[-DC-]

I received a gorgeous trio of Polypterus endlicheri yesterday I used to have a small 4" one, and have been waiting to get my hand's on a big one, and I lucked out to find this trio tank raised, waited a while to get them, and didn't see pic's before hand, needless to say I'm happy with the fish! The large pair pair are roughly 16", and the smaller one's roughly 12,

for now I only have pic's from when I opened the box, after setting up a drip for them to acclimate before put into the tank. I'll get more later, but they went into a new 240 and the substrate is still settling, between that fog and the fact the tanks 3' deep make in impossible to snap a shot in tank, but they have colored up nicely with nice dark bar's

They got there stripes back and ate a few shrimp for me this morning for me, just touching up some filter detail's and they I'll start adding tank mates and plantlife!

-DC-

 

[King-eL]

Wow nice!

Hey any new snakeheads from Serge?

I'll be doing the order of snakeheads soon from the supplier you gave me.

 

[-DC-]

PM on it's way! No serge had some really nice blue emperor's but his melasoma ate 3 and the last died later died somehow before i could get to it,

They really are looking good though, nice dark bar's good contrast, just need to let the tank settle for pic's! No idea what these guy's are worth, i'm assuming i got them at a steal, what does a 16" endlicheri go for out west ?

-DC-

 

[King-eL]

I never heard from him might give him a call.

 

[-DC-]

Just thought i'd ad a couple pic's of the tank i set up for them, its 240, 5'x3'x2', plywood tank. Took a shot with an without flash but until the substraet settles it doesnt help still cloudy looking.

It's still a work in progress, I wanted more river stone in the substrate to get a river bottom look, however i'm now thinking i'll add more sand to fill in the gap's between he stone there was sand in the mix but not quite enough, the goal is to achieve the stone look, without the gap's for debris to settle into, not sure if I'll get the look I want but I'm willing to try.

Also need to get better lighting and instal a second dim light system, i want to set them on timer's to achive a twilight period in the morning before the main lights kick in and in the evening after they turn off.

I also plan to get my hands on some large plant's see if I can do a monster planted tank, thinking this might not work, but it's worth a try.

and of course i'll need tankmate's it's a waste of space to run a tank this size with just some bichir's sitting there under a log lol,

 

[King-eL]

Wow awesome setup buy I'd be worried about gravel as bichors are known to accidentally eat the gravel and get intestine infection and dies.

 

[-DC-]

I was worried about that, but when i researched it i couldnt find any info... the only consistent peice of info i could find is that they will thrive in a variety of enviroment's, GUess i'll have to rethink the design...

Devon

 

[King-eL]

Best to go with sand. You need the best info possible...? I can provide that for ya as bichirs are my specialty. Got all the known species in my collection. Or join MFK bichirs fanatics.

 

[-DC-]

Just a few shot's keeping it low light, but the tanks clearing up now, and they are becoming a bit less shy,

ONe from above, not clear water spot on the glass messed up the shot

 

[King-eL]

Very nice! Love the last shot as it look like it was taken from the wild.

 

[-DC-]

that's the look i'm going for ! last shot would have been great except for a drop of water that landed right over his head, you can sorta see the blurry circle, i'll take more later and remove the top glass for better shot's, the tank has a 5x3 footprint so it's hard to get good pic's from the front, unless the fish are up close, from above you can see everything,

 

[-DC-]

to give an idea of size, that red blur in the background of the first shot is a 5" red jeweled cichlid,

 

[King-eL]

I didn't even noticed the circle. Lol!

 

[-DC-]

Starting to clear up now...

It's starting to clear up quite a bit now, the tank has lost 2 tankmates (expected lol) a large male snakeskin goruami, and a large female convict, not quite big enough and went missing.

I watched the biggest bichir stalking the female convict for a day, like a dog with a sent just sniffs along behind her, she was tricky and lost him a few times but was gone the next morning.

Any way here's the tank and the "smallest" bichir who's roughly 12", the other bichir's were out for a bit but he pic's didnt turn out,

and an ID i like to see the fish from above, everything looks so small in this tank the ID is probably 14" ish

 

[King-eL]

Nice with feeders now.

 

[-DC-]

lol, ya I kept a pair of convict's ,gourami, and red jeweled in with the snakehead and ID shark , the baby convict's and egg's were food for the rest, wanted to free up that 100 gallon tank, so i tossed them all in, lol gourami was toast right away, the convict was second, who know's who will be next lol,

I just slapped a fluval 405 onto the tank to add a bit more flow and mechanical filteration. I put the intake behind and below the return from the sump pump, and i put the return from the 405 in behind the overflow's , just to keep those dead spots moving and clean .

I'd like to get my hand's on a large colorful eel, and maybe a silver aro since i have nothing going on at the top of the tank

 

[H .]

I thought it would be an aimara! Any way, nice fish and great pictures.

 

[-DC-]

Thank's , and ya, decided against the aimara for now I’m going to wait until i can get a nice large acrylic tank.

 

[2wheelsx2]

I really like the natural look of the substrate. I'm going to try and do that look in part of my new tank.

 

[H .]

Thank's , and ya, decided against the aimara for now I'm going to wait until i can get a nice large acrylic tank.

Exactly. aimara does need a big acrylic tank since it swims around just under surface! Also it's not fun to move an over 15" aimara from one tank to another...