well since i got my bichir things have been going well. no one is attacking him and he isnt attacking anyone else either. ive noticed that my bichir spends most of its time at the very top of the tank and then dive bombs into the gravel. ive also noticed that one of its "antennae" poking out of its nose is shorter than the other and when it swims it gets pushed back against its head. is this going to be a big problem in teh future?

The "antennas" are nasal tubercles, they are actually his nostrils! they are very sensitive to touch as well as scent and bichirs normally use them to investigate objects in their tanks, and even other tank mates.

If the bichir is listless at the surface it would indicate an internal bacterial infection in this fish and the dive bombs are an attempt to get to the bottom of the tank. Or if hes doing it in his own power etc. hes fine andjust exploring, most bichirs are rather lazy but some are real adventurers, and i really hope that it is the latter in your case as your trying so hard to get it right

it seems like hes doing ti under his own power and ive seen him resting on teh bottom for like 10 minutes at a time but more often than not hes swimming around at teh top. are there any visible signs of internal parasites? ill be keeping a close eye on him. i think it may be looking for food as all its eaten since sunday is a few shrimp pellets. i picked up some tuffies today for him.

is the nostril thing going to be a problem when its hunting etc?

UPDATE- i put in 4 tuffies. my festivum ate at least 2 and there is one left. it is dead but no one has eaten it yet.

The two biggest signs of intoernal bacteria is sudden bloating, and the inability to stay at the bottom/or maintain a correct swimming posture. Internal parasites is a sudden wasting away fo the body adn the occasional parasite in its waste.

Thetubercles should not hinder this fish at all, i have rescued one from a gt (a p. senegaulus) which had no eyes, no tubercles, three missing dorsals and 1.5 pectoral fins and the scary thing is hes the most efficient bichir ive had at hunting

ok. thank you oddball. i doubt it is internal parasites because he can stay at the bottom.

No worries, its what im here for (as well as something to point and laugh at lol) :insane:

glad to hear you got your new bichir fishy411!!! hope this one turns out for the best!

let me know how it goes-
shnitzels@hotmail.com

ps, your bichir is 'investigating depths' now because it is at an age of exploring the use of its second swim bladder which aids as both a lung in adult and juvenile specimens, and as a floatation device also- mine started to display similar behaviour at around 12-18cm. now they swim wherever they like most agilly,
enjoy the fish- it dont get much better than bichirs

ok now im kind of worried. Does anyone have a picture of a bichir right after feeding? i fed it a few feeders late last night. i dont know how many it got but it could have been all 3 because his stomach is bulgy. he also swims funny. instead of using his fins he sort of twists back and forth like his equilibrium is off. i havent seen him at the bottom for awhile and sometimes he just sits at the top and brings his head down like hes gonna swim to the bottom. is there medicine to treat an internal bacteria infection and is it safe with other fish. it may take a while to treat because ive got some pims in the tanks

cut your losses if youve had the fish less than a few days- return it! explain its behavior from day one- and to prove it you can print out this thread wich conveiently spots dates and times! if its not a petsmart im sure they will understand? you have bloat my friend- i suspected it but hopped it wasnt so!!! you seem to have terrible luck with bichirs, maybe its time to either switch species of bichir or switch fish altogether? this is all up to you of course. oddball picked it first, logic does always win ! im really sorry fishy411 i was SO PUMPed WHEN YOU GOT YOUR NEW FISH, SERIOUSLY MAN... not just jerking your chain, i really was. hope it turns out for ya.

well my LFS is evidently run by assholes. i called them up and exp;ained teh situation and they said they dont take back fish after 2 days. his stomach is much smaller than before so im hoping that he just ate a lot of teh feeders. hes starting to use his fins again but still has that little twisting motion when he tries to swim really fast. hes still stayin at teh top but doesnt seem to be making much of an effort to reach teh gravel. he swims about 3/4 of teh way down then swims at that level than goes back up. are there any cures for bloat or internal bacteria? any medicine? or should i just do some water changes? ill keep monitoring him and give u guys updates as much as i can.

ive read treating for ich or using malachite green works. true?

ich is an external, so unfortunately no, im not sure wht kind of tempreature range a senegalis can handle as ive never studied up on them, but with most other fish (providing it IS indeed an internal parasite) you can kill the parasite off by raising the temp to or above 29, in conjunction with little to no food at all (so you dont feed the parasite, or add to the gut tie) for at least 4 days. IF it is not a parasite and merely poor digestion due to the feeding of processed foods, overfeeding, or inheritly bad digestive tract via poor genetics of the fish, all of these problems would be solved by the same meathod, ill explain: your fish is cold blooded, therefore like a reptile (and beleive me they are) they require heat to get their digestive liquids working, if the heat is higher and you dont feed during this period your fish will clear his/her digestive system and bowls over the 3-5day period perfectly (i recomend a small feed on night 3, and night 4 thereafter reduce feeding to this amount for at least a couple weeks) if it is a parasite, youll find with a little research that most of the freshwater parasites found in or on aquarium fish cannot survive over 29celcius!- combine this with a modest handful/20gal non-iodised cooking salts and you have a cure for white spot that also guaranteed!- good luck mate
agezONE- the unstoppable

ps in future provide a 'starvation day' once per week to let the animal clear its system, i do this with ALL my animals (besides my dog). in the wild NOTHING eats everyday, in fact not much eats more than three times a week- but this is a little extream- also try to imagine the size of your fishes stomache, then feed 2/3 that mass in foods. good luck man.

i usually feed the bichir eveyr other day but my family seems to think it needs to eat everyday. i say " do u think it eats everyday in the wild" but they ignore me. ill show them this to get them to lay off. my tank is around 80 degrees right now so i dont know how much hotter it can get.

thanls for the help agez and oddball

I use the esha anti bacterial treatment, but bloat is normally brought around by poor water conditions or sudden system shock, did the tank parameters vary a lot?

it may have varied from teh LFS to my tank but i acclimated him for like 45 minutes. ill do a wc and clean out teh tank today and see what happens. its almost like my bichirs getting better, then worse, and is having spikes in its health