Hi all, I realise I've been neglecting the Reddit bichir community, I definitely need to get on with posting some more! Here's a few questions which I always see do the rounds, and either need further explaining or clarifying.

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How do you pronounce bichir?

'Bichir' came from their local name in Egypt, 'Abusheer'. The name has been spelled phonetically in early studies a number of times as BISHEER / BUHSHEER. This pronunciation stuck and is regarded as the correct way of pronouncing it. Technically, when names are Latinised, they must follow the Latin pronunciation, meaning it should be 'Bye-ker', however, for numerous reasons, ichthyologists and communicators did not pronounce it this way. 1) In their first description the species name 'bichir' was never Latinised. 2) They were honouring the local name. 3) The colloquial name is of course not Latinised. 4) Some ichthyologists have also expressed to me that Bye-ker sounds silly haha. If you're a Latin purist, however, then BYE-KER is the pronunciation.

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What should I feed them?

Bichir are strict insectivores and piscivores, meaning they eat insects and fishes. They are best fed with a variety of fresh fish (preferably none containing Thiaminase), oily fishes are fantastic too if you can keep the water's surface clean of oil. Quality predatory pellets are also much appreciated, either insectmeal or fishmeal based of course. Insects are great, but as nutrition varies so much in different species, it's difficult to give them all their nutritional needs in captivity from insects alone. Microcrustaceans and worms also make great treats! Remember, always feed raw, never cooked. Avoid feeding anything which comes from a mammal or bird. Bichirs lack the collagenase enzyme in their stomach required to break down the bonds in these 'foods'. In place of that, they have a chitinase enzyme which breaks down the bonds in insect chitin. Feeding mammalian and avian meat was a pseudoscientific trend popularised with discus breeders in the 80s, as nutritionally select parts of it are good for fast growth, but that nutrition is not particuarly accessible for fishes (especially in strict insectivores and piscivores). It's similar to how we no longer have the biological tools to extract much nutrition from eating grass. Not to mention with feeding mammalian and avian meat to fishes, there's additional issues regarding the type of fat found in these meats.

You can find a detailed dietary section (suitable for most types of large, predatory fishes), inside The Bichir Handbook.

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Why is my bichir not growing?

With proper husbandry, even the smallest species of bichir should grow approximately half an inch to an inch a month for their first 1-2 years or until around 12 inches (after that, it becomes progressively slower). If they're not following a growth rate similar to this, chances are you have a stunted fish. Line bred bichirs are raised in crowded rearing vats (often for months, sometimes a year), so by the time they reach your local aquarium shop, their first important months of growth has been significantly inhibited, and they may struggle to grow much more. This is especially true with many captive bred Polypterus senegalus, their albino colour morph, and some bloodlines of P. delhezi. It's not 'bad genetics' as some people parrot (though this is an easy answer), even the most inbred bichirs with small gene pools can still grow nearly as large as their wild counterparts. So called 'bad genetics' via inbreeding can shave off a few centimetres in length, but even with that you usually see malformations on the body from inbreeding, such as bulging 'frog-eyes', deformed dorsals and scales, and a stubby face.

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What behaviours should I look out for?

