Knife fish

[juanveldez]

okay as prevously stated I am getting a new 72 gallon bow front and am going to restock my 29 gallon tank with new fish I was thinking of a knife fish and some other smaller South American Cichlids that will be peaceful enough. but I don't know alot about them and can't find any info on them HELP ME PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Gibbo]

Some info on various Knife Fish;

Clown Knife Fish
Badmans Tropical Fish

Concerningpets

Thetropicaltank
There may be 2 or more species referred to as Clown Knife Fish. All are very large

Black Ghost Knife Fish;
Aquariacentral

Aquahobby
There are species from Africa and South America that are referred to as Black Ghost Knife Fish!!

This is various Knifefish info;
Mongabay

Hope this is of help

 

[juanveldez]

thanks for the help Gibbo it really made up my mind on which one that I am going to get. well see if this is an experiment in futility or not but we will see

 

[juanveldez]

okay now that I have decided on getting a black ghost knofe fish I was wondering if anybody had them and tell me if they would be okay in a 72 gallon bow front with with an assortment of south american dwarf cichlids and if they are particularly stressed with frequent water changes and or adding water often due to the fact that I have to add water all of the time cause of evaporation

 

[mbunaman]

i was also going to try similar but was advised against it by my LFS as the mubuna will probably nip at the knife fish

 

[mostanks]

hi juan-well the black ghost knifes max size is 23"s so a 72g is NOT the ideal size tank to house one,mine on the other hand stopped growing at a lil over 7"s(i've no idea why)but that's just 1 fish.

as for housing w/sa/ca cichlids,which ones do you have in mind?
if it's anything like a red devil or green terror i have to say no way,they will eventually rip the tank apart to get to it.
the safest bet would proly be festivum or severums,i'll post a few that i think would make decent tankmates.

another thing about black ghost knives,they have very very large mouths,i saw mine yawn once holy crap it opened like a a pair of scissors,my point is whatever you chose should be about the same size or bigger.

 

[mostanks]

Generally peaceful and shy, the Festivum is best kept with similar tankmates in a well-planted aquarium. Silver Dollars or Severums usually make good companions. Feed a wide variety of foods including flakes and pellets. This fish is sensitive to poor water quality, so regular water changes and a good filtration system is a must

the firemouths are iffy,mine was housed w/f mouths w/no problems,mine were very layed back not agressive at all but you may end up w/a nasty one.

 

[juanveldez]

what do you think about cockatto dwarf cichlids with the black ghost knife fish? I was looking at them before I decided to go with the maliwi set up

 

[mostanks]

cockatoo would be a good choice.if you do decide to go w/any apistos make sure they are in the tank first and have already claimed a cave/spot.as soon as the bgk is dropped in the tank he'll be looking for a safe place and when they find it they will protect it BIG TIME,they are capable of doing ALOT of damage if their territory is invaded.

 

[mostanks]

hey juan-you should read my post on bgk(you may have already)but it seems that i stunted my bgk growth by housing him in too small of a tank.
you may want to think about that before you purchase one maybe it would'nt be to bad that he's starting out in a 72g(mine started in a 55g)but you should run it by some of the experts. i'm just going by my experience.

 

[juanveldez]

okay most looked over your post.. and unfortunatly it has made me reconsider my whole plan ohhh the pain.... so I guess it is back to the drawing board. I am getting the 72 gallon bow front and so I have decided that I will put my africans in there and expand it some, then move bert into the 55 gallon, and then start a small tang tank in the 29 gallon how does that sound?

 

[Gibbo]

Sounds good to me m8, but it's a shame about the knives. Saying that, would any of the African Mormyrids interest you? They are very unusual and yet stay smaller. So long as they aren't in with aggressive fish (would be great with Dwarf Cichlids).....


Mormyrids


I hope to try these sometime...

 

[Gibbo]

The 'Baby Whale' Pollimyrus isidori sounds ideal if you can track them down.

Also;

Peters Elephantnose

The rest of the stuff was about experiments to do with the weak electrical organ they possess.

 

[juanveldez]

hey Gibbo I have actually seen them at my lfs which is really small so it shocked me too. but I have heard that they are really tempermental about water conditions. is that true?

 

[Gibbo]

I'm not sure, in a sense so far as extremes are avoided the Peters Elephantnose may be fine. Like any fish, water quality is the key. They may be very sensitive even to high Nitrates, so as long as the quality is excellent then they should do well. You can get nitrate reducing filter media (used a lot for Discus) that may be effective. And of course regulate feeding so as nothing is left to waste. They're certainly a challenge but may not be as difficult as you'd think.