Hi From Maine

[ClownKnifeMommy]

Hi all... yes, I'm new in here. Not so new to fish, but I'm sure a beginner in many people's minds.

Short run down of my tank experience... ok, not so short, but it's important to questions that will come later.

3 years ago my 5 year old wanted "underwater frogs"... so I did my research, talked to the fish store people, looked things up, covered thousands of miles of internet pages.
In the end I had a 20-Long, whatever that means, 6 dead African Clawed Frogs (over many months mind you), lots of different "test kits" for amonia and PH, more random frog facts than my brain could hold, and a VERY bored 5 year old. Lesson learned, kids go through phases, stop being the Mom that spoils her kid and NEVER listen to them when the "I want a pet" topic comes up. Thank goodness it wasn't puppies right?

So I've somewhat successfully raised guppies and neons. A couple of neat eels that systematically found ways to commit suicide (yes, that's honest, I didn't kill them... one got himself stuck in a castle, the other jumped out of the tank).
My step-dad found an awesome "knife fish" for my tank... and we truely fell in love with him. He lived very happily with my other fish for a while, his odd sleeping habits and social behavior made him a part of the family. 8 weeks later, he was belly up. devistation set in.
A few months after, my step-dad brings home a "spotted knife fish". Oh cool! We're excited! Um, wait, he look NOTHING like my black and white one I had, this one is grey with 2 little spots on him.... well... here's the bad part.. one by one my fish start to dissappear... "Spot" is growing by the minute... so I do a little research.
SPOT, as we call him, is a knife fish, but not the ghost knife fish I discovered we had at first. Oh no, Spot is a Clown Knife fish... a fish who eats anything he can fit in his BIG FAT mouth.
I was angry, not at anyone or anything in particular, just mad the I hadn't done my research. My two beautiful tetra's who I'd had for almost 2 years were gone, 4 carefully selected guppies were gone, by pretty-but-reclusive Loki was gone.
Just Spot and good ole' Pleco (yeah, we're original huh?). So we spend a couple months trying to decide what to do with this fish who is going to grow well beyond my means of caring for him...

He goes to live in a new 30 G tank at my family's establishment.... a sushi bar of all places... yes, people ask often how much to get him over rice. But I'm not selling.
He's got 16 spots (so the customers tell me) and is 12 inches long. I'm actively trying to find someone with a tank large enough to accomodate him. 100- 150 G from what I've read. No one can take him. I can't afford to buy a 150 g set-up... and am terrified to try and care for something that large. And as angry as I was at him for making my friends a part of his regular diet, I'm attached to the poor guy. He knows my voice and is social to those that care to observe him (Ok, so he's territorial).
So my old 7th grade science teacher hears about him, and she's got a 50 g she's now given me. It's not ideal as he's already 12 inches, but the tank is 48x20x12 (inches) and at least it's bigger than what he's got.
I've only just begun on this tank adventure and there are so many questions to ask when dealing with a tank of this size...

All I have at this point is a freshly water-tight-tested, bleach scrubbed and well rinsed tank, and about 50 lbs. of well rinsed and sifted substrate gravel for it. That's it, nothing else. No stand, no filters, no heaters, no hoods or lights. Just a glass box and a bunch of rocks.
Oh, and a 30 G tank with a pissed off Pleco and a hungry 12 inch Knife fish who live in a sushi bar.

So HI! I'm here, I've got ton's of questions regarding heaters and filters.... but those are for other sectons of this forum...
I'll be floundering around for a while, putting things in the wrong places and asking stupid questions, but if you're nice to me, I might actually learn something!!!!
Thanks for making it this far, and welcome to my humourus fish tank journey.

~Spot's Mommy

 

[ALEXF]

Wow.....

Welcome to the forum. Ask away those questions and most people will lead you in the right direction. I am fairly new and they are always patient and helpful to me. Good Luck.

 

[Tolak]

Just a glass box and a bunch of rocks.
Oh, and a 30 G tank with a pissed off Pleco and a hungry 12 inch Knife fish who live in a sushi bar.

