Senegal bichir?

[Fish king]

What is the smallest size fish that I can keep with these guys without them becoming a midnight snack


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[grode15]

You could probably put it with any fish that it can't fit in its mouth.

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[Fish king]

How much fish can it put in its mouth inches


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[Luananeko]

Normally people say to avoid any fish half the fish's length or smaller, but that breaks down a bit on eel-like fish. The shape of the fish you're keeping with it is more important than their length. Long torpedo like fish (such as danios) are going to fit in it's mouth more easily than tall fish (such as Red Blue Colombian tetras).

As a general rule, I'd stick to taller fish that are 5"+ long to avoid tempting an adult Bichir. It doesn't matter if the fish can actually fit in it's mouth, it matters what the Bichir thinks will fit. Plenty of them have choked on fish that were too big to swallow.

 

[warfish123]

In my experience with them fish that will fit are a no no! But also take In to consideration if it can catch it then it is going to try and eat it. Better to just house them with larger preds that won't be targets.

 

[Fish king]

I have Africans so they are pretty quick


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[aqua_holic]

African cichlids would most certainly kill the bichir. They are easily bullied.

 

[Fish king]

They are in the African tank at the store and it has been fine the last week


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[Fish king]

I have not taken it home yet they are holding it for me at the store


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[Mitch_Wilson]

I'm going to second not putting the Bichir in with Africans. I learned this the hard way, added 3 Africans to the tank that the Bichir was in, he was almost 8" long and they still bullied him to death (bullied him into a corner where he got stuck and killed himself ) However when he was smaller he was in a tank with about six cardinal tetras and he managed to gut all of them within a day and they were almost as long as he was at that point, so they don't necessarily need to eat a fish whole to kill it

 

[Fish king]

Thanks I'll look at other options


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[aqua_holic]

Then go ahead. But in my experience keeping bichirs, they are easily bullied by mean fish.

 

[Fish king]

I meant look in to new fish options


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[Fish king]

In other words I'm taking your advice


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[aqua_holic]

I'm sorry I started that post before you had posted and the site was crashing on me so I couldn't change it.

 

[Fish king]

Those are nice looking pics they are definitely one of my favorite fish


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[aqua_holic]

Thank you. They're great for an oddball tank. I'm looking to add another, or perhaps a group of rope fish.

 

[Fish king]

Can they live with medium Africans I don't have any massive ones


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[sinibotia]

No, they really don't get along with mean fish. In general, don't put anything not an african cichlid with african cichlids. Even if they aren't big enough to bully him, then that just means theyre small enough to be eaten...

 

[Fish king]

That sucks I was looking forward to it


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