out of their ordinary. The macrogyrodactylus polypteri is a host-specific ectoparasitic flatworm that likes to target bichirs. These nasty worms appear like fine hair strands attached to the skin, gills, and fins of the Dinosaur Fish. If your pet is infected , you will need to remove the substrate and soak it in boiled water.
In doing so, it kills the worms and larvae that have laid dormant among the sand. While waiting for the substrate to cool down, you will need to treat the bare bottom tank with a dose of an external parasite medicine. Formaldehyde will work best, but I recommend it only if you have the experience.
Otherwise, you might exceed the dose and kill your Dinosaur Fish immediately. Another strategy is to relocate your bichir to a quarantine tank. One of the best things you can do for a Dinosaur Bichir is to make sure it is being housed safely and comfortably. Some owners have kept their Bichirs in a gallon tank, but I completely disagree with this. Senegal Bichirs may grow to reach 20 inches in length.
The ideal Dinosaur Bichir tank size is 90 gallons for one fish. Make it gallons if you plan on keeping a pair. If you wish to add several large, compatible species in the future, then you will definitely need the largest tank possible.
You do not want to come home finding your Bichir sprawled across your floor, do you? So, it is important to have a close-fitting lid that this mighty aquatic dinosaur cannot push open. Senegal Bichirs are obligate breathers.
While these guys love to hang out in the bottom, they need to swim towards the surface every so often. Therefore, you will want to leave a few inches of space between the waterline and the lid. So when your pet surfaces for air, it cannot push the lids right off the aquarium and wander around. Bichirs are not too fussed about the aquascape. So, you are free to express your creativity in your underwater garden.
But because these guys can grow so long, it is best to keep decorations to a minimum and focus more on vegetation, particularly floating plants. Dense planting is useful, as it provides cover from light and serves as a refuge for your fish. Do not use gravel. A few years ago, a fellow aquarist made a grave mistake of using gravel as the substrate and by doing so caused his pets to die. Bichirs may accidentally swallow the tiny pebbles when picking up food, causing fatal blockages.
Many species of nocturnal fish, like the Dinosaur Bichir, get startled when the lighting of the room quickly changes from dark to light. These fish may swim around at full speed and hurt themselves, especially when there are plenty of decorations. That said, you may want to get blue LED lighting for your tank. Also known as moonlights or lunar lighting, these lights make the transition rather easy for your fish. The ambient blue light also simulates natural moonlight, thereby encouraging your nocturnal Bichir to stay more active even during the day.
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