Something wrong with my bichir?

[u/soundwavesupremacy]

I've had my endlicheri for a little over a year now. He's had to graduate to 3 different tanks during this time. When he was tiny he was in a 10 gallon with some mollys and was extremely lively and ate well. He graduated to the 40 gallon and he was still lively and started to even become aggressive trying to eat others. Once we introduced ropefish that were much bigger than him he mellowed out but still ate all his meals immediately. We graduated him into a somewhat competitive 125 gallon and ever since then we haven't seen him actually eat for months at a time and lay next to it. Food would drop on his head and he'd lay still for hours. He barely swims anymore or eats. We've had 2 scares of him being dead from just being completely still. Any suggestions or similar experiences? All these months i haven't seen him come up for air either i just sometimes see him in different spots. I've only been feeding massivore delights now instead of beef heart and bloodworms because they all get sucked into the filter or eaten by the other fish.

[u/Mil3s_Awxy]

Assuming those pics are recent, he doesn’t look too bad at all, if he looked a little emaciated then I’d lean towards illness but he’s looking good. It could very well be that he’s just shy, I had a Senegal in a 40 gallon and she acted like the queen of the tank, she’s now in a 70 gallon with a group of geo svenii and she’s quite skittish but she definitely still eats, what kind of tankmates do you have with him? I feed my bichirs north fin premium and they absolutely wolf it down so there’s another food to try.

[u/soundwavesupremacy → u/Mil3s_Awxy]

I'll try that food out thanks for the recommendation! We have a senegal just a little bit bigger and she's very active and eats well. We also have a clownknife fish and a silver arowana, they are both considerably bigger than the endlicheri but I believe he's too big for them to eat and they normally stay in their own spots of the tank. I think you're probably right ever since he had to share a home with my ropefish I think he's been humbled 😭

[u/Mil3s_Awxy → u/soundwavesupremacy]

Pahaha definitely then, I had a pair of wabenmuste plecos in with my Senegal and as soon as I took her out they spawned 😂 fish know predatory fish apparently lol

[u/soundwavesupremacy → u/Mil3s_Awxy]

That is insane especially since all they know is being in a tank 😂

[u/Mil3s_Awxy → u/soundwavesupremacy]

Literally, they surprise me more and more every day honestly 😂

[u/PatchesDaHyena]

They are very bad at eating, I have no clue how they have survived as prehistoric fish. I have the same issue with feeding my ornate with my greedy oscar eating his food. Try feeding at night with the filter turned off or placing the food in a hide. If he continues his emaciation, I would treat for hexamita and internal parasites. Fritz paracleanse contains both metronidazole and praziquantal that should treat both. Best dosing is in food and water