Should I buy it?
Senegal bichir
Polypterus senegalus
Also known as: cuvier's bichir, dinosaur eel (misnomer; not a true eel)
A primitive armoured fish at 35 cm that breathes air and eats any fish that fits in its mouth. Peaceful with fish its own size or larger.
Senegal bichir tank mates · 300L tank size hub
semi-aggressive · intermediate care
Sources & confidencehigh · partially verified · beginner: caution
Checked against several solid care sources that mostly agree. Numbers here are a careful starting point. Your tap water, tank size, and habits decide the rest. How we evaluate.
Best for: Large species-appropriate tanks 300L or more with fish all over 15 cm and sand substrate.
Avoid if: Community setups with medium or small fish, or any tank without a tight lid.
Common mistakeStocking a Senegal bichir with tetras, danios, corydoras, or other small fish is how night-time disappearances get blamed on ghosts. The bichir ate them. Keep only fish too large to swallow in a tank of roughly 300 litres or more, with a tight lid. A peaceful daytime pose is not a community temperament.
Top things that go wrong
- Grows large or needs a very big footprint. Senegal bichir is often sold at sizes that hide adult length (~35cm) and a published minimum near **300L**. Shop tanks are not adult housing.
- Mouth gap vs tiny tank mates. May eat tank mates small enough to fit the adult mouth — plan adult sizes, not shop sizes.
- Shrimp & snails. Not shrimp-safe — adults, fry, or both get eaten.
What most shops don't tell you
- 1.Juvenile bichirs are sold as manageable oddballs for mixed tanks because the baby fits the bag. Growth to a long, escape-prone predator is the part of the story that arrives after the sale. Lids, footprint, and prey size limits are husbandry, not optional upgrades. If the shop sketch showed neon tank mates, that sketch was for the photo, not for year two.
- 2.Kept in short tall cubes. The fish cannot turn or hold flow without banging its snout.
- 3.Housed with nano schoolers. A night hunt is inevitable once the bichir reaches adult size.
- 4.Bichirs are escape artists: a screen lid beats a loose hood. Match tank-mate size to a 30 cm adult, not an 8 cm juvenile, and re-check compatibility as they thicken.
About this species
Senegal bichirs are West African polypterids that breathe atmospheric air, hunt by smell after dark, and swallow any tank mate that fits the gape. Adults reach 30 to 40 cm and live for fifteen years or more. They need a long, lidded tank and meaty foods rather than flake.
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No reverse lookups listed yet.
Plan grid
Key limits are above. Here: pH band, swim level, bioload, and activity.
Swim zones
Care snapshot
Quick compare before you buy. Not a score of how “good” the fish is.
- Beginner ease22
- Peacefulness12
- Community fit0
- Small-tank fit66
- Hardiness54
- Energy24
Numbers are deterministic planning indices from Fishori fields — not a scientific score of your individual fish.
Example setups
Starting points only. Run the pair checker for every fish you add.
Avoid “one of everything” baskets — Senegal bichir belongs in a plan built around territory, line-of-sight breaks, and matched water chemistry.
Compatibility
Tank mates for Senegal bichir
No unconditional “safe” tank mates are listed for Senegal bichir — this shortlist has CAUTION pairings that need specific conditions and RISKY pairings to avoid. Conditional (CAUTION — read the pair page before buying): Bala / silver shark, Boesemani Rainbowfish, Giant danio, Tinfoil barb. Avoid (RISKY): Chili Rasbora, Corydoras Catfish, Dwarf Gourami, Ember Tetra, German Blue Ram. Every name links to a live pair check — the lists are a shortlist, not a stocking plan.
Usually safer
Open a pair page with this fish as the starting point.
None listed. Use the pair checker before mixing.
Needs planning
Read the blocking rule on each pair page before experimenting.
Usually avoid
Do-not-stock combinations on conservative hobby rules.
No safe-mate list on this record yet. Use the fish index to find species with similar care, then run a pair check before you buy.
Behaviour and temperament
Senegal bichirs hunt at night along the bottom and glass, then rest like a log by day, which fools people into stocking them as calm oddballs. Anything that fits the mouth after lights-out is food, including tetras, danios, and corydoras that shared the tank at dusk. Toward large companions they are often indifferent; toward nano fish they are predators. Refusal to eat for a few days after a move is common if body condition holds — still test the water.
What sets them off
- Crowding and limited territory
- Similar-looking fish in the same tank
- Spawning, for any breeding pair
Fin nipping: Not a habitual fin-nipper; stressed or crowded individuals can still test fins.
Predation: May eat tank mates small enough to fit the adult mouth — plan adult sizes, not shop sizes.
Territory: Holds a patch (cave, corner, or surface). Break sight lines so neighbours can pass.
Planted tanks: good — easy plant ideas
In the glass: typical and warning signs
- Night hunter along the bottom and glass; by day it rests like a log.