That's awesome, sounds like something I'd get stuck with. Welcome, ask any questions you want after that.

 

[Colin_T]

Hey Spot's Mom

LOL that's a funny story. Do we get to hear the rest of it?

I would take the clown knife back to the petshop now because they hit 18inches and the bigger it gets, the harder it will be to get rid of later on.

They don't actually need huge tanks because they spend most of their time hiding in the cave or PVC pipe. When they do come out they swim around a bit, get some food and go back under their rock. As long as the water is kept clean and the fish has room to turn around without touching the sides of the tank, it will be fine.

A little note about bleach and fish tanks. The glass is held together with silicon and silicon gets damaged by bleach. A quick once over with some bleach before rinsing isn't a problem but if you leave pure bleach in contact with the silicon for more than about 30 minutes it could do some damage to the silicon.
You can check the silicon on the tank for air bubbles and see if any of it is coming away from the corners of the tank. If there are no bubbles and the silicon feels nicely stuck to the glass then it is fine.
I'm just mentioning this because 2nd hand tanks have a way of coming apart at the seams and it usually happens late at night. It doesn't happen often but it can happen.

The next time someone asks you how much for the knife fish on rice say $2000. You might get lucky and make 2 grand and get rid of the fish

Welcome to the forum

 

[ALEXF]

The next time someone asks you how much for the knife fish on rice say $2000. You might get lucky and make 2 grand and get rid of the fish

Lmao

 

[ClownKnifeMommy]

The next time someone asks you how much for the knife fish on rice say $2000. You might get lucky and make 2 grand and get rid of the fish

Awww, you sound like my sushi chef!!!! I'm a bleeding heart, I just can't bear to let someone eat my baby.

I've tried to return Spot to a local pet shop (I'm afriad to travel more than an hour or two)... mind you, "local" in Maine is a relative term... this it "the back country" and most sores are pretty darn far away. The local store won't take him because they don't have a tank set up where he could be isolated, at least not one that big enough for him.

I have heard about bleach in fish tanks, and I use a VERY low concentration, 1 tsp - 5 gal of water. Just enough to disenfect, and rinsed very well imediately after. My first tank I had a lot of support getting set up and had heard enough horror stories to be leary of bleach, lol.
I carefully went over all the silicone with my husband to be sure I won't have 50 gal of water on my floors at 3 AM. He's was just aching to find someting to fix as is his nature.

Also, spot is an interesting Knife fish. I've learned they are by nature pretty reclusive. Though he's been at the restaurant since January and he doesn't hide! He's got Pleco's big rock to hide behind, but prefers to rest on the gravel at the front of the tank. He's incredibly social to customers, especially small kids who are at his eye level. He'll lay on his side and interact with the kids, do "dolphin jumps" at the surface and follow you from one end of the tank to another. I keep trying to explain that it's just him being territorial, but I think he's learned that if he gets the little kids going, I'll let them give him a bit of food so they can see how big his mouth is (no, he's not over-fed, I might get one little kid a night if we're lucky, it's a sushi bar in Maine).
See why I'm distraught about saying good-bye to him?

Thank ou for your warm welcomes

 

[Colin_T]

Hey if your hubby is into fixing things send him my way and he can renovate my house

Spot stares at the kids because he is eyeing them up for his next meal. You have a pet fish in a sushi bar and it wants human flesh for revenge. I bet if you sneak in during the night after lights out he will be there with a couple of knives and a tofu human and he'll be slicing away getting some practice.

 

[Faythee]

What a funny thread !

He sounds like a great fish. I would keep him. When there is a will there is a way ! Transfer him to the larger tank. You will come across an even larger one in the future. Have hubby build you a nice big sturdy stand to put it on

 

[ClownKnifeMommy]

When there is a will there is a way ! Transfer him to the larger tank. You will come across an even larger one in the future.

that's my theory... although I don't think I have a place in my house where the suggested 6'x3'x2' tank will fit!!!
He'll be ok in the 50 for a bit while I figure out my next step. He'll be bummed that he's leaving the faces at he bar, but there just isn't room for him there anymore

 

[Proud Texan]

hehe funny story