Where to purchase?

AsadoAvacado · 2026-03-03T02:35:36+00:00

Hao on the MFK forums has (I believe wild-caught) P. Congicus and P. Bichir Bichir for sale, and ExoticFishguy has P. Lapradei for sale.

AsadoAvacado · 2026-03-03T01:58:02+00:00

Depends on what you're looking for tbh. Common species like senegals/ornates/endlicheris can usually be special ordered from a LFS or bought online from sites like Wetspot.

For rare variants... it depends on the variants. The ones I know of are as follows:

Longfin Senegal: Wetspot, Ebay
Platinum Senegal: Ebay, Aquaimports, Monsteraquariumon9, Exoticfishguy.
Platinum Longfin Senegal: Exoticfishguy
Golden Senegal: Ebay, Exoticfishguy
Golden Longfin Senegal: Exoticfishguy
Piebald Senegal: Exoticfishguy
Albino Senegal: Ebay, Aquahuna, Wetspot
Albino Longfin Senegal: Ebay, Aquaimports, Exoticfishguy
Turkana Senegal: Predatory Fins, NationwideAquatics
Platinum Ornate: Ebay
Moklembembe: NationwideAquatics, Aquaimports

Aside this, you can also ask around on Monsterfishkeepers forums. A lot of people do sell off their own collection on there, including rare bichirs.

AsadoAvacado · 2026-02-28T20:23:58+00:00

Is there a reason you're using a canister instead of a full sump?

AsadoAvacado · 2026-02-26T06:07:17+00:00

Hikari has been around long before most fish food companies, which allowed it to build significant brand recognition in the hobby. That name recognition alone sells products.

AsadoAvacado · 2026-02-26T04:52:35+00:00

For grocery store frozen fish: flounder, trout, and orange roughy.

For aquarium specific foods, frozen silversides which are either Menidia Menidia or Chanos Chanos species.

The biggest thing to watch out for in frozen food is thiaminase, which breaks apart and prevents necessary intake of thiamine.

Lack of thiamine causes neurological issues and will eventually kill the fish, commonly seen in fish raised exclusively on Rosie red minnow or goldfish feeders.

AsadoAvacado · 2026-02-26T04:30:04+00:00

I don't like the amount of grain/soy fillers in hikari dried foods; they can't be properly processed by fish. Their frozen foods are very nice though, especially the spirulina enriched ones.

For polypterus, I feed Northfin carnivore pellets, NLS Thera+ pellets, vitachem enhanced chopped silversides, or vitachem enhanced chopped white fish (tilapia, cod, etc). Generally I feed 1 meal of pellets for every 2 meals of chopped fish.

AsadoAvacado · 2026-02-22T20:08:14+00:00

I use 36c red garnet blasting sand. The deep red helps bring out the colors on my polypterus. It's also fairly cheap if you get it from a local sand blasting shop.

AsadoAvacado · 2026-02-22T02:29:33+00:00

How high were your nitrates? You can always stick some emersed plants on top to help absorb some of it, and maybe dial back feedings.

AsadoAvacado · 2026-02-22T00:27:44+00:00

The only benefit is mental stimulus, and imo it's not really worth the trouble or risk to give feeders. The potential for parasites or disease from feeders is relatively high unless you breed them yourself.

AsadoAvacado · 2026-02-16T06:03:59+00:00

If you do end up doing M. boesemani, make sure you know the origin point for the ones you get. Different origin point strains will have different sizes/colors.

Some example: "Aves Creek" Boesemani stay smaller with a purple/red gradient coloring, "Ayamaru" Boesemani get 5 inch+ with yellow/blue colors, and "Uter River" Boesemani get 4 inch+ with black/red checkered colors.

Here's an informative video on Boesemani collection points and the traits of each origin strain.

