What To Feed A Ghost Knife Fish

[atsoc15]

I have a ghost knife fish and always feed him prawns. However it will only eat out of my hand. If i just leave a prawn in the tank it wont touch it, but if i hold it just outside the water it will come nibble at it or even jump out the water to get it.

I have been told that they are one of the more intelligent fish and you can actually have them come and rub against your hand, which mine will do, but sometimes i cant wait about for ten minutes while it eats the prawn. Any one got any advice that can help me out here

 

[jayjay]

Does it have to be fed by hand? If so why? If it's because of other fish, you could make a 2litre bottle into a 'cave' for it, then drop the prawn in it, to protect it from other fish.

 

[Scott MacAdam]

i've heard about fish being kinda shy about eating but this seems not to be the case, but maybe this could get it used to eating on it's own (this is used for picky fish somethimes, for some reason.....hahaha) try minimal lighting, just so it could see it's food, leave the lid open, stand back and toss it in, this works well for fish that are used to live feed, so maybe it will think it's live and gobble it up, then after you've done this a few times, it should be fine...... again this may not work, but i think i may try this to break the regular feed from the hand deal. although it is pretty cool, i had a dojo loach that did the same!

GOOD LUCK!

 

[voo]

try minimal lighting, just so it could see it's food

Knife fish are blind aren't they?

They are quite shy, mine would only stay hidden at the back of the tank until i rearranged a bit, i got some taller plants and put some plants in the front of the tank, now it goes everywhere.

Do you have any plants or large ornaments in the tank? mine will eat krill pellets from the bottom of the tank when it's near to a plant.

 

[SamUK]

mayube tie the prawn so it dangles from the lid.

he mite think your holding it then?


wish my BGK was like that anyway. i see mine once a month when he comes out the rock mountain i have.

cant wai till hes bigger then he wont fit in there and ill get to see him lol.

 

[rob newland]

Knife fish are blind aren't they?

No, actually they are what's called a passive electrogenic fish. Basically they have an organ in them that creates a weak electric current (not enough to be felt) to help them find prey in the murky waters of the rivers they come from. The neat thing is that if two electrogenic fish are using the same "frequency" they can alter it to stop the signal from being "jammed".

 

[Scott MacAdam]

hahahaha well i guess the light would accually be for you to see if anything is happening then ! hahahaha! (neat fact, never knew)

 

[Gazoo]

My BGK was conditioned to swim to the top to be hand fed. Its favorite foods were frozen brine shrimp and bloodworms.

When not eating, this ghost house was its favorite place to hang out. It felt secure in it and I was able to get a great view.

 

[4ftguppy]

Does it eat livefoods? Have you tried whiteworm, daphnia etc?

Not many fish turn those down!

 

[BHornsey]

Hi,

I got a pair of BGKs and they are my favorite fish. I read a lot of members who say their's are timid but mine are complete nutters, stampeding around the tank all day and night!

I feed daphnia, brine shrimp and bloodworm, live as well as frozen. (Bloodworm is the favorite - they go mad for it) and even small earthworms. I cannot get them to take dried foods except occasionally they will have a go at the diskusin I give my Discus.

If I feed frozen bloodworm I tend to hold it in the water whilst it melts. The BGKs make a beeline for my fingers and start tugging away at it. They are now big enough that they can pull it clean out of my hand!!

Brian

 

[rob newland]

I did have a BGK and transparent one too, yet they both got nipped to death in two days! I have no idea which fish did it... It's strange as that was my second BGK and the one before only died because I introduced some evil jewel cichlids which my lfs told me were suitable . They killed like 5 of my fish while i was away for a weekend . I just have my african knife left - it's not as nice but it's still cool .

 

[kubora666]

about 2 weeks ago i got a 2" clown knife and he eats every and anything, i think ghosts r the same.