# PetSmart 'dinosaur eels' before and after



## Fruitbat (Jan 2, 2004)

For those of you who were undecided about the specific assignment of the bichirs that PetSmart is selling as 'dinosaur eels', I'm pretty sure now that they are baby _Polypterus senegalus_. Here are two pictures of the same fish about three weeks apart in time. Notice how the striped pattern has faded and is being replaced by the uniform greyish-brown of _P. senegalus_.


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## Innes (Jan 13, 2003)

lol nice common name :laugh:


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## khuzhong (Apr 11, 2003)

yeah, i happened to drop by petsmart today and saw a bunch of them labeled as dinosaur eels.. for $2.99 at bout 2"... this is a great steal isnt it.. considering i could raise em and then take em back in for credit at another store..


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## gourami-master (Apr 1, 2004)

at my petsmart theyre selling sa gars for 7.99 now that is just plain freakin insaine to go selling those beasties to some unsuspecting noob

and it sounds like a pretty good idea to buy those things and sell it to another store...unsuspecting dumbasses


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## WheelmanCA19 (Sep 15, 2004)

I paid $4.50 at one of my local petsmarts for my "dinosaur eel"










He's a bit bigger than that now.


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## acestro (Jul 7, 2003)

That's interesting, I didn't know they went through a pattern change.


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## Fruitbat (Jan 2, 2004)

_Polypterus senegalus_ is the only one that does it. Other Polypterids get darker or their pattern fades a bit as they age but only _P. senegalus_ has such a dramatic shift!


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## MR.FREEZ (Jan 26, 2004)

Innes said:


> lol nice common name :laugh:










yeah pretty creative of them isnt it


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## Rob Zombie (Nov 18, 2004)

My Petsmart has had some deals in the past that I am still kicking myself for passing up ($25 for a Royal knife), but I have never seen any of these senegalus... I find it interesting that my Petco can get me Mbu puffers though







...


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## Ries (Mar 20, 2004)

nice fich sweet


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## Death in #'s (Apr 29, 2003)

i wish there was a petsmart near me


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## slckr69 (Feb 21, 2004)

wait those are bichirs.. lol they got them at my petsmart too but they are like 6 bucks here for like 4 inchers.. why is it such a steal how much are they when they get bigger.


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## Fruitbat (Jan 2, 2004)

Yes....they are bichirs. _Polypterus senegalus_ is the most commonly available of the bichirs and will reach about 12" or so in captivity. They are more expensive as adults but, of course, the price will vary depending on how hard they are for your local stores to get in. I've seen half-grown _senegalus_ available for prices between $10.99 - $49.99 each in local stores. Obviously, anybody paying nearly $50 for this species has more money than they know what to do with!


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## Polypterus (May 4, 2003)

Fruitbat said:


> Yes....they are bichirs. _Polypterus senegalus_ is the most commonly available of the bichirs and will reach about 12" or so in captivity. They are more expensive as adults but, of course, the price will vary depending on how hard they are for your local stores to get in. I've seen half-grown _senegalus_ available for prices between $10.99 - $49.99 each in local stores. Obviously, anybody paying nearly $50 for this species has more money than they know what to do with!


 Best LFS trick I have seen was the really young patterned fish being sold for 49.99
and the sub-juv in a tank right next to them being sold for 11.99


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## rbp 4 135 (Mar 2, 2004)

at my pets mart they were selling 2 birchirs, that looked exacy like the ones in Fruitbat's sig. they were like 49$ at like 3-4 in


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## Fruitbat (Jan 2, 2004)

PetsMart is now selling baby _Polypterus ornatipinnis_ as 'Ornate Eels' for $49. These are the largest of the protruding upper jaw bichirs, reaching lengths of up to 24 inches. In general I've found them to be fairly secretive compared to _Polypterus senegalus_ or the subspecies of _Polypterus palmas_, though your experiences may vary. The only time I even see my _P. ornatipinnis_ is during feeding time and even then it only comes out just long enough to grab some food and take it back into its cave. They are, however, gorgeous bichirs (though they do lose some of the intensity in color as they age).

-Joe


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## acestro (Jul 7, 2003)

I had one that was a psycho. Killed an armored cat and fed on anything and everything. A friend has it and its colors have faded. With I kept it, its pushing a foot and a half and I only paid $20 for it!!! But I haven't paid for food for it in nearly 4 years!


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## Fruitbat (Jan 2, 2004)

My _P. ornatipinnis_ is in a tank with similarly-sized _P. senegalus, P. palmas polli, P. palmas buettikoferi, P. weeksii,_ and _P._ sp. 'Congo' (Zaire Green). There are also some _Ctenopoma_ species in there and some _Pantodon buchholzi_ as top-water dwellers. So far there is no problems with the ornate eating any other fish but then....none of them are small enough for him to swallow. I have had _P. ornatipinnis_ in the past, however, that were very willing to become the tank bully, even to the point of one 15" _P. ornatipinnis_ pushing a Wolf Fish (temporarily housed with him) around.


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## piranha45 (Apr 8, 2003)

wow, those are the first two accounts of bichir aggression I've ever heard of. I'll have to make a note of that regarding ornates...


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## acestro (Jul 7, 2003)

Yeah, because there were no other fish with the armored porthole cat besides the bichir and there was a distinct "bite" mark on the cat's side when I found him dead. And that catfish was waaaay too big to fit in the mouth (maybe half or more the bichir's length).


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