P.senegalus diet in the wild
- Thread starter beblondie
- Start date
They truly do love shrimp. I occasionally buy 15 ghost shrimp for my 3 Senegals and would wake up to see only one or two left. The smart shrimps hide in the plants 
I found another study on the natural diet of Polypterus, and thought you might be interested. It's from 1899 from a gentleman called Mr. Harrington, who spent a considerable amount of time and energy studying the habits of the Nile Bichir, P. bichir.
Here's the study:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2454356
He says that "Polypterus eats great many [...] teleosts" and lists small catfish, eels, cyprinids and "Chromis" (which is apparently Tilapia) as common food.
Could it be, then, that there are significant differences in diet between species of Polypterus? The Senegal bichir seems to be an arthropod specialist, whereas Nile bichir especially eats small, spiny catfish (and it's digestive tract is specialized in handling this spiny prey, Harrington claims).
Species differencies, when they are known, should be considered when deciding what to feed to captive bichirs too. Not all bichirs are alike.
Here's the study:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2454356
He says that "Polypterus eats great many [...] teleosts" and lists small catfish, eels, cyprinids and "Chromis" (which is apparently Tilapia) as common food.
Could it be, then, that there are significant differences in diet between species of Polypterus? The Senegal bichir seems to be an arthropod specialist, whereas Nile bichir especially eats small, spiny catfish (and it's digestive tract is specialized in handling this spiny prey, Harrington claims).
Species differencies, when they are known, should be considered when deciding what to feed to captive bichirs too. Not all bichirs are alike.
Try to completely turn off all source of light, at night. they have poor eye sight, but great olfactory.hurricane_redbone;1309072; said:mine have never caught a feeder
They will sniff out the feeder and catch it, given the right condition as in the wild.
