black ghost knife- help please!

[shauna]

I just added (2 days ago) a BGK into my community tank (about 60 gallons) and he doesn't seem to be doing his best. I know they like to hide-out but I haven't seem him come out once..even for food. When I look under the rock he's taken over, he's kind of on his side most of the time. This can't be alright! The tank is at 79 degrees and the PH is 7. i also have a small small cup of aquarium salt in the corner of the tank.
there's driftwood and rocks for shelter for him. I have a mix of fish that I've had for quite a while without any deaths...silver dollars, danios, tetras, some kind of small spotted catfish, a cory, and 3 new ramshorn snails.
not sure what i should do..if anything. I can't get him to come out and the minute i put in blood worms to try and get him to eat, the rest of the fish pack hurdle around at the buffet table
How active are these fish? In the store, there were tons in the tank and they were going nuts. Could he be sick?
:(

[JamisonBWolsh]

1.) they are NOCTURNAL fish
2.) Try feeding the some of the bloodworms/brine shrimp at night with the lights out.
3.) REMOVE ALL SALT AT ONCE! These guys are SCALELESS fish.. which means NO SALT!!! ESP. that salt container. (when I say salt..I mean salt that is added)- Salt that is normally in tap water is fine,...but NO ADDED SALT!
4.) It will take him/her some time to "get used" to their tank. Once they feel comfortable, they will be eat like crazy when you feed them..they will be the first to eat!

Why blood worms? Try frozen brine shrimp. Its cheaper and the fish like them as well. 16oz flat sheet-$7.99

And lastly- they are All WILD caught. This means it can take them some time to "learn" to eat what you feed them. If they have not eaten for a long time since they were caught, they may not eat at all ever. They will starve themselves. Not your fault. the stores/fish catchers

[shauna]

Right! thanks..the salt is gone.
i'll try that and your suggestions and hopefully he'll come around in a few days.
If not, i'll be ticked. nice looking thing.

much appreciated!

[JamisonBWolsh]

I was going to say none of your fish in that tank need that salt container...its just taking up space....

I do hope your "friend" survives..if not..try another. They can be hand tamed. Its a Nice addition!

Do try brine shrimp..... and try feeding at night. Try to make a long dark cave for him. To reduce stress...

With a 60 gallon tank..Im sure you can figure out a way to make several caves out of rocks..or even buy the caves from the LFS. Once they are full grown, there is a chance your tetras will be on the dinner menu?

[JamisonBWolsh]

another thing....feed on the OTHER side of the tank away from the filter and place the caves in this location as well..

defrost the bloodworms/brineshrimp in a mug first. Then add it to your tank. Sounds like your 60 gallon tank is healthy. GREAT! I sort of overcrowded my tank, but so far..everything is doing great with it.

[Faramir]

I find that "salt container" thing rather worrying. What's to stop it keeping on dissolving until the water is saturated? What was the rationale behind it?

I'm not even sure why it was there in the first place - it's counter-indicated for all the fish you list.

[shauna]

K, thanks...
on the one reply..yup, i do defrost the frozen worms in a little cup with a bit of water before i feed the fish. I'll buy the shrimp instead once i run out of the worms. And by the way, the BGK came out last night as soon as the lights went out in the room. i knew he was nocturnal but didn't realize he was that shy. Maybe he'll come out more as he gets more familiar with the tank....or else i buy him a buddy. If they live long and get too big, I would probably sell them.

As for the aquarium salt, I was told to do this from the fish store! They had it in THEIR tanks. I found it strange when they told me to use it too..salt in freshwater?..ok. They said that it was 'good' for them, protected agaisnt deseases and good for their colour. To date, all my fish are doing fine. I've only had one death and i've been using the salt for 2/3 months...one new snail got into the little salt cup..i think he overdosed! The salt cystals don't dissolve too fast...yet, but over time I would put in a little more in the cup. I put in about 1/2 cup.
Get this..i have another tank..32 gallons with a few small african chichilids. Someone in that tank eats the salt.

so i don't know..take the salt out all together? I did take it out of the 60 gallon. I thought I did notice super nice colours on my fish, but I don't want to kill them over time if i keep the salt.

[punch]

Get some LIVE blood worms from your LFS. That might intice hime to eat.

[JamisonBWolsh]

Live foods are always great, but they cost more money, can carry diseases, and does not have that much more nutritional value over frozen..stick with frozen...

DO NOT GET more than one ghost!!! READ important here... The bigger one will KILL the smaller one. One electical fish per tank please.

I think They get to be about 12 inches when full grown and IMO, that would be fine for your 60 gallon tank. If you raise the ghost with the tetras while its still small and young, there is a good chance that they wont realize that the tetras are food. Just swimming mates.

