Peacock Knife

[Lokemer]

So my LFS is selling somthing they call a peacock knife but everywhere i look i cannot find a example of of a peacock knife.

 

[nmonks]

Does the knifefish in question have a dorsal fin? If it does, it's one of the Notopteridae, and that limits the range of possibilities significantly.

By the name, I'm guessing it's one of the Chitala species. These have rows of white and black eyespots along the flank. Fish with the name "peacock" typically have eyespots, e.g., peacock eels, peacock cichlids, and so on.

There are several species of Chitala have been traded, typically as "clown knifefish", but I stress that NONE of them are good aquarium fish, potentially getting extremely large (up to 150 cm in one case, and over 100 cm for the majority of species). While they don't necessarily get to maximum size in captivity, I've seen plenty of clown knives around the 60 cm mark. Unless you have a huge aquarium and experience of housing extremely powerful predatory fish, leave the fish alone. Chitala species are farmed as food fish, and once in a while they end up in the ornamental fish trade. While easy enough to maintain in themselves, their size means that eventually most owners end up needing to rehome them.

Really, any retailer selling an oddball fish without a scientific name is not doing his job properly. The scientific name should be on the import list he was sent, so even if he doesn't have the name on the tanks, if you ask, he should be able to find it.

Cheers, Neale

So my LFS is selling somthing they call a peacock knife but everywhere i look i cannot find a example of of a peacock knife.

 

[Lokemer]

no i wasnt gonna buy it and i have figured out its just a clown knife