Ornate Bichir tank question

[Mothi]

I have posted before that I have a 140g tank that I am setting up for them, but after some thought, I have a few concerns about moving them when they are still so small.

1. Will there be a problem of 4" bichirs trying to breeching the surface of a 24" deep tank? (The water depth may actually be about 18-20" deep after gravel and water line.)
2. Will there be a problem of them finding food? I plan to keep some feeder guppies, ghost shrimps, frozen foods, and pellets. I figure the live foods will be snacks if they don't find the pellets and frozen foods. And the live feeders can clean up left over pellets and frozen foods as well. Any other foods I should consider feeding them?
3. How fast do ornate bichirs grow? For example, how long before they would be about 12"?

So far the plan is:
140g tank
2 250 watt heaters
2 AC filters
1-2" deep gravel (darker natural color)
2 lights (forgot the wattage, but for low light plants)
driftwoods
live plants (java moss, java fern (normal and the fancier one), nana, and african water fern (when and if I find some for sale))

Any other low light plants I should consider?

These little guys are so cute and fun to watch swimming around. Can't wait to see them swimming in a larger tank.

 

[Fruitbat]

Mothi....

When I have small bichirs like that I generally keep them in a smaller tank. My favorite size is a 20 gallon Long because of its length...gives them room to grow. Moving bichirs shouldn't be a problem as long as you acclimate them before dropping them in the new tank.

1) The bichirs won't have any trouble reaching the surface to breathe, though you may see them struggle a little, especially after they've eaten.

2) There may be a problem with them finding food. This is the primary reason that I prefer to use smaller tanks for grow-out. I feed my smaller bichirs the following: frozen or freeze-dried shrimp (krill), frozen bloodworms, frozen beef heart, small frozen silversides, Hikari sinking carnivore pellets, Hikari carnivore sticks, shrimp pellets (only a few of them will eat these) and the occasional feeder fish and/or earthworm.

3) The rate of growth depends on how much they eat. I feed my actively growing bichirs twice a day. Once they have reached a certain point their growth rate will slow down noticeably. Then I switch over to once every other day to keep them svelte and healthy. You can expect a well-fed, actively growing Polypterus ornatipinnis to add 1 - 2 inches per month.

As for plants...though I like to stick to plants that are from the same basic area as my fish, I always include Water Sprite (an Asian aquatic fern) in my bichir tanks. It grows like a weed, even at light levels less than 2 wpg and will grow either planted in the substrate or floating at the surface. I've found that my smaller bichirs like to squirm into the stuff at the surface and rest there occasionally.

Hope this helps!

 

[Toirtis]

What joe said, and I will add to the diet ideas: Frozen mysids shrimp, bits of frozen krill, frozen tubifex worms.