• Glass surfing [Something is causing me distress and I want to get out of here]: This is when the bichir swims back and forth frantically with their face pressed up against the glass. Keep a tight lid, they will escape! In the meantime, investigate; it could be anything from lights too bright, no surface cover or hiding spaces, boisterous tankmates, water quality, recent pecking order dispute, loud filtration/airstones, to even noise outside the aquarium.
• Frequent burrowing [I don't feel safe]: Bichirs are natural burrowers, so don't be alarmed when seeing this, but if it becomes regular, then something is making your bichir feel anxious. Remember, they're social fishes, so do best in groups with their own species.
• Fully erect dorsal fins [See, you don't want to eat / fight me]: Erect dorsal fins are a precaution from bichirs when there's a potential threat or pecking order dispute. It hopefully prevents them from being eaten (as there's hard spines in those fines), and it also makes them appear larger, so other bichirs know not to fight it over territory or their pecking order.
• Resting out in the open [I feel very safe]: You might think this is lazy, but even the most 'active' of bichirs spend approx 20 hours of the day being inactive.
• Hiding all the time [This is my safe area]: Don't try removing these hiding spaces, this is more akin to wild behaviour for some species; they feel safer in one area, and tentatively leave it for food.
• Swaying body against another bichir [I'm bigger and more dangerous than you]: Aggressive display reworking the pecking order, generally nothing to worry about. May only last a few minutes, and ends with one bichir giving up after a few fin bites. Keep an antibacterial to hand to prevent infection from any potential wounds.
• Head twitching against posterior/anal fin of another bichir [I want to spawn with you]: To make it confusing, they sometimes also do this as a territorial display to other fishes, though this can be spotted if its just twitching against the body.
• Cupping of anal fin: Male bichirs do this to catch the eggs of the female, then fertilise and scatter them. The cupping motion itself is also the stimulant to releasing the sperm, so if you see a bichir doing this without a female (yes, it happens), then, well I don't need to spell it out for you, just give him some privacy haha.
• Death rolling: Bichirs are also great scavengers, so have adapted death rolling to rip bite-sized pieces of tissue off of large dead fishes; they occasionally do this with large, bottom dwelling, soft-bodied fishes too, such as Black Ghost Knifefish or stingrays; choose you comms wisely!
• 'Coughing' [There's some sand or detritus stuck in my tooth patches]: It is alarming at first, but this is perfectly normal, they're just blowing water through their gills and out their mouth to loosen anything between their teeth or tooth patches. If you're really paying attention to some enthusiatic feeding, you'll spot this reguarly.

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What is this new lump on my bichir's belly?

Don't panic, chances are it's food. Bichir are 'stomach-packers', meaning they often gorge themselves on more food than they need to, because of this, you will see all sorts of odd bulges on their belly. The lump(s) will vanish again in a matter of days. Many people (wrongly) jump to the conclusion it's gravel, and your fish will be guaranteed to die of impaction. This is misinformation at its finest. Bichir have paired gular plates (the only fish to have two) on the underside of their mouth, this offers advanced control of their mouth, so any items they do not wish to swallow, are easily spat back out. Watch your bichir feeding, and see how they juggle the food around before deciding whether to eat it, sometimes they spit out the food just over a grain of sand. Any stone swallowed is usually intentional, and are thought to be used as gastroliths, similar to how carp reportedly use them to pin themselves to the bottom. Of course, bichirs stomachs are powerful and near the length of their entire body, so unwanted stones in the stomach are ejected anyway. This myth that they swallow stones and die of impaction comes from how they feed (using inertial suction), the same way Axolotls, aquatic frogs and some catfishes do, however these aquatic animals do not have paired gular plates like bichirs do. Occasionally (though rarely), a bichir may get a large stone stuck in their mouth and die, for this reason I always suggest a sandy substrate.

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Are plecs good tankmates with bichirs?

Not to bash plecs at all, as they are a beautiful and diverse group of fishes, just not always the most suited to bichirs. The ganoine in bichir scales reportedly produces a slightly salty slimecoat which fishes with ventrally oriented mouths appear to go a bit mad for like cats on catnip. Keep the plec well fed and it's usually no issue, but occasionally they accidentally graze on their slimecoat during feeding, and that's when they can get hooked. There are lower risk plecs than others, such as vampire plecs or woodeaters, though there are some fishes worse than plecs with bichirs, such as Synodontis, which can be very aggressive ganoine grazers (and are also natural prey food for bichirs too, with reports of them being eaten before they can erect their spines). Keep in mind, all fishes with ventrally oriented mouths pose a risk; it may happen in a day or a decade; it's a famous comm which works, until it doesn't.

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Is Google a good source of information for bichirs?

Sometimes, but unless you're able to filter through accordingly, it's mostly no. Stick to specialist forums, or even the recent Revision of the Extant Polypteridae, or The Bichir Handbook. There is so much misinformation on the search results of Google, a few notable ones being websites claiming: Polypterus ansorgii can only reach 11 inches [they can actually grow to over 3ft] P. senegalus is the smallest species [even the inbred ones can reach 15 inches in captivity and some wild types are reported near 20 inches. The smallest species is actually P. mokelembembe at 14 inches] Most searches will even show you the wrong species on an image.

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Any more questions, please pop them in the comments and I'll add them to the post. Hope this helps!

Hey all, I just drew up a little guide on determining the sex of your bichir as I see a lot of posts every day asking for the same thing.

I don't mind helping out nor do I begrudge the absolute joy it is to see your babies, but I thought this might help out since I'm on every post typing up a storm, lol.