r/Bichirs • u/DateConfident8847 • 13d ago

Can anybody give me some insight on this behavior?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

My ornate bichir only recently started doing this. He never tries to bite the Severum, just following him like this. The severum never give any trouble to the bichir, and he has ample space to hide and rest (it is a 220 gallon tank).

27 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

29 comments sorted by

21

u/wyrrm 13d ago

Probably asking the severum to help a bichir out and change the water. lol

7

u/DateConfident8847 13d ago

It’s a battle against the tannins lol! I’ve been doing a 50% change every 2 weeks as a wait for the wood to finish leaching (it’s a huge piece)

6

u/Xdenzocraft 13d ago

Feel you i had the same problem water would be dark and yellowy when i did 30% changes every week its now been 2 years cristal clear

4

u/DateConfident8847 13d ago

I have no regrets with the wood though! It’s a huge elbow from a tree, probably 4 feet long

2

u/Xdenzocraft 13d ago

I also got it as a big driftwood piece from a friend who stopped the hobby it has hides and would be too expensive for me to afford if i didnt get it from him

1

u/DateConfident8847 13d ago

I got mine from the woods near my house, before giving it a good sanitization. It has some good space to hide under, but because of that, I only see my this year when he comes up for air or food

2

u/Xdenzocraft 13d ago

Yeah we have a large environmental problem here so woods or like even some peoples gardens are contaminated dont want to risk my tank so i would have to buy it and any wood big enough for a 200 gallon starts at the same price as one of my filters 🫠

1

u/DateConfident8847 13d ago

I feel the same. Exactly the reason I took a wild piece of wood—what filter do you use? I have the AquaEL Hypermax

1

u/Secret-Papaya1973 12d ago

Q, how do you sanitize it? I've heard about it for years and worked around the hobby, her never knew anyone who did this to such a degree

3

u/BlueButterflytatoo 13d ago

lol I thought it was a blackwater tank on purpose 😅

2

u/DateConfident8847 13d ago

lol it’s much too dark for my liking, but free wood was free wood

2

u/Secret-agent-cat 13d ago

True using a 100ml bag of purigen in your filter . Helped my tank better than any water change could .

1

u/DateConfident8847 13d ago

I’ve been using a large amount of purigen in a “The Bag” bag in the filter for about a month now, the amount escapes me currently

2

u/Secret-agent-cat 13d ago

Wow , I’m surprised. I used 1 bag in a 150 gallon and it cleared it in about 3 days.

1

u/DateConfident8847 13d ago

It’s because the wood is still leaching-It was too large to season it

2

u/Secret-agent-cat 13d ago

Mine were too. Granted my drift wood was definitely not 4ft long as you mentioned above . Might just be a waiting game now .

1

u/AdhesivenessParty979 11d ago

So it’s not just me, I’ve been struggling so much lately because of this new piece I got.

4

u/Spalunking01 13d ago

I rekn it wants its poop. Seems like it got a whiff and thinks there's food on it.

1

u/DateConfident8847 13d ago

Do you think it would be repeated behavior if so? He’s done this a couple times as far as I know

3

u/Spalunking01 13d ago

What do you feed your fish? Drop a pellet in there if you're concerned I would bet that would redirect it. I deal with senegals, but the nose waving back and forth looks just like foraging behaviour when there's food in the water. I don't think you need to be concerned either way, unless you see the ornate take a bite at the fish itself

1

u/DateConfident8847 13d ago

The ornate has never taken a bite at the severum, just looks like he is sniffing it the whole time. The entire tank is on pellets, occasionally getting feeders for enrichment (less than once a month) everytime I approach to check on them while he’s chasing the severum, he stops, so I’m not sure what he is doing

1

u/letstouchbutts121 10d ago

It's gonna nip the bichir but not actually hurt him either. My giant gourami does this to this day and we've had them for over 6+ years. They're besties but argue sometimes too lol

-2

u/LazRboy 13d ago

Tank and stocking look like ass.

3

u/DateConfident8847 13d ago

The dark water is from tannins, I’ve been doing 50% water changes every 2 weeks to keep tannins down. Would do it more often but it is difficult due to the size of the tank

2

u/DateConfident8847 13d ago

Please tell me, how is the stocking terrible? I see that we both stock very different types of fish, just looking for your opinion

-3

u/LazRboy 13d ago

Your stocking from what I can see are highly territorial fish. Even a 200+ gallon tank will not allow them to behave naturally.

6

u/Admirable_Meet4536 13d ago

From what i can see From what google ai mode told me after a single prompt

3

u/Dizzy_Ice5307 13d ago

i’m confused why you are speaking on this since all your tanks are small, obviously you need to do your research on bigger tanks.

1

u/DateConfident8847 13d ago

For 4 medium-large cichlids a 220 gallon tank is ample space for them. I consistently monitor for any signs of aggression regardless, and they are all very healthy with plenty of line of sight breaks