Black Ghost, Low Appetite?

[jfcp]

I have a Black Ghost in a heavily planted 20g long, with a clean-up crew of 8 other fish. (Tank specs, fish list, & diet below)

Everything seems fine, EXCEPT the Ghost doesn't seem to eat a lot anymore.

I see no signs of disease anywhere in the tank, and the Ghost spends a lot of daylight time near the bottom, hidden, often motionless, usually in a favorite hiding place. He does come out once in a while during the day, and then just before dark and explores for a while into the night, usually mostly only about 2/3 of the tank, exhibits the usual "semi-aggressive" behavior toward the other fish, but they don't seem too bothered.

But when I do a day feeding, he often just stays where he is until most of the food is eaten by the other fish, then investigates, but seems to just sample it. I have begun doing an extra feeding just after dark, when he is most active, He will take food directly from a 40 ml pipette, but even then, he seems to not eat as much as I would expect.

Consequently, the other fish sometimes get enough food that they start to look bloated, but the Ghost, nothing like that.

The Ghost was growing well; 2 or 2-1/2 inches when I got him, & now he's maybe 4 to 4-1/2 inches, & body weight, guessing maybe 3 times bigger.

Do I have a problem here?

Do Black Ghosts go through periods of low food consumption?

I want to get a handle on any problem as early as possible....

-------------------------------------------------------
FEEDING:

I do 2 or 3 feedings a day, total 6 food items :

A frozen feeding early/mid day:

Bloodworms; Mysis Shrimp; Beef heart.

A freeze-dried feeding, late day, using:

Fluval Bug Bites "Tropical Formula" (mainly Soldier Fly larva); Krill (crushed); Tubifex Worms.

A night feeding for the Ghost, from a 40 ml pipette, any of the 6 items he seems to like best, and didn't get much of earlier.

--------------------------------------------------

Other Stock:

3 cory's

3 Yoyo loaches

1 Chinese Algae Eater

1 Pleco

1 v. large Nerite Snail

1 Large Rabbit Snail.

Several hundred Malaysian Trumpet Snails (which mainly stay down in the substrate)..

-------------------------------------------------

Tank Set-Up:

20g long, glass top.

Eco-Complete substrate, with a colony of Malaysian Trumpet Snails.

Aquaclear 20-50 g HOB filter

2 sponge filters, in the rear corners, run by 2 large air pumps.

100w heater, set to 74F

48W, full-spectrum LED light, 16/8 day/night cycle, with dawn, dusk, and night light features.

A large piece of Mopani wood, to add a little tannin to the water; lends a SLIGHT tea color to the tank.

Many live plants; several java ferns; java Moss; 2 Water Lily (about a dozen lily pads on the surface, to darken the tank a little for the Ghost; several Aponogeton; 2 floating masses of Hornwort; 2 very large, 3 small Marimo moss balls; & several other large plants I don't have names for.....

 

[Colin_T]

How long has the tank been set up for?
What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH of the tank water?
How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?
Can we see some pictures of the fish?

---------------------
Black ghost knife fish are nocturnal and spend most of the day hiding and sleeping.

Whoever sold you the fish did not do you any favors because they can reach 12 inches + in length and will end up growing too big for your tank.

Raw or cooked prawn/ shrimp and bits of fish are better than beef heart and bloodworms.

---------------------
Try doing a 75% water change and gravel cleaning the substrate every day for a week. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

 

[jfcp]

How long has the tank been set up for?
What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH of the tank water?
How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?
Can we see some pictures of the fish?

---------------------
Black ghost knife fish are nocturnal and spend most of the day hiding and sleeping.

Whoever sold you the fish did not do you any favors because they can reach 12 inches + in length and will end up growing too big for your tank.

Raw or cooked prawn/ shrimp and bits of fish are better than beef heart and bloodworms.

---------------------
Try doing a 75% water change and gravel cleaning the substrate every day for a week. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

The tank has been running for several months, and the current fish load has not changed for about 2 weeks. I see no signs of disease on any of the fish.

The water looks perfectly clear, except for a very slight tannin tint, and the substrate looks clean and new, except for the occaisional tiny tuft of algae.

I do a 20% water change weekly, and use Seachem Prime, and then Pristine to boost the bacterial cycling, and check the filters for film build-ups.

I'll do a full water test tonight, post the results tomorrow.