Bichir breeding

[herp_mommy]

Does anybody know what Bichir eggs look like? A sack like thing came out of my female Bichir. Don't know if it's an egg sack or what. It's pale yellow and it looks like there's round eggs inside.

 

[meegosh]

My buddy bred some years ago and from what I remember they were bigger than angel or cichlid eggs. I don't remember seeing them in a sack or anything like that though. He had a few on a piece of slate.

Sorry I'm not much help, you could try google images if you want to see some.

 

[toddnbecka]

That sounds like an ovary, not an egg sack. Pics would be helpful. Bichers are rarely bred in captivity, but when they are they're large adult fish kept in ponds from what I've read. Ornate bichers produce live young.

 

[meegosh]

Bichers are rarely bred in captivity, but when they are they're large adult fish...

I think it happens more often than you think. I specifically remember my buddy's, which was probably 8" or so long at the time.

 

[herp_mommy]

here's a picture. It's about 3/8" long. She's still young, about 5" so maybe she's just now hitting puberty and isn't mature enough to produce viable eggs?

 

[Aquatic_Adam]

Is it a senegalus? Those seem to be the easiest to breed in captivity. I got a nice book called Jurrasic Fishes 'selection-care-behavior' that includes a section on bichir breeding. It seems as though the eggs don't come out in sacks but rather individual eggs that can loosely adhere to gravel, plants, etc. So...from that alone I'd say no but this book is slightly dated.

 

[herp_mommy]

Yeah, they're both senegalus. The male has been tickling the female with his nose and always follows her

 

[Aquatic_Adam]

Yeah it shows a behavior similar to that in the book. It talks about a male will follow the female for hours or even days. Do you have any other bichirs? Just seeing if the males were getting aggressive or not. So it's really a guess here. Seems they are portraying breeding behavior, but I don't know about the sack...

 

[Aquatic_Adam]

If I were you I'd play it like it was an egg. Better to have taken the chance to get a baby bichir than to lose it!

 

[herp_mommy]

just one male and one female. I'll just keep an eye on the sack thing and see what happens