Clown Knife Fish

[sellwoc]

I am growing several fish in quite a large tank before they move to their bigger final home (probably a big Rena). At present they are in a Trigon 350. The fish that will be moving in a year or so are a Clown Knife and an Oscar and possibly the Bala sharks. None of these fish at present are very big as i like to buy them very small and watch them grow. (Biggest is the Clown at 5", Bala's 4-5", and Oscar 4"). They all live quite happily with some other juvenile angels, BGK, Clown loaches and Pictus. As i say, nothing too big and a new home will be bought once the house extension is complete. My question involves the clown knife i have had for about 4 months now. He eats no problem at all, but it is what he eats that is confusing me. He loves Algae biscuits. To the point of ignoring blood worms, brine shrimp, catfish pellets, flake, oscar pellets and anything else they get fed. Is this normal? From what i understand clown knife fish are supposed to be carnivores, not plec's! It's got so bad that he eats whole biscuits and chases the catfish away! please someone put my mind at rest that this is fairly normal and he isn't going mad! He is lovely with great markings and is very active so don't want to loose him.

cheers

chris

 

[ClownKnifeMommy]

Sorry, have to giggle. I've experienced the same problem with my now 12" CKF. I've learned that while there is no nutritional value in these for my poor "Spot"... it's simply a territorial thing. "I'm eating it just so you can't have it" syndrome. They're like a 3 year old with a vegetable that you convince them is what you want more than anything in the world, even if they don't like it, they just don't want you to have it.

My solution to this was unfortunetly a pain in the rear end. I found a rock that has a small hole in it. I stand it on end and it's thick enough that I can stick a wafer in there for my Pleco and Spot can't get at it. Luckily for me Pleco is only about 4", so he has no problem getting into spaces Spot can't. I think a tube of some kind would also be as efficient, though it requires a wet arm every time you feed. I'm not sure how big your algae eaters are, but it might work if they're small enough.

Also, Spot never did like ciclid pellets, he eats a special carnivore pellet that my fish store sells in zip-locks.... no clue what it is, but it's like miracle grow for a CKF! They prefer live food though.

Good luck!

 

[simonas]

I couldn't have put that better than the previous post. Mine does the same and swims off with it in his mouth. He's about 10 inches now and growing fast, fortunately for me he loves the catfish pellets and also prawns and frozen etc. I'm trying to get him on to lancefish cos years ago I had one who loved lancefish

 

[DarkEntity]

Ive yet to see anyone with a tank to properly house a Clown Knife...although i recon CFC could.

 

[MadMan-JaMeS]

Ive yet to see anyone with a tank to properly house a Clown Knife...although i recon CFC could.

Mark7616 Has a tank big enough and he did have a CKF

 

[DarkEntity]

Ive yet to see anyone with a tank to properly house a Clown Knife...although i recon CFC could.

Mark7616 Has a tank big enough and he did have a CKF

Not really since Clown Knives can hit 40"

There is a picture on the web of a guy who has caught one in a river and its massive.....

http/www.jjphoto.dk/fish_archive/warm_fr...tala_ornata.htm

 

[ClownKnifeMommy]

I've heard they can get very big in their natural habitat, but I've also read through months of research that in capiivity it is very difficult to get them over 18 inches.

I'm determined to be a success story with my CKF, just need to find a proper place to put that giant tank in my house

 

[cane76]

I've heard they can get very big in their natural habitat, but I've also read through months of research that in capiivity it is very difficult to get them over 18 inches.

my ck got 18" in 18 months so dont believe all you read
given the space to grow they will do exactly that