clown knife

[icefins]

when i fist started an a tank about 10 years ago i had a clown knife but it ended up dieying because it would not eat any thing, i fed it flakes live food dryed food every thing i want to get one again in the futrue but i have herd alote about them, exspicaly there eating habits and there size. some addintal info would be gladly taken

 

[semper fi]

knifes are usually a schooling fish from what i have heard. best kept with a group of atleast five.

maggie

 

[slt]

are these from the same species as the black ghost knife fish, i had one of these a few months ago, it started to kill my fish when it had settled into the tank, i took him back to my lfs, it was a realy nice fish and a good size,
i fed him on chopped shrimps freeze dried tubeflex worms, he would even take the food tablets, don't no how big these grow but the black ghost
can grow up to 20inch,

 

[cichlidmaster]

Clown Knifes are huge fish....

Would need a small swimming pool to keep a group of 5

If purchased small, start them off on flake or small pellet foods....

If purchased large then would have to go with live feeders such as guppies or feeder goldfish.

I have kept several species of knife fish and have always had good luck training them to eat pellet foods as I don't feed my fish feeders of any kind.

If trained to eat pellet food then do not feed feeders of any kind as this may very well induce them to refuse prepared foods.

 

[mostanks]

CM is right,they usually only eat live food as adults.before you buy another one ask the lfs what they feed it and how long has it been at the shop.i had a similar problem w/my ropefish,i got one to eat pellets but the other refused it(he only lasted 2 weeks)the other one i still have.

 

[Gibbo]

Clown Knives can get to a metre in length. A guy at my lfs, Richard Hardwick, writes the Oddballs section for Practical Fishkeeping magazine, he has a HUGE fishhouse full of oddballs such as Siamese Tiger Fish, Freshwater Rays, Arowana, Alligator Gars etc and has kept many a Clown Knife Fish! He used to open the lid, stand back and throw the bits of fish (usually whitebait, large prawns and cockle) and the Clowns would take it from the surface (upturned mouth a big clue as to feeding habits), or he would loop line around whitebait tail and 'mimic' movement to stimulate feeding. He has had many a success with feeding 'difficult' fish.

Ps. Why is this in the Cichlid section?

WILLIAM, WILLIAM.....

 

[icefins]

i put it in the this section becuase more people seem to respond here