College Rules....CHANGED?!

Well, up until now...I had been allowed to have "aquatic pets" in my 3' x 3' (okay it's not really that small, but you get it) dorm room. So, I have had six M.a.apuanus living with me and they have been doing wonderfully. The rules were changed recently, and I am only allowed technical fish. Boo. My newts were coming home for winter break (a month long) anyway, but now they will not be returning to school with me. My alpines will have an extended Florida vacation complete with in-tank service by mom, and a new $300 chilling system . Hopefully she can handle my picky eaters while I'm away or I'll be looking for a new home for them.

Anyway, I cannot be petless at college. I will self destruct. I have a betta, but Mushu doesn't count because he wants nothing more than to eat me. Loves my mom....go figure. So, I started researching fish.I'm fascinated by Channa bleheri, but like most other nuissance fish species that thrive in warm waters, they are illegal in Florida, and most of the southeast. Beautiful fish though. Shame on those irresponsible owners that let their snakeheads go in South Florida and ruined it for everyone else...those were out. Then, Polypterids really caught my eye, and I think many amphibian enthusiasts may also be captivated by them. Their anatomy is very similar to amphibians and if you saw the skull of a "Bichir" (pronounced biker) and didn't know what it was, you would swear it was amphibian.

I walked into my local fish store the other day, and low and behold--a Senegal Bichir! Yes, I bought it. I love this fish. It has just as much if not more personality than my newts. It begs, It takes food from my fingers, and it recognizes me as the "food momma" just like my newts.

Very fascinating animals, bichirs. I would definitely reccommend them to the caudate enthusiast!
Here's a picture of my new guy. He's about six inches long right now, and will reach about a foot. Other varieties of Polypterus get much larger. The juveniles also have external gills. Check out this picture...http://aquaticpredators.com/forums/uploads/monthly_05_2008/post-164-1209664095.jpg

Very interesting fish. Good luck with it. :happy:

Neat! I know at the dorms at my school no pets except aquariums 5 gallons are smaller. I am assuming since you are getting a bichir your school allows large tanks?

I am in college too and thinking strongly of getting a axolotl!

I really like sengal's, I always see them displayed as dragonfish (appropriate because their nostrils look like horns). They're marked as semi-aggressive, but since owning a few I've noticed they each have distinct personalities. One that I have is very passive, and I almost want to put him in a tank with an axolotl to see if they could co-exist.

At a certain point they'll stop growing lengthwise if your tank is too small, and start getting girthy - it makes them look quite funny, like a fat snake. Have fun with it

My college also only allows us to house fish in a 10 gallon or less aquarium. It's not very well enforced though, some of my friends are keeping baby turtles in their tanks as well.