- Escape artist — lids are part of husbandry, not optional.
- Refusing food for a week after a move — normal if body condition holds; still test water.
- Redness or frayed fins after nitrate spikes in an undersized tank.
- Anything that fits the mouth at night is food — nano fish are not tank mates.
- Peaceful toward large companions; predatory toward small ones.
- Missing nano fish → the bichir ate them; change the stocking, not the lighting schedule.
- Two bichirs fighting over a cave → more hides or separate.
Fish behaviour can vary between individuals and tank setups. Always observe new fish closely after introduction.
Water, food, and grouping
Hardness
soft
Diet
carnivore
Bichirs need meaty foods aimed at the bottom after the lights dim, not leftover flake from daytime community feeding. Offer sinking carnivore pellets, earthworms, or frozen foods such as prawn and fish pieces sized so the fish can swallow without gulping air. Feed on a schedule you can watch; obesity in a short tank is as real as starvation. If cagey daytime companions always reach food first, you are not feeding the bichir.
Shrimp & snails
Not shrimp-safe — adults, fry, or both get eaten.
Senegal bichir is fine singly or as a researched pair — check behaviour before doubling up.
- Hold 24 to 30 °C steadily on a real thermometer, not the dial on the heater.
- Aim for pH 6 to 7.5 and a hardness you can re-test in two weeks. A one-time strip in the shop car park is not a water test.
- Footprint: short wide tanks and tall narrow tanks fish differently for the same volume. Match the tank shape to the swim pattern, not just the litre count.
- Tank volume meets or exceeds 300L published minimum for adults.
- Heater can hold 24–30°C without cooking cooler-water tank mates.
- No known fin-nippers paired with long-finned fish unless you accept documented risk.
- No tank mates small enough to fit the adult mouth gap for this species.
Explore and stocking hubs
Tank-mates hub, matching guides, category peers, and litre stocking lists around this species’ minimum tank.
Plan with tools
Check mates as pairs first, then add this fish in the tank builder for the full stocking.
Filtration & heating
A 300L minimum tank needs a filter rated for at least 1200L/hr turnover and a heater to hold 24–30°C reliably.
Plant suggestions
Senegal bichir does well in planted tanks. Plants compatible with 24–30°C and pH 6–7.5:
Research: partially verified · Confidence: high · 2 linked source(s). We do not invent citations.
How Fishori evaluates compatibility (same logic as pair and tank tools).
- Seriously Fish. Polypterus senegalus (subspecies: senegalus)
Supports: aquarium size, water chemistry, temperament and compatibility (primary care reference).
- FishBase. Polypterus senegalus
Supports: taxonomy and wild maximum size — translate to tank stocking, not a target number.
Evidence notes
- Seriously Fish lists this under the subspecies URL (…senegalus-senegalus); it is the best-vetted care sheet, with FishBase for size context.
- Care numbers are cross-checked across the linked sources and biased toward the conservative end; compatibility reflects typical hobby experience, not a lab prediction. Method and full source policy: /methodology.
Common questions about Senegal bichir
- How big do Senegal bichir get?
- Senegal bichir adults run about 30–40 cm. In home tanks they usually land near 35 cm — plan space and filtration for that, not the juvenile in the shop bag.
- What size tank does Senegal bichir need?
- A 35 cm predatory fish that needs a long footprint, not just volume. Adults realistically want a 300 L or larger tank with at least a 120 cm length. A standard 200 L is too short to let the fish turn or settle. Seriously Fish goes further still — its 150 × 60 cm suggestion works out near 540 L — so treat 300 L as the bare single-fish floor rather than a comfortable target.
- Are Senegal bichir aggressive?
- Senegal bichirs hunt at night along the bottom and glass, then rest like a log by day, which fools people into stocking them as calm oddballs. Anything that fits the mouth after lights-out is food, including tetras, danios, and corydoras that shared the tank at dusk. Toward large companions they are often indifferent; toward nano fish they are predators. Refusal to eat for a few days after a move is common if body condition holds — still test the water.
- What is the most common mistake with Senegal bichir?
- Stocking a Senegal bichir with tetras, danios, corydoras, or other small fish is how night-time disappearances get blamed on ghosts. The bichir ate them. Keep only fish too large to swallow in a tank of roughly 300 litres or more, with a tight lid. A peaceful daytime pose is not a community temperament.
- What fish can live with Senegal bichir?
- This profile currently has no curated unconditional safe-mates shortlist for Senegal bichir. Other species may still return GOOD in the pair checker, so check the exact pair rather than treating this shortlist as exhaustive. Bala / silver shark, Boesemani Rainbowfish, Giant danio, Tinfoil barb are conditional (CAUTION): workable only with the specific conditions on each pair page. Avoid Chili Rasbora, Corydoras Catfish, Dwarf Gourami, Ember Tetra (RISKY). Run the pair checker for your exact water and tank size before stocking.