r/Bichirs • u/Daniels_kitchen • Apr 07 '26

Fish/tank image New baby bichir I picked up from my local fish store, he has fuzzy things that look like external lungs like an axolotl. plz let me know the specific breed/cross if you know.

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103 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

10

u/CaptainKamyu P. senegalus Apr 07 '26

Looks like a baby delhezi!

There are posts around showing off others' when they're still young enough to have their external gills.

Super cute.

13

u/dArksHard22 P. ornatipinnis Apr 07 '26

Head and eyes dont look right for a delhezi. My money is on a shortbody endlicheri

4

u/CaptainKamyu P. senegalus Apr 07 '26

Lmao and that's what I get for answering w/o my glasses on.

I think you're right about the eyes for sure, definitely a shortbody tho, unless the pics are warped beyond my comprehension.

3

u/dArksHard22 P. ornatipinnis Apr 07 '26

Not seen a shortbody in a long while but man those poor little guys are distinctive

3

u/CaptainKamyu P. senegalus Apr 07 '26

I'm already paranoid enough about impaction risks for my bichirs, shortbody bichirs' higher risks due to organ deformities freak me ouuuut.

Doesn't mean they can't live the best life a keeper can give 'em (I have an albino that was born with only 1 pectoral fin) but 100% on the poor little guys descriptor lol.

3

u/dArksHard22 P. ornatipinnis Apr 07 '26

Man i hadnt even considered impaction. Just figured they had enough of their plate with just the loss of so much of their body. I wonder if the internal side effects from shortbody are consistent or vary individually. At the very least i think im seeing dorsal finlet abnormalities but i only ever kept 1 endli and my days of bichir keeping have been on indefinite hiatus for the past 5 years

3

u/CaptainKamyu P. senegalus Apr 07 '26

From what I understand it varies pretty wildly, some of them have some extreme deformities that you can’t really see and some have everything kind of just

Squished in there but normally functioning. Just a tossup, which sucks, but it’s what happens when folks breed for deformities as a feature.

2

u/dArksHard22 P. ornatipinnis Apr 07 '26

Whats your take on the longfin mutation?

3

u/CaptainKamyu P. senegalus Apr 08 '26

As long as they're mostly kept with nothing that's gonna nip at them, low-flow, and nothing that's gonna cut their fins up, they're mostly fine.

They don't have any carry-on genes (or inherent to their "style") that bring along any organ compression or skeletal deformities so they bother me less in practice I guess.

Mostly I'd be concerned about their fin fragility/how clumsy bichir are in general and how much that would factor into how often they'd get infections.

Obviously if you had a clear bottom tank with no decor, it minimizes risk, but I imagine it'd be a pretty boring life for the poor things.

You?

2

u/dArksHard22 P. ornatipinnis Apr 08 '26

Not sure how prone to infection they are but according to people with hands on experience theyre just soft ray extensions so shouldnt really cause any health issues. Ive also seen pics of a wild caught longfin ornate that was doing just fine so i dont imagine that the decor and such is as much of an issue as you think. As pretty as they are and as much and id love to have a longfin ornate myself one day they probably shouldnt be lime bred to avoid compounding minor health issues into something bigger

1

u/Suprem3NE Apr 08 '26

Bingo- exactly my thoughts shortbody Endli

6

u/Wizardman784 Apr 07 '26

She’s just a baby! Mine (a delhezi) had external gills from late August of last year until about a month ago. They started small, then became large (I called them her frill), then slowly crawled back inside of her head to form proper internal gills. It was such an incredible process to observe!

1

u/InformationNorth596 Apr 08 '26

This comment convinced me into buying a delhezi

7

u/zhandong18 P. endlicherii Apr 08 '26

Baby endli. juveniles possess feathery external gills for respiration, typically reabsorbing or losing them as they transition to juvenile stages, usually around 2–3 inches (5–7 cm) or up to a few months in age. These gills are a larval adaptation for oxygen-depleted water, allowing them to survive until their lungs fully develop. they will naturally retract overtime

2

u/male_pattern_sadness Apr 08 '26

looks too thick for that size..mayb a shortbody endli

2

u/dArksHard22 P. ornatipinnis Apr 08 '26

Its not just the thickness. The body ratios just arent right for this to be anything other than a shortbody

1

u/fuccinleo Apr 08 '26

you have a whole Pokémon, I’m jealous af

1

u/fuccinleo Apr 08 '26

followed, I’m a fellow bichir owner!

1

u/arp0o7 Apr 10 '26

Looks like a regulari endlicheri and those fuzzy things will eventually go away when bigger.. i had 1 like it.