A modern dinosaur coming from Africa the Ornate Bichir is a beautifully unique fish. One of the most attractive Bichirs the Ornate has a striking pattern of yellow and black covering the body and fins. Full grown they are a massive size of 2 feet! Bichirs have been around for millions of years (60 million!) and are excellent monster fish for the bottom sections of a large tank. These Lobe-finned Pike fish are ambush predators. As an ambush predator caution should be taken for any tank mates that may fit in the Bichirs mouth, as they will become a meal. Bichirs are best suited for large Oddball tanks with many hiding places, plants and a sandy bottom. Their tank mates should be large semi aggressive fish that can hold their own around other large semi aggressive fish. Bichirs also may be aggressive to other Bichirs.

The Ornate Bichir has a unique ability to breathe air for a short time and survive out of the water. Thanks to their evolution they have a lung-like swimbladder and special gills that support breathing out of water for short periods of time. Even though Ornate Bichirs can typically be observed on the bottom sections of a tank they are great jumpers and a tight fitted lid is important. Bichirs appreciate neutral parameters with a temp from 75-80 degrees. These nocturnal fish do well with other large fish such as Cichlids, Flagtails, Knifefish, Loaches, Arowana and Silver Dollars.

Bichir Fish grow to a large size but are slow growing and can be kept in appropriate sized tanks until mature. A full grown specimen will do well in a 100 gallon+ aquarium. The Ornate Bichir is getting rarer as far as availability. Due to their large size they can prove difficult to breed. Most Bichirs are wild caught, in the wild the female will lay 100-300 eggs over several days. As the female slowly deposits several eggs at a time the male will join her in fertilizing them as they come out. These ancient fish grow to 15 years old and are fantastic aquarium pets.