Dinosaur Bichir surrounded by a 20 gal?
I would like to get a Dinosaur Bichir for my 20 gallon tank, it will be contained by with about a 5 inch pleco would this be ok??
You probably are talking about a senegal bichir
You'd inevitability at LEAST a 45 gallon tank, unless it's a long tank, then around 25-35 gallons would be okay.
They acquire very big.
As for your pleco.
Hes going to get VERY big too. You'd need 60 + gallons for only him
All in all, you're going to need a tremendously big tank if you plan on getting both.
Just google their names "Common pleco care" you'll find abundantly of info on them.
no rule of thumb is for every inch of fish you have "At its full grown size" it requires a gallon of dampen. so a bichir gets about 12 inches that equals 12 gallons a pleco gets between 12-24 inches that would equal 12-24 gallons. 20 gallon tank should be for smaller community fish like guppies and mollies. if you want bigger fish you need a bigger container. period.
Answers: you really are better off next to a bigger tank but what kind of pleco do you have? the adjectives ones can get as large as 24" but there are other variety that only grow to about 5 to 6 inches.
i just googled bichirs and this is the suggestion for them
Bichirs require a lot of floor space; the height of the tank doesn't concern. You should note that since these specimens can grow over 12" long, they should be kept in a 25+ gallon tank. There should be a puncture of air in the tank allowing the bichir to gulp nouns, the tank can't be full of water. Bichirs are escape artists. Without a secure lid on an aquarium, the fish will eventually escape, and shift quite a long distance before drying out and dying.
Bad combo.
Bichir grow much too big for a 20gal tank (So do common plecos)
AND
Plecos are likely to latch onto the slow moving bottom dwelling Bichir and suck it's slime coat, eventually slaughter it. Wont allways happen, but it can.
Ian