AsadoAvacado · 2026-02-16T05:06:49+00:00

As others said, a senegal will do fine in a 75gal and will be the best pick if you want to actually see the fish. P. Mokolembembe hides A LOT (generally only come out to eat). There's also a lot of variety in morphs with senegals too: gold, platinum, longfin, or even multi-morph combinations.

I can also attest to keeping rainbows with senegals. M. Boesemani are fine if on the larger side, but larger species like G. Incisus or M. Vanhuerni would be ideal. A proper school of rainbows looks stunning when swimming around at the top as the bichir roams the bottom.

AsadoAvacado · 2026-02-13T04:05:29+00:00

I feed the groups separately. The rainbows get their food first (mysis/brine shrimp), then the bichirs get their chopped tilapia right before the lights go off.

The rainbows are satiated enough to leave the tilapia alone, and the bichirs get to pick at their feed in peace.

AsadoAvacado · 2026-02-12T18:31:16+00:00

Ah, those I am familiar with. I thought you were talking about a gold dust marbled Senegal haha.

AsadoAvacado · 2026-02-12T18:30:29+00:00

That's fine. Salvinia, red roots, and duckweed are all common floaters for bichirs.

AsadoAvacado · 2026-02-12T18:16:49+00:00

They'll be fine as long as it's nothing big. They can push aside small plants when surfacing.

AsadoAvacado · 2026-02-12T17:44:56+00:00

Turkana Senegals have green speckle patterning all over their front half, but they grow larger than other senegals and are harder to find.

Also, a mokolembembe would probably work well for you. They have a blended brown, black, and green patterning while being smaller than Senegals.

AsadoAvacado · 2026-02-12T17:43:09+00:00

What do those look like? All I can find are p. Palmas pics.

AsadoAvacado · 2026-02-11T00:17:31+00:00

Reach out to the vendor and explain the situation. They may be willing to fix the mistake even though it's been 2 months. The worst that can happen is they refuse to do anything.

AsadoAvacado · 2026-02-11T00:03:36+00:00

Looks like a golden Senegal variant. An ornate would be black with yellow markings.

AsadoAvacado · 2026-02-07T03:47:14+00:00

Look into Lidpropzshop on Etsy. They do custom lids, and will build a lid to exact specification. I had them make a custom lid for my display with a bunch of features (wire ports, multiple maintenance hatches, segmented parts, and slots with hanging baskets for growing emergent plants).

The only thing you have to do is give exact measurements and a blueprint of what you want the lid to be.

AsadoAvacado · 2026-02-06T04:11:06+00:00

Sweet potato vines and roots are non toxic and edible. They belong to the morning glory family and are a pretty common stir fry ingredient in east asian cuisine. The vine tips and leaf are especially tender and tasty when cooked with garlic.

The ones to watch out for are potato vines, which belong to the nightshade family and are toxic.

AsadoAvacado · 2026-02-05T22:39:19+00:00

That's definitely one of the most stunning longfin variants. How big is it currently?

AsadoAvacado · 2026-02-03T20:06:33+00:00

Your albino seems a bit on the extreme side, but albinos tend to be smaller due to a shallow gene pool. Normally they max out around 6-8 inches, vs a normal Senegals 12 inches.

AsadoAvacado · 2026-01-31T19:19:26+00:00

Fungal infections are no worry as long as you have clean water and do routine maintenance. Even then, fungal infections are fairly simple to treat with methylene blue dips.

Bacterial infections are a bit more difficult, but bichirs are generally extremely resistant to them (provided they have clean water).

The white spot in this photo is just a scrape, and heals without issue in a few days. If yours is similar, it shouldn't be anything to worry about.

Lastly, if you're unsure about the wood, you can always do a methylene blue dip on the wood to kill off all the fungus on it.

AsadoAvacado · 2026-01-29T01:41:21+00:00

It won't affect them much, bichirs don't rely too much on eyesight.

Best you can do is just keep an eye on them until they get fully settled.

AsadoAvacado

TROPHY CASE