Remarks: Bichirs are true oddball fish in that they almost appear more like amphibians than fish with their fins commonly used like legs to scoot along the ground, primitive lungs allowing them to intake surface oxygen, and even having feathery gills when young similar to those of larval salamanders or newts. These adaptations likely evolved due to their native habitats of streams and rivers in Africa occasionally drying up and leaving them to crawl to a new body of water. While interesting, these behaviors can be troublesome for fishkeepers as it makes them escape artists requiring heavy, tight fitting lids. Bichirs are also curious and will try to swallow anything they can fit in their mouth so nothing that is small enough to be swallowed should be in their tanks. Because of this and their sensitive bellies, they are best kept on sand as a substrate as some gravel is small enough to swallowed and can scratch them. Bichirs are capable of swimming, but typically prefer to sit on the bottom and wait for prey to pass overhead. Their mouths are can open as wide as the thickest part of their body so they should not be housed with smaller or slender fish. Being rather slow and shy, care should also be taken to ensure they aren't kept with too boisterous of feeders that may steal all the food before the bichir can eat. The best way to keep these fish is simply with other bichirs of similar size to avoid cannibalism. The Senegal bichir, also commonly known as a dinosaur fish or dinosaur bichir, is the most common species of bichir in the aquarium trade. It is commonly bred in captivity and now comes in many different color variants such as platinum, albino, and gold. There are some bred to have the short body deformity, but this practice should not be supported for ethical reasons. It perpetuates the false idea that these deformed fish do not need as large of tanks as a non-deformed fish and results in an animal that will have a poorer quality of life as its organs grow too large for its body.
