BREADWORMS
- Thread starter jardiniarokeep
- Start date
I'm assuming they are mealworms. If that is the case, yes they can eat them.
Just a few things to take note
Just a few things to take note
- Never feed them to juvenile bichirs, they would have problems digesting
- Feed only those which just recently shed their hard and tough shell [Look for those with lighter colour]
- Try to make them bite-sized by cutting if possible, avoid the possibility of choking.
^^ a bichir choke? That's kinda funny because its impossible. The bread or meal worms will be just fine, I wouldn't use it as the only food though. And don't worrying about going through them, bichirs eat crayfish in the wild, I'm sure they can take on whatever these guys have as a shell.
The choke-warning is when feeding juveniles who might find the meal worm too big to swallow.
I lost an 5" Endli when he choked on a 3" Convict.
Good luck,
Nothing is impossible when comes to a bichir 
Here is my baby palmas polli trying to swallow a large mealworm which was intended for my other larger bichirs
Manage to pry it from it's greedy mouth before it could choke itself though
Here is my baby palmas polli trying to swallow a large mealworm which was intended for my other larger bichirs
Manage to pry it from it's greedy mouth before it could choke itself though
Lol thats an awesome pic! But I just meant that even if the worm is half way in its stomach and sticking out the bichirs mouth, it can still control its gills and move water across them and not "choke" lol. Believe me I seen the 10min event it was when my 8in senegal ate a fat 6in earth worm meant for my 12in delhezi. It was quite a site and his stomach looked like it was going to burst but he was fine. I think you gotta give the lil bichir some more confidence ; ) he could of taken that meal worm lol
There is a difference between a meal worm and an earthworm.
Earthworms are much more easy to swallow/spit out because they don't have touch and rigid shells
Earthworms are much more easy to swallow/spit out because they don't have touch and rigid shells
Correct, but there are freshwater crabs, which has been documented to be part of the diet of bichirs.
My guess is that they either predate on freshly molted crabs (probably smells tastier than a hard shell crab) and/or they use their teeth to hold onto the limbs of crabs and deathroll behavior to remove limbs and eat the flesh.
And to address the 'choking' issue, choking is possible when a bichir attempts to eat a food item that is so large it fills it's whole mouth, and becomes lodged, preventing the bichir from taking water in through it's mouth to pass over it's gills.
Yes there are crabs. And many shrimp species as well.
It would be intersting to see if they do rip off appendages. That would make them similar to the zebra moray eel, which twists limbs off of very large crabs to eat.
It would be intersting to see if they do rip off appendages. That would make them similar to the zebra moray eel, which twists limbs off of very large crabs to eat.