My Bichirs!

FishBeast

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Today I received my first ever online order of live fish. I bought them through The Wet Spot in Portland. Just wanted to share some pics, especially of my 2 wild caught bichir - an Endlicheri and a palmas palmas!
 
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DMD123

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I gave them a 10 minute salt dip at 30 PPT to knock off parasites and they are now in quarantine.
The Wet Spot is a great place to order from, and you picked some good poly's. The volta endli will look really good when it settles in. You are prepared to house it? You are dealing with a poly that will easily hit 18" and being that its a wc could get 20-22" with no problem.

I love the palmas palmas. I sold mine when I went hardcore big lower jaw poly. My endli is a beast and the small upper jaws would not have faired well.

Looks like you are feeding the poly Hikari sinking carnivore? That is a good choice to fatten them up.

Great pics, cant wait to see the volta when it settles in!
 

FishBeast

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The Wet Spot is a great place to order from, and you picked some good poly's. The volta endli will look really good when it settles in. You are prepared to house it? You are dealing with a poly that will easily hit 18" and being that its a wc could get 20-22" with no problem.

I love the palmas palmas. I sold mine when I went hardcore big lower jaw poly. My endli is a beast and the small upper jaws would not have faired well.

Looks like you are feeding the poly Hikari sinking carnivore? That is a good choice to fatten them up.

Great pics, cant wait to see the volta when it settles in!
Thank you! Yes, I have a 210G waiting for them when they get bigger. I also have the lapradei, ornate and the "runt" albino senegal all going in to that tank. And in case that gets tight, I did have the go ahead from my wife to build a standalone "fish complex" on the property... In which case I am probably going with a large concrete tank in the 1500 - 2000 gallon range as a built-in feature of that room!

And you are correct! That is indeed Hikari sinking carnivore! I didn't want to feed them for the first 24 hours in QT but they were so cute and seemed to beg me for it ;) Thankfully they ate 2 pellets each! I also give the others frozen blood worms and Hikari algae wafers in addition to the "meat" pellets.

I cannot wait until these guys grow like your fish! I have to thank you again for the recommendations and suggestions on these fish. I am really smitten by bichir!!
 

DMD123

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Awesome, you have a 210g available. That was the size I had before the 300.

Watch size differences in polys when putting young ones together make sure the smaller ones are at least 3/4 the size of the bigger ones at this stage and they need to have girth. They can be very cannibalistic at this stage... seen some pretty impressive poly eating other poly on MFK forums!
 

DMD123

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I know its hard to see at this point with the stress colors on that endli but it will be nice.

Here are some pics of a volta also from Wet Spot. This one is owned by a buddy of mine. So yours should color up and the pattern will show.
972250-fc79e1bf8b450294ee1ea298b1c4be8b.jpg

972251-effc0ecd41f9c2655c577e398dd89ec1.jpg
 

FishBeast

Well-Known Member
I know its hard to see at this point with the stress colors on that endli but it will be nice.

Here are some pics of a volta also from Wet Spot. This one is owned by a buddy of mine. So yours should color up and the pattern will show.
972250-fc79e1bf8b450294ee1ea298b1c4be8b.jpg

972251-effc0ecd41f9c2655c577e398dd89ec1.jpg
Beautiful! Love that jutting jaw!
 

FishBeast

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Awesome, you have a 210g available. That was the size I had before the 300.

Watch size differences in polys when putting young ones together make sure the smaller ones are at least 3/4 the size of the bigger ones at this stage and they need to have girth. They can be very cannibalistic at this stage... seen some pretty impressive poly eating other poly on MFK forums!
Good to know! Their grow out tank will be a 125 but as you mentioned that I am worried about the albino as he is only 4 inches. Definitely snack size for these new guys.
 

DMD123

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Beautiful! Love that jutting jaw!
3044622

This is my endli. Wild caught too, but different catch location. Mine is a Dabola (Tinkisso river) nice flat head with that awesome bulldog jaw. From comparison talk of the catch location it seems the voltas seem to generally have the nice thick banding and the dabola/tinkisso have the more flattened head (also seems to be meanest, dont know why?) There is one other I am interested in, they refer to it as a Faranah endli, it is generally not as agressive as the Dabola/Tinkisso, kind of in between the volta and mine for patterning and an even flatter head.

