My bichirs are growing really slow

[BichirChick]

I have had a Senegal and a “gold dust” bichir for about a year now and they are still pretty small. The Senegal has grown from a little baby to about 5” or so, and he out grown the gold dust in circumference and length even though the gold one was bigger originally when I got him. The gold one is about 4” now but he hides a lot, and he’s a scared little b so he might not be eating that much. The Senegal eats like a little pig though. Despite this, from reading what others have said on this site, it seems like they are both well behind the curve for growth for being about a year old right? They are fed bloodworms, and pellets and some flake food are also put into the tank for the tank mates in there. The other ones are a dwarf frog, a ghost catfish, and one Columbian tetra. They are all grown and all about 3” long max, except the bichirs. It’s a 55 gallon tank, so not overcrowded. If these bichirs are not growing as they should, does anyone have any idea of what to do to make them grow faster? I want them to be the size of my forearm.

 

[Hendre]

What pellets are you feeding? How much of what how often? Water changes?

Captive bred senegals may not grow to forearm size, but 8" is the least to be expected...

 

[kno4te]

Try feeding a varied diet and increasing ur water changes to several times a week. But this somewhat expected especially with upper jaws. Wouldn’t worry too much. This about the long game with Senegalus and gold dust.

 

[Steve_C]

Lost of WC's, good quality food twice per day, and raised temp and they will grow faster. I picked up two 3" sen's to go with my del's about 7 weeks ago and growing them out in a 10g tank till they are big enough to go in the main tank with the 11" del's. I have got them to go from 3" to 5" in just 7 weeks. In their 10g grow out tank I do 80% WC every 2-3 days, I feed them Omega One Shrimp pellets twice per day (about 6-8 pellets each feeding) and the temp in the tank is 81-82f. With doing that I can almost see them getting bigger by the week.

 

[BichirChick]

What pellets are you feeding? How much of what how often? Water changes?

Captive bred senegals may not grow to forearm size, but 8" is the least to be expected...

They eat bloodworms in the morning and then have some sinking pellets at night.
Water changes are changes are 50% every week. How long would it take to get about 8” then? And the gold one?

 

[BichirChick]

Lost of WC's, good quality food twice per day, and raised temp and they will grow faster. I picked up two 3" sen's to go with my del's about 7 weeks ago and growing them out in a 10g tank till they are big enough to go in the main tank with the 11" del's. I have got them to go from 3" to 5" in just 7 weeks. In their 10g grow out tank I do 80% WC every 2-3 days, I feed them Omega One Shrimp pellets twice per day (about 6-8 pellets each feeding) and the temp in the tank is 81-82f. With doing that I can almost see them getting bigger by the week.

Ok, I will try the shrimp. The water stays pretty clean, not many fish in the tank. The only thing about the water in AZ is that it is hard water... but we put a little aquarium salt in it. Whatever the package says per gallon. Not sure if that is effecting them at all.

 

[Steve_C]

It's not so much about the water being clean or not, there's just something about the large WC's that seem to stimulate faster growth in juvenile fish. Not sure what it is (maybe someone who knows that can chime in) but even with good parameters the large frequent WC's just help to jump start growth rate.

 

[Hendre]

It's not so much about the water being clean or not, there's just something about the large WC's that seem to stimulate faster growth in juvenile fish. Not sure what it is (maybe someone who knows that can chime in) but even with good parameters the large frequent WC's just help to jump start growth rate.

Nitrates, too much and it can stunt growth.

They eat bloodworms in the morning and then have some sinking pellets at night.
Water changes are changes are 50% every week. How long would it take to get about 8” then? And the gold one?

My sens have grown 3-3.5" in 8 months so far. Just pellets about 5-7 times a week

 

[BichirChick]

It's not so much about the water being clean or not, there's just something about the large WC's that seem to stimulate faster growth in juvenile fish. Not sure what it is (maybe someone who knows that can chime in) but even with good parameters the large frequent WC's just help to jump start growth rate.

That’s crazy I didn’t know that!

 

[BichirChick]

Nitrates, too much and it can stunt growth.


My sens have grown 3-3.5" in 8 months so far. Just pellets about 5-7 times a week

What pellets do you use? There’s pretty much no nitrates, the water parameters are good, it’s just the hard AZ water and then with that I am not sure it is an issue. It isn’t a new tank either, been around a bit and fish have come and gone. I mean the Senegal is growing, after months of seeming to not grow, just at a slower rate than what other people on here seem to be noticing with their own bichirs. The gold one is a little pansy and likes to hide and probs doesn’t eat because of that. I don’t get that either because at one point he was the biggest thing in there. The other fish in there are community fish- no aggression.