Yep $1,500.00. That's retail of course. The thing is with fish like this they are not bred in a fish farm. These things are actually captured from the wild. So, someone has to take a boat and scuba dive or net them with a large net to get them. Similar to the begining of "Finding Nemo". The reason they aren't bred is because many fish won't breed in captivity. No matter how hard you try sometimes you cannot reproduce their natural environment. Not only that but a species such as this, nobody has learned what they need to breed. Some fish wait until certain seasons, certain currents, certain temps or maybe the spawn after a rainstorm. You can never tell I guess. I'm not a marine biologist so I wouldn't know either. If it was easy to breed them then they wouldn't cost this much since you wouldn't have to depend on the Custo family to catch them.
To answer the question about if I will be putting them together. Yes, but not initially. I want to make sure this fish is fully acclimated to the tank and water conditions. Slowly I will make changes to the water to where it is as close to my normal conditions as possible. Then, once this guy grows up a bit I will put them together. It will be very exciting to see how they react in a pair. Since these fish are blind and navigate the water using an electrical current they produce they will be able to feel each other without actually touching. Though the current is not powerful so they will still have to get close. The interesting thing to see is how they will react to that. If anyone is wondering, no it will not zap you. I have actually had my first white knife swim into my hand for food. They are very similar in behaviour to a Black Ghost Knifefish, with the exception that this one sticks it's head out of the water and swims backwards. The Black variety stays under the water. Also, they do get along with one another.
When I first put the Black Ghost with the White Knife the chase was on. For about two days all they did was roll around with each other and play the chase game. No harm was inflicted, I think it was more a territory thing. Then again they still play occasionally but the the White Knife is more than double the size of the Black Ghost so it isn't frequent as it used to be.
To answer the question about my shop, it is 2150 sq feet. It houses aprox 160 glass tanks of a variety of sizes from 10 gallons to 180 gallon. They feature everything from feeders to stingrays. The marine tanks have various items from common to rarely seen fish, corals and plants. About 2/3 of them are freshwater tanks and the others are marine tanks. I am working on growing out the saltwater a bit more because of a higher demand for some reason these days. In the back room of the store I have my own breeder setup with an additional 38 freshwater tanks where I do my own fish to sell. Also, there is a small room with an additional dozen tanks soley for hospital or quaranteen purposes. I usually keep trade ins in there for a couple weeks until I know they are okay to go out on the floor. All tanks are run off of Sweetwater Blowers going to either dual sponge filters or UG filters. UG are mainly the saltwater. I did not use a central filtration unit due to the possibility of spreading disease and to accomidate specific needs to specific fish.
The store is long and narrow so I have four long rows of tanks and tanks along the back wall. Everything in between is retail space for dry goods, displays and a few varmits that I also sell. I sell very little to do with other pets than fish, I only do it because of request by my customers. Since it is a smaller town I try to accomidate my customers needs so they don't have to go to different places to get what they need for their other pets. I don't try to compete with the chain store prices on dog food and such and there is little profit in it for me. If it keeps butts coming in my doors it is worth it in the end.
In addition to all this I have 70+ (ever growing) tanks in my basement which are soley for the purpose of breeding fish. The main breeds are several strains of show guppies from swordtail/split tail, half black blues, greens, purples, tans and a variety of colors of snakeskins. Just in guppies alone it takes up a large block of those tanks. The others include Gouramies of many different colors, Angels in variety, Neons, Cardinals, Killies and the highest maintanance Discus. Discus take a tremendous amount of time and require constant attention. However, Discus are very beautiful fish if they are healthy and are very interesting. Not to mention a big money maker. I am just starting to breed Clownfish like Nemo due to demand. They are not cheap to get them from my distributor so I can't sell them cheap to my customers. They are a favorite in the shop of course due to the movie so I am doing what I can. If I am successful I can sell them for half the amount that I can now and it will be much more profitable for me.
Finally, I have 6 display tanks in my house that house mostly either large or unusual fish. The smallest tank of those is a 55 gallon which is my headboard on my bed and it's a brackish tank. I have mostly large Scats of Red, Green and Silver in there. There are 4 different 72 gallon bow fronts spread throughout the rest of the house. One 155 gallon bow front which is where the Whiteknife is right now but he's almost getting two big for it. Lastly a 180 gallon tank is in my rec room which has silver and red Arrowana and freshwater stingray.
Wow that was alot of typing but I think I got everything. All I have to say, it is ALOT of work keeping all this up. It is rewarding and worth it in the end though. Believe it or not I actually do have time sometimes to sit down and ENJOY what I have created. Technology and audimation and customization helps alot though. There is always a better way of doing things just waiting to be though of. Luckily I have rarely run into disaster up to this point in the game (knock on wood) with the exception of a lightning strike and power outages. I have NEVER had a disease outbreak that did any signifigant damage or anything else catastrophic for that matter. Anyway, I think that's enough for you people to read for now and I got way off the subject of the Whiteknife fish so I'm outta here for now. Thanks again for your help in locating the fish and also for your interest. Keep Posting!
