Clown Knives?

[Oddball]

CLown knife fish are patriachal fish, meaning that you can keep one male and many females together in a tank, but males will constantly fight! Unfortunately i know of no sure fire way of telling the sexes apart! Yes clown knives can rip each other up pretty nasty and my trio soon became a duo when they figured out who was what lol

Regarding the cories........keep an eye on them, they may not be able to do direct damage to your knife, but should it try to eat them they may jut out their pectoral and dorsal fins and get lodged in its throat, choking it to death.

my adults happilly accept praen/shrimp, feeders (frozen and anything i judge wrong in size) worms, bloodworm cubes, cod fillet, cichlid pellets, catfish pellets, predator pellets and of course my fingers

 

[simonas]

CLown knife fish are patriachal fish, meaning that you can keep one male and many females together in a tank, but males will constantly fight! Unfortunately i know of no sure fire way of telling the sexes apart! Yes clown knives can rip each other up pretty nasty and my trio soon became a duo when they figured out who was what lol

Regarding the cories........keep an eye on them, they may not be able to do direct damage to your knife, but should it try to eat them they may jut out their pectoral and dorsal fins and get lodged in its throat, choking it to death.

my adults happilly accept praen/shrimp, feeders (frozen and anything i judge wrong in size) worms, bloodworm cubes, cod fillet, cichlid pellets, catfish pellets, predator pellets and of course my fingers

MY OLD LARGE CLOWN KNIFE ONCE BIT MY FINGER instead of food I was dangling and I had graze marks on the nail where his teeth/jaw had bitten on.

best fish I ver kept and I got a new tiddler last sunday although he was not in the best of shape when I picked him up , however he's feeding ok straight away!!! frozen bloodworm, brine shrimp and a rummy nose tetra and cardinal that were left in that tank

 

[cakebooks]

O.K. All you fishy experts can have a good laugh at me now!
I wrote a couple of weeks ago about getting my new clown knife to eat, and have worried every day of the last 2 weeks that he was still starving, as the amount of feeder fish hadn't dwindled AT ALL during that time.
When I came home from work today, about one third of the feeders were left and unless there is a mysterious invisible fish in the tank with the clown, he has actually eaten them! How cool is this?
I visited a friend who has a couple of 3 year old clowns who are SO beautiful and came home and told mine he had better start eating and grow up to be big like them, maybe he was actually listening. ( or maybe I'm going slightly mad!)

 

[Dane]

my uncle has been wanting to give me his clown knife for about 8 months now. When i first saw him/her, it was about.. 5 inches, now it's about a foot.. crazy stuff

 

[HerosCichlid]

Thanks for everyone's help. The bite on my clown knife's nose is nearly gone but I was wondering, the bite took off the clown knife's little "whisker" and I was wondering if that would grow back or not. ???

 

[Oddball]

That whisker is actually one of its nostils! Usually knives are quite good at regenerating their damaged parts and this shouldnt pose him a problem in the long run

 

[simonas]

without trying to hijack this thread, my clown that I've had for two weeks has started to fourish now. hanging mid water in the vallis rather than in the cave I've got a and eating loads of brine shrimp and bloodorm. I can't wait till it starts getting beefier cos they look so impressive. a fish that improves the bigger it gets

 

[troutfly]

Apteronotus albifrons

Overview: One of the most stunning and odd looking fish we can keep. The black ghost is sure to create a conversation. If you can meet its needs they can live for many years.

Quick stats:
size: up to 20" (49cm)
tank: 48 inches
strata: bottom-middle
pH: 6.0 to 8.0
Hardness: soft to medium. dH range: 5.0 - 10.0
temperature: 73ºF to 82ºF (23-28°C)

Classification:
Order: Cypriniformes
Suborder: Gymnotoidei
Family: Apteronotidae
Genera: Apteronotus
Species: albifrons

Common name:
Black Ghost Knife Fish

Distribution:
Northern, South America in the Amazon river basin

General Body Form: An elongated, laterally compressed species with a long anal fin that starts at the base of the pectoral fins. The caudal penuncle is also long, and the rounded caudal fin is very small. The small Dorsal fin is filamentous

Coloration:
The body and fins are a jet Black color, the base of the tail fin is marked with two wide vertical bands. There is a white stripe on the back starting at the head and extending about halfway down the body.

Maintenance:
The aquarium for the Black ghost should be large with a small grained substrate. It should be fairly densely planted with many floating plants. The floating plants will help the fish overcome its shyness as it is nocturnal and sensitive to bright lights. Driftwood is also recommended along with some sort of inert piping for the fish to hide in. The water should be soft, and kept at a temperature of between seventy-five and eighty-two degrees. The pH should be neutral to acid. Feeding should be a mix of live tubifex brine shrimp and meaty frozen foods. The Black ghost is sensitive to water pollutants, changes in water conditions, and medications. Although timid they are aggressive to their own kind but can be housed with other large peaceful fish such as Angelfish, Discus and Gourami.

