electrical fish together?

[bryce2003]

Warrior,
Yeah, it seems to be a great misconception with these fish, as is other info that seems to float around in regards to them. I 'm also sorry to hear about your experiences with them. I have been very fortunate in that I have never had anything like this happen to me and have found them to be good tank mates with everything from Elephant Noses to my small Cory's. In my opinion I would recommend them to anyone, but thats because of my own experiences. Isn't it funny how experiences differ between fish keepers and just goes to prove one of my points from a previous post. That is until you give it a go you never fully know. Unpredictability is one of the greatest things about fish keeping I reckon, after the fish themselves of cause.
Cheers,
Bryce.

 

[Vip]

Like i said i agree with both of you guys, but i dont agree on the harsh words used, as me and bryce said you can only learn by doing things yourself.
My ghost and elephant didnt fight like that but then again your ghost is alot bigger than mine and ALOT more powerful as well.

 

[Vip]

Warrior, it wasnt me that said "look at the LFS on how they have them in the same tanks" that was BlueIce

my ghost just took half my pleco's right fin off and alot off his top fin
wonder what happend cause i wasnt home i didnt see it

 

[bryce2003]

Vip,
I'm not trying to offend or sound offensive here. However you were not home when the pleco had his fins damaged so I find it hard to believe that you could automatically jump to the conclusion that it was the BGK. What other fish have you got in the tank? It could have been one of the others you never fully know unless you actually witness the event. As I have said before they have a bad reputation that is unwarranted in my opinion and I find with a lot of people it is easier to blame them rather than some of the "prettier" or more preffered and well known fish.
Cheers,
Bryce.

 

[Vip]

True i t see it happen i thought it was him because i have seen them fight before over a my log, and there always next to each other under the same part of this log, thats really why i thought it was him. And the bite mark is thin and long.

 

[bryce2003]

Vip,
I haven't heard of a Pleco and a BGK fighting over the same territory before, thats not to say that it hasn't happened. The reason for this that springs to my mind is that maybe there isn't enough space or avenue's for which they can find their own hidey hole without being interupted or interfered with. Maybe a change in your aquascaping and the addition of a few more rocks, logs or similar will help in overcoming this problem.
Cheers,
Bryce.

 

[Warrior]

bryce,
I dont think i could of said it better myself mate, its everyone to there own when it comes down advise. Do you have any pictures of your fish? I would really like to see your setup.

 

[FMZ]

Black Ghost Ballet

http/www.fishprofiles.com/interactive/fo...ad.asp?id=41060

 

[BlueIce]

Black Ghost Ballet

http/www.fishprofiles.com/interactive/fo...ad.asp?id=41060

that's me...and i think i have that thread here too..lol

 

[BlueIce]

Ok, i have been spending some time around the forum and have found some very good info, now its time for me to step in on this.

I had a 30cm Black Ghost Knife in my 8ftx2ftx2ft tank along with 2 Oscars, 1 Jaguar and a very tame Trimac that i had since a fry.
I loved the Ghosts so much i wanted to get another one, but seeing the fish in my tank i though i had better get a large one as well i found one for $150 and it was well over 30cm as the guy was paying for it i spotted a elephant nose, now this is the first time i had come across one, well it ended up comeing home with me as well in differnt bags.
When i got home i put the bags on top of the water for the temp to warm up, right away my other ghost came out and attacked the bag, the knife in the bag was under a huge amount of stress, so i thought it was better to just put it in my other 3ft tank for now. The elephant nose i let in there, it got chased by my cichlids but hid behind alot of rocking and was safe from my big boys, but not from my Knife it launched at the elephant grabbing it and digging it into the ground, then all the sudden, nothing.....the knife went on like nothing had happend, it was like it knew it had killed it some how. I was really disapointed by it and i got my money back from the shop after a heated agrument. When i got home i put the other knife in, same thing happend again they started to fight right under the light, they didnt care, it was like blood was just on there mind, as it always seems like that when you see them fight though...
Now....Im not saying this will happen all the time, but this is what happend to me, so if someone asked me if its ok, i would say no, hell no, of course not, but if they were to ask blueice who doesnt seem to have to much experiance on these fish, he would say yes (I ment no offence at all) Vip i would agree with 110% all the way on this, because it seems like we have had the same experiance with knifes.
Sorry if i seemed hard but after you said look at the LFS and how they have alot in there, you kinda made yourself look like a tool.

