Bichir (Polypterus/Dragonfish/Etc.) Experiences..

[Hypostomus]

I'm trying to create a little fountain of knowledge for myself on these fish, and I thought I would post this up so that any bichir owners can post what their experience was. It would be very helpful if you mentioned what kind of tank you kept yours in, what species it was, who its tankmates were, and what you fed it. I've been looking at some profile sites, but personal experiences really mean more to me.

Some of the ones in particular that I was looking at are:

Polypterus delhezi (Armored Bichir)
Polypterus ansorgii (Guinean Bichir)
Polypterus palmas (Marbled or Short-Fin Bichir)
-- Polypterus palmas polli (Polli Marbled Bichir)
-- Polypterus palmas buettikoferi (Marbled Buettikoferi Bichir)

I was attempting to stay away from the larger Polypterus species at the moment, at least as far as my own interest goes. Feel free to share about them too if you feel like it. =o)

 

[Fruitbat]

I've personally kept Polypterus senegalus, P. delhezi, P. ornatipinnis, P. palmas palmas, and Erpetopoichthys malabaricus. I kept the P. senegalus in a 55 gallon with various species of Ctenopoma and Synodontis. The other Polypterids were all kept in a 450 gallon 'biotope' tank with African MudFish (Phractolaemus), Congo Tetras (Phenacogrammus interruptus), African Butterfly Fish (Pantodon buchholzi), a few 'kribensis'-type cichlids (Pelvicachromis sp.) and some various types of African riverine catfish like Parauchenoglanis.

I found that the Polypterids would readily feast on pellet-type foods (not algae pellets), frozen beef heart, frozen uncooked shrimp pieces, earthworms and the occasional small feeder fish. They were all happy and healthy for a period of nearly 5 years until I decided to leave the aquarium 'hobby' for a while and took down all of my tanks. They all went to good homes.

 

[Hypostomus]

Huh. I read that P. senegalus gets very large-- how big did it get in the 5 years you had it?

 

[Fruitbat]

Polypterus senegalus senegalus isn't one of the REALLY big Polypterids...in fact....it is one of the smaller ones. They only get to about 18 inches or so....mine were about 15 inches when I got rid of them. After the first year or so their growth rate really slows down, in my experience.

P. ornatipinnis and P. enderlichi are among the larger ones that are kept in home aquaria.

 

[Andydg]

I've never owned one so the only experience I've had with them are the babies we have at work, but I do have a http://www.fishtanksandponds.com/polypterus.htm

 

[Christmasfish]

http://www.imageevent.com/codomo?n=0

THIS dude has killer pics of most species.. Though I go to Andy's site too (not you AndySG...the tanks and ponds Andy. Heh)
and real time size comparisons