Biotope:
Found in fast flowing waters of rivers and streams with a sandy bottom

Breeding:
Little (or nothing) is known of their sexing and breeding habits. It has been reported that they are being bred in Indonesia

Note 1/21/2005 here is a report of breeding, the site has pictures of the fry G&S Aquarium

Here is some information taken from Badman's Tropical Fish Page. If I'm not mistaken, but a 48" tank would be a 55gal. here in America. I have only seen 1 BGK ever getting full grown in captivity and "it" measured in at 17.5" and was in a 175gal. tank. Let me just say they are great fish until they approach 11" and then smaller tank mates start to dissapear. They are very doscile but do have the ability to eat live fish.

 

[troutfly]

Notopterus chitala.

Quick stats:
size: Up to 40" (100cm)
tank: 48 inches (when small)
strata: Bottom, middle
pH: 5.5 to 7.0
Hardness: Soft to medium. dH range: 2-10
temperature: 75ºF to 82ºF (24-28°C)

Classification:
Order: Osteoglossiformes
Suborder: Notopteroidei
Family: Notopteridae
Genera: Notopterus

Common name:
Clown knife fish, Featherback

Distribution:
Asia, found in India, Thailand, Borneo, Malaysia and Sumatra.

General body form.
Long knifelike bodies. There are two Nasel tentacles above the large, toothed mouth. Six or seven fin rays support the little flag-like Dorsal fin, which is usually located at the center of the body. The center ridge along the belly is distinctly serrated. The fish has no Ventral fins. They can reach a length of two feet.

Coloration:
Generally silver, with a Brown tinge. The most striking feature are the circular markings along the middle area of the fish. These circles increase in size and number as the fish grows.

Maintenance:
These fish range in various types of water in their home territories. When they are young they live, communally in large numbers among submerged roots and water plants. They prefer the more peaceful parts of rivers, and can be found in large areas of standing water. They are nocturnal in habit and do not come out until twilight. Adults are territorial and sedentary in habit.

The aquarium for the knife-fish should be large with a small grained substrate. It should be fairly densely planted with many floating plants. Driftwood is also recommended along with some sort of inert piping for the fish to hide in. The water should be soft, and kept at a temperature of between seventy-five and eighty-two degrees. The pH should be neutral to acid. They are predatory in nature and need to be feed live food ranging from guppies to goldfish. Quality frozen food can be eventually accepted. Although a large and predatory fish the Clown-knife is very timid and any tankmates must be of the same nature and large enough not to be eaten.

In general only juvenile specimens are suitable for the home aquarium.

Biotope:
Found in calm, large rivers and backwaters that are overgrown.

Breeding:
Because only young fish are kept and never reach maturity, as far as I can find out they have not been breed in captivity.

Here is a profile for the Clown Knife, big difference between the 2 fish. The CK is from Asia and the BGK is from SA, and if in the same tank, the BGK would be food for the Clown, along with every other fish in the tank.

 

[cakebooks]

O.K. Here's a weird thing... The beautiful Clown knife fish that I've been annoying everyone with over the last couple of months has an interesting problem, he only has one eye! I'm not quite sure whether or not he ever had two eyes, he was in a darkish tank & I really don't remember seeing anything wrong then.
I recently moved him into a new tank, and my son noticed that he only has the one actual eye. On the other side is a bit of whitish silver skin, but not even a bulge where an eye might be. This might explain why he had such difficulty finding his food, but will he be able to function normally? He is one of my favorite fish, & I don't mind him being a bit deformed, but hope that it won't be a problem for him in the future.

 

[xXMrBonesXx]

i was looking up knives and a site had this as info...

Appropriate home. An aquarium with at least 29 gallons of water, an exterior power filter with a BIO-Wheel, a maximum of 1/4 inch of gravel, and an aquarium heater adjusted so the water temperature is between 78 and 82 degrees F. Click here for more about warm water aquariums

i know i wouldnt dare keep a fish that gets almost 2 feet in a tank thats about 2-3 feet

 

[Oddball]

This shouldnt affect him too much, but perhaps he lost the eye with the nasal tubercel damage?

 

[cakebooks]

Thank you for your reply, I'm glad that you think he can live a normal life. I confess to being ignorant of your term "nasal tubercel damage"? Could you please clarify this when you have a chance? I would appreciate it very much.
Having just lost my last Black Ghost Knife fish I am inconsolable at the moment, so don't be annoyed if I don't check for your reply until the weekend.