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[vitaly]

it was sold to me as lapradei 2 years ago. for some reason it is still skinny and has not grown that much.

[JESToner]

hard to tell from the pics but it looks like a endlicheri congicus to me

[rit10]

That is a lapradei. How big is it? lapradei imo can be quite the slow grower, and sometimes finicky or shy eater. If yours is like that, it may be why it's skinny and not growing much. In most cases, i honestly don't expect to be able to grow out a lapradei to 18"+ in captivity, based on my experience, i feel 16"+/- seems more likely in captivity.

anyway, if you like, you can treat it for internal parasites. not saying that's the problem especially since you've had it for 2 years already. But it's a mild enough treatment that it really doesn't hurt to do. Or if it's a picky eater, try feeding it other types of food till you find something it likes.

This post has been edited by rit10: Jul 19 2010, 03:10 AM

[vitaly]

i am not sure how big he really is. i would say around 8-9inches. he is just very skinny. the ornates and endlicheri that are with him are really fat. do you really think that it could be parasites? what's the best treatment? Also, he has almost no stripes. any ideas if he is farm bred or wild caught ? i got him from jacks aquarium.

[rit10]

no i'm not saying it's parasites, just saying parasites can cause this. Since you already have the fish for 2 yrs, i don't know how likely it is to be parasites. It's just that it's usually a mild treatment so it doesn't hurt to give it a try for peace of mind. Jungle Parasite Clear is a good one, just do a few treatments if you like.

it's probably a wild caught. lapradei can have a wide range of pattern contrast, so it's not unusual for one to show faded stripes. Having said that, i think in your case it has more to do with the white/light substrate. patterns/contrast of a lapradei is heavily influenced by the substrate color.

is it a shy/picky eater and eat very little?

This post has been edited by rit10: Jul 20 2010, 01:18 PM

[vitaly]

it is a male. and yes, he doesnot eat that much. the ornates and endlichery with him are getting pretty fat.
it would be great to get him to 2' mark.

[mt6dr]

dude, that looks like one of those farm raised delhezi to me. can you get a clearer shot of its head? it is a lower-jaw bichir im wrong of course, but the pictures you posted don't really show either way.

if it is an upper jaw, its definitely a farm raised delhezi and at about 9" its decent sized.

[rit10]

it is a male. and yes, he doesnot eat that much. the ornates and endlichery with him are getting pretty fat.
it would be great to get him to 2' mark.

lapradei can sometimes be picky or shy when it comes to feeding. if it doesn't eat that much, that would explain why it's not getting fat like your ornate and endli.

as i said, if you can grow a lapradei out to 18" in captivity, you're already doing very well. more often than not, they don't even make it to 18" mark before their growth slows to a crawl. i too wish mine would get to 2', but realistically i know there's zero chance.

anyway, treating with jungle parasite clear wouldn't hurt. other things you can do is try feeding other food till you find one he likes. what are you currently feeding? also try feeding at night with all the lights off if you aren't doing that already. some bichirs are more nocturnal than others.

This post has been edited by rit10: Jul 20 2010, 05:00 PM

[vitaly]

i cant separate him to powerfeed him because i dont have an extra tank right now. maybe later on down the road. he is not starving, just skinny.
i was just curious as to why he was not growing as quickly as others. but i guess iam not the only one with super slow growing lapradai.

[JESToner]

back when i raised bichirs every now and then those same kind of black splotches appeared and disappeared on some of my bichirs, i was told it was an indication of parasites and treated accordingly and they went away, on top of that, your description of its feeding habits also indicate to me that it may have some kind of parasite.

[vitaly]

i guess, i could stick him in a small container for a couple of days to treat him. so what medication is safe for bichirs to treat for internal parasites?

[JESToner]

rit10 had some sugguestions in his posts above.

[rit10]

just wanted to add that those black splotches can also be normal markings on lapradei and not necessary an indication of external parasites. i have a couple lapradeis with black splotches like that, and i've seen other lapradeis with random splotches like that. Looks to me the splotches on yours are just markings, especially if it's always been like that.

but it'd still be a good idea (if for nothing other than peace of mind) to treat for internal parasites.

This post has been edited by rit10: Jul 21 2010, 05:20 PM