excuse me..not much experience with these fish? I have had my bgk for several years...and i have researched that entire time,always searching for new info.How incredibly stupid that you would take your one 15 minute experience and compare it to my several years of keeping multiple bgk! lol

 

[bryce2003]

BlueIce,
Some nice photo's there. Besides the Severum what other fish do you have in with them? Do you only have 2 BGK's or do you have more? Do you know what sex they are? If not post a side on photo of each and I'll explain what they are, as in male or female and how to sex them.
Cheers,
Bryce.

 

[BlueIce]

BlueIce,
Some nice photo's there. Besides the Severum what other fish do you have in with them? Do you only have 2 BGK's or do you have more? Do you know what sex they are? If not post a side on photo of each and I'll explain what they are, as in male or female and how to sex them.
Cheers,
Bryce.

Thanks,
Other then the bgk in the pic,there is a small 5 incher..a pleco and 2 cories.
The bgk are being moved soon to a bigger tank ,not sure what i'll have in with them at that point.

I have more pics of them in my sig...not sure any are good enough for sexing them tho.I'll take more pics when I have time today.

 

[FMZ]

Could it be that people who tried to keep 2 BGKs at the same time ended up getting 2 males or females? Maybe BGK just dont tolerate the same sex.

 

[bryce2003]

FMZ,
In my own opinion I think compatibility comes down to the individual fish. Some fish no matter what species can be domineering and aggressive whilst others can be passive and get along with anything, much in the same way as humans. Much to the dismay of some "experts", as fish will adapt to different environments, behave differently etc given different environments and the rules for keeping fish are more broad based guidelines rather than being hard and fast rules, it all comes down to personnal interpretation and individual experience. For instance I have 4 Red Forest Jewels and 2 Convicts in my tank, I added them as 3cm fry, now they are around the 6-7cm mark and have no drama's with when it comes to aggression much to the dismay of a lot of people. I also think that with the above in lies the key, in my opinion anyway. I think that to add fish to a tank at small sizes, especially with the so called "aggressive" ones they can grow a certain tolerance, probably because if they step out of line as a young fish they get a whooping and they learn from that. It could also be they learn or adapt to certain behaviours at a young age in mirroring the behaviour of other fish within their own environment. It could be a myriad of things.

I also think that FMZ could have something with his above comment. I am lucky as I have a male and a female in my tank, I never had any dramas when I had one in the tank and on adding the other they have gotten on as well. However I have a lot of mates with more than one BGK in a tank, including the bloke with the BGK tank and they are mixed sexes (as in some have a couple of males, some have a couple of female and some have both males and females)and they don't have any problems. However after talking to BGK breeders etc. I was told that compatibility is the key and is the hardest part of the breeding cycle as it can be quiet hard to get a male and a female that will get along. Most of them have also said that the pair they have were grown up together from fry, again it could be a tolerance thing brought about from being together from a young age and growing a tolerance of each other.
Cheers,
Bryce.

P.S. I think that they are males, can't tell exactly. To sex them the male has a horse shaped head and it's eyes are up near the top of it's head and set back from it's mouth. The female has a slender head and it's eyes are lower and closer to the tip of it's head. Initially I was told that you need two of each sex basically side by side in order to see the difference between the two and sex them. Once you know what you are looking for however you soon learn the difference. The other thing that I have seen and I am still trying to verify is that the males eyes are a fuller colour of black where the females eyes are black but fairly opaque. I have noticed this on a few that I have seen but still trying to narrow it down as a way of sexing.

 

[FMZ]

Hey bryce2003,

Can you post a picture of your BGK if you possibly can?? I want to learn how to differenciate between BGK sex.