Black Ghost Knife

funkyhoney

Fish Crazy
Joined
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Australia
OK, well I don't frequent the oddball forum too often, but I have a few questions for you all because of a series of fortunate events.

Well I work in a pet store and have for some time, I mainly help to look after the fish and quite often I'm the one who looks after the display tanks (cleaning, scaping, stocking, etc.). Anyway, I went in today (not to work) and saw that some kind people who were moving away gave us for free a whole bunch of large angels, assorted large cichlids and a ~12 inch Black Ghost Knife!!!

Right now the Ghost Knife is in a 4ft tank which we all know is unsuitable, so I've been given the job of clearing out a lot of the stock in our 6x2x2' display and moving him in there. Now, my main questions are:

1) What sort of scape would be best for him? I know they like to hide a lot but I've never had one this big before; right now the tank is quite heavily planted and has quite a few large rocks creating shelf-like areas in the tank. There are also a few hollow log pieces of driftwood, what should I do to make him the most comfortable but also, not hide continuously?

2) What sort of tankmates are best for a guy this size? Right now the tank has a lot of quite large gouramis, 2 large angels (not a pair), large congo tetras, clown loaches and dozens of small tetras and rainbows. I plan to move out most of the small tetras and other small fish and see how he goes, in the long term would large 'display-sized' clown loaches and silver sharks be ideal tank mates? That's what we were thinking about getting in.

3) Anything else I should know about?


Thanks for any and all help guys! :good:
 
Everything you plan sounds ok, there arent any sedentry fish which the BGK could attack and pull the eyes out of and nothing overly aggressive that would harm the BGK.

As for decore the rocks and plants sound good but you might want to try and get a few vine type pieces to create a root system effect, in the wild knife fishes are usually found close to the river banks where tree roots enter the water or around underwater snags of submerged driftwood.
 
Thanks CFC! I added a lot more logs, stem plants and 'sticks' of driftwood, he didn't seem to bother the other fish, I guess the Angels already took care of anything that would be eaten :p

Anyway, he's in there, very friendly and very happy to be played with and hand fed, I'll get some photos of him and maybe a video if I can manage that when I'm in next.
 
hey guys, a quick question for you regarding my new BGK, just got him home three days ago from the store he is about 7cm long and in a tank with a angle and a couple of tiger barbs(that will be moving to another tank soon), my main question is regarding the lighting situation????? i currently have a two light system(blue and normal) is any lighting at all suitable for him? he has made home in the plants around the filter were i have placed a tube for him to hide in and well as a large two part ship that is seperated with another plant growing on a piece of drift wood in the middle of the tank....

any advise at all would be appreciated guys as i am really keen on my BGK :good:
 
Sorry, not too sure with the lighting but I have a problem.

I went into work to see the ghost knife and I get told he's dying!! Apparently about 2 days after moving into the 6ft he started to look "bad", and now he's back in a 4ft just lying on his side breathing heavily!! I have no idea what happened or what to do!
 
Were both tanks water paramaters the same or near the same? Could be shock from the move.
 

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