You have to understand something. Are you a Fishkeeper who keeps them as pets and enjoy the hobby...or are you the person that keeps them just for show? By taking back a fish "just because its too big" Does not wash. You know that they get to be about 12 inches and they live 15 + years. It would be IRRESPONSIBLE to keep him and let a "bond" grow, then suddenly betray him/her and return him to the store and have a uncertain future. If this is your intention... RETURN HIM NOW! IN general, big fish eat smaller fish....but there are exceptions...


I have 3 10 inch albino tinfoils and some other large fish (not nearly as big though). A friend had some guppy fry, so I took 3 and added them to my 60 gallon tank. These are 1/4 inch. So REAL small. The tinfoils IGNORE them...as well as ALL the other fish. Remarkable I think. I never fed them live food..so maybe thats the reason. Another reason not to feed Live food. LESS AGGRESSIVE FISH. They dont have to chase down and kill their meals...so this would reflect in their temperment...

[shauna]

i would try the live worms but i know they would be history before they got an inch down into the tank.

i think what 'might' have worked last night when the lights were off..i put a few flakes in for the other fish to gobble up and then quickly dropped in some sinking shrimp pellets before they saw them. That's when i noticed the BGk swimming around...hopefully picking up some of the pellets...can't see too well because theres lots of rocks/caves and a big piece of hollow driftwood that the pellets fell behind.

[Faramir]

Your shop advised you badly.

If you were going to add salt, this is a seriously unregulated way of doing it. How do you know how much has gone in? You'd need to sit down with a calculator and work out how much has dissolved, how much removed in water changes, and so on.

RTR has a fine article (rapidly becoming virtually fishkeeping internet Scripture) at http://www.aaquaria.com/aquasource/salt.shtml which examines the salt question, the myths and some actual facts.

[shauna]

yes, true...i see your point. I doubt I would be able to take him back to the store if he was around for that length of time. i do love the fish i have now...escpecially my silver dollars who have grown from tiny little things to the size they are now.

why then does the store have a pile of BGK's in one tank? is it because they are young yet? also..thought i read that bgks together are alright, but not a bgk and an elephant nose....sorry...you're right..2 BGK's aren't ok...

http://boeing_dude.tripod.com/id127.htm

[JamisonBWolsh]

Really.. try the frozen brine shrimp...he/she would LOVE it! Ghosts generally dont eat flakes or pellets....just live or frozen foods.... I would not try live foods though...your tetras might become dinner...stick with Frozen..you dont lose much and its CHEAPER!


At the LFS, they pack them in. So, in groups, they are fine. You cant have 2,3, or 4. You would have to have 5 or more to keep more than one, so the aggression is not all on one fish, but spread out...

read some articles on the web..you can train them to eat out of your hand. Eventually, they will come out during the daylight hours more often. esp. around feeding time! It may take a while though..

[JamisonBWolsh]

It was the same thing with my elephant nose...the first few weeks....he was ALWAYS hiding...I thought he would die of starvation. But, he "got used" to his tank and now when I feed frozen brine shrimp (every night at 7pm with lights ON) he is the first to eat. He even out competes against the 10 inch tinfoils... He LOVES brine shrimp...

He swims out during the day as well.. MANY times..

[shauna]

Thanks for all the info.
I've had tanks for years upon years, but I'm not in anyway or even close to being an expert at it. Actually I just found this forum site so i'll be back on occasion to learn new things.

does anyone know of any kind of plants that silver dollars or the other clan WONT eat? i have no live plants in my tank because everything i put in there vanishes. go figure.

[Faramir]

Java fern.

[JamisonBWolsh]

I dont know about other poeple, but My tinfoils even ate the plants that normally fish dont eat...like Java moss. Silver dollars are also herbavorves (plant eaters), so I think all you can do is get the one brand of plants that actually looks REAL! I forget that brand name though...

[shauna]

i don't know, but doubt if you guys agree with this, but this is my fake plant solution that works well/looks good and is cost effective ...

I do have a couple fish store purchased fake plants but i find them REALLY REALLY expensive and the quality is crap. For good coverage plants I take a trip to walmart to the decorators section where the loose artificial plants are. i buy strands of plain plant stems and bunch them together or i buy a plain leaf ivy like strand to drape down the glass on the inside. I also look and make sure there is no kind of coating on them before i buy and wash them well before i stick them in the tank. I did this FIRST before i had fish and stuck in a couple fish at a time. it works good and the plants are super cheap and compared to the fish store plants they don't compare. the fish store plants fade too quick. i think they're a joke.

some may say that these plants aren't the actual habitat plants they would see in the wild, but my purpose was to provide safe coverage for the fish and make it look good at a reasonable cost.