The problem of course is availability. With Toyin at Rehoboth Aquatic pretty much being the only guy who brings them in. And he is hard to deal with. I know from experience since Ive order fish from Wet Spot how well they do. Customer service is outstanding and so is communication. This is one area that is difficult with Toyin he is a busy guy and does not always respond. If you do decide to go hardcore and want even more exotic polys, I would suggest trying: http://unclenedsfishfactory.com/BulletinBoard/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=7197
He gets his polys from Toyin but his customer service is outstanding. The only issue is that he does not keep all in stock and has to order then in.

Lol, I can talk fish all night! I really want to see pics of that volta when it colors up. Another wish list poly for me.
 

FishBeast

Well-Known Member
3044622

This is my endli. Wild caught too, but different catch location. Mine is a Dabola (Tinkisso river) nice flat head with that awesome bulldog jaw. From comparison talk of the catch location it seems the voltas seem to generally have the nice thick banding and the dabola/tinkisso have the more flattened head (also seems to be meanest, dont know why?) There is one other I am interested in, they refer to it as a Faranah endli, it is generally not as agressive as the Dabola/Tinkisso, kind of in between the volta and mine for patterning and an even flatter head.

The problem of course is availability. With Toyin at Rehoboth Aquatic pretty much being the only guy who brings them in. And he is hard to deal with. I know from experience since Ive order fish from Wet Spot how well they do. Customer service is outstanding and so is communication. This is one area that is difficult with Toyin he is a busy guy and does not always respond. If you do decide to go hardcore and want even more exotic polys, I would suggest trying: http://unclenedsfishfactory.com/BulletinBoard/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=7197
He gets his polys from Toyin but his customer service is outstanding. The only issue is that he does not keep all in stock and has to order then in.

Lol, I can talk fish all night! I really want to see pics of that volta when it colors up. Another wish list poly for me.
Looks like Toyin has a website but it's got placeholders galore. Poor customer service is really a turn off for me. I'll take my chances with other dealers for those rare wild-caught ones like yours! Your endli is a handsome fella (or gal?), those beautiful ganoid scales!!
 

DMD123

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@FishBeast, how is the endli doing now? Got it eating? The carnivore pellets and raw tilapia will put size on that guy in no time. New pics.... soon.... lol
 

FishBeast

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@FishBeast, how is the endli doing now? Got it eating? The carnivore pellets and raw tilapia will put size on that guy in no time. New pics.... soon.... lol
He is doing great! Comes to the front of the tank when he sees me and awaits his carnivore pellets! I'll post pics when I get home. He is my biggest bichir at 8" and solidly built. I am worried about him eating my others so they may have to be separated until adult size. Do you just buy tilapia from the store? I have seen some people use the frozen tilapia fillets but I wonder if the preservatives might affect the bichir.
 

DMD123

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I wouldn't worry too much on size if they are pretty close. If the other are around 6" and have some girth you should be okay. Sometimes there will be territorial issues and you will get one dominate fish who can be jerky. a lot of times this is just due to the fact there are not enough polys to spread aggression. So if you are having issue with biting or anything you might consider adding a couple more. Seems like once the count is up to about 5 the issues pretty much disappear.

Yeah, all the hardcore bichir keepers use the frozen tilapia fillets. Seems like Walmart is pretty cheap but even cheaper is Grocery Outlet if you have one nearby. No issues with using them. Make sure the fillets are thawed before feeding and better to cut up in bite sized pieces. Be very careful as to the amount you feed, espically when you put the wild caught in with the captive born. For some reason a lot of captive born bichir do not have a good working 'full' mechanism and will eat till they are bloated. Wild caught seem to be able to stop once they are full. You will learn to gauge the right amount and adjust the amount as they grow. Usually you feed enough to see a little bump. Also best not to feed the tilapia daily. Seems like every other day for tilapia or other meaty food (krill, chopped up silversides, etc) and then pellets on the off days.

Looking forward to the pics!
 
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