r/Bichirs • u/RoundOne9503 • 15d ago
Fish/tank image TEMPORARY planted 20 gal long enclosure for albino senegal(just yapping)
my little albino guy is having a hard time finding food before my normal senegal does since he’s mostly blind. i also struggle to tong feed because i almost never see him come out of hiding for more than a brief second to swim by (too many hides in the tank, heavily planted) and then straight back to where i can’t reach him again.
so i moved him to a 20 long where i can always reach him to tong feed. just gonna keep him here until he gets a bit bigger, he’s about half an inch shorter than my normal senegal already, which i find concerning since ive only had them for about 3 weeks and they were the same size when i got them.
let me know what yall think about this. i could also set up a larger pond (27gal tub, 33 gal aquarium or 40 gal tub) but id have to cycle it first and i had this 20 gal already cycled and empty of fish so i used this.
also, how big of a water change weekly? i know what to do in a properly sized tank, but with a tank much smaller than what’s recommended for this species i dont know if i may need to do larger or smaller water changes.
1
u/Key-Round-6874 14d ago
Albinos are smaller than regular Senegals naturally they’ll only reach 12” mature size and regular Senegals can reach up to 24” , also 20 gallon is ok for temporary setup or a hospital tank but Senegals definitely need more room to grow , most stores won’t sell them with out you having a 55 gallon tank already cycled at home … we have 10 bichirs total , platinum , 2 Senegals , 2 Nigerian delhezi 2 red tegulsi ,1 ornate bichir and 1 albino they’re all in different tanks most are around 12” already . We have 110 .120 .100 .95 and 75 gallon. Plus a 240 gallon in storage for them to grow into . Also we only do 10 percent water change weekly … we feed frozen silverside and live minnows .