Nile bichir

Care at a glance

Overview

The Nile bichir is one of the longest bichirs, a predator for a very large tank. It is a step up from the easiest fish.

Caring for the Nile bichir

Give the Nile bichir at least 185 gal (700 L), with a long footprint and a sealed lid. Keep the water at 77 to 84°F (25 to 29°C) with a pH of 6.5 to 7.5. Feed meaty items such as fish, prawns, earthworms and large sinking pellets.

The Nile bichir ignores fish too big to eat, but it will swallow smaller tank mates. Keep it only with large, robust species. It is a solitary fish. Breeding it is hard.

Good to know

Polypterus bichir is the type species of its genus. It is pale-bodied, with faint dark bars and the family's signature row of dorsal finlets. Its lower jaw projects forward, marking it as one of the larger-mouthed bichirs. It breathes air with paired lungs and can gulp at the surface in oxygen-poor water. Several subspecies are recognized across its wide African range.

In the wild

The Nile bichir is native to the Nile and other large African river systems, where it lives in vegetated margins and floodplains. It cruises the bottom of those river margins at night.

Common questions

Related species

• 

  Saddled bichir

  Polypterus endlicherii

  25.6 in (65 cm) · 151 gal (570 L)

  25.6 in (65 cm)151 gal (570 L)77–84°F (25–29°C)

• 

  Ornate bichir

  Polypterus ornatipinnis

  21.7 in (55 cm) · 172 gal (650 L)

  21.7 in (55 cm)172 gal (650 L)77–82°F (25–28°C)

• 

  Weeks' bichir

  Polypterus weeksii

  21.3 in (54 cm) · 159 gal (600 L)

  21.3 in (54 cm)159 gal (600 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)

• 

  Congo bichir

  Polypterus congicus

  38.2 in (97 cm) · 264 gal (1,000 L)

  38.2 in (97 cm)264 gal (1,000 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)

• 

  Teugels' bichir

  Polypterus teugelsi

  16.5 in (42 cm) · 119 gal (450 L)

  16.5 in (42 cm)119 gal (450 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)

• 

  Ansorge's bichir

  Polypterus ansorgii

  15.7 in (40 cm) · 119 gal (450 L)

  15.7 in (40 cm)119 gal (450 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)