Identify my fish
- Thread starter Digitelle
- Start date
Apteronotus albifrons. Black ghost knife is the common name. Here is thier profile. http://www.aquariacentral.com/speci...yword=&mh=200&view_records=Perform+SearchThis fish does need a good hiding spot, plenty of live foods and lots of room. How big is your tank and what are the other fish in there? They do not do well with any larde fin nippers.
Have you cycled the tank? BGK are quite sensative to water chemistry.
Have you cycled the tank? BGK are quite sensative to water chemistry.
The tank is 10 gallons, perhaps not big enough? He is very tiny right now, about 3 inches. I have been keeping that tank for about a year, and I do partial water changes and water tests each month. I have had the knifefish for 2 months. The only other fish in there are a 4 inch Pleco and 5 neon tetras. The Pleco and the black ghost knifefish share the hiding rock I have in there. I have been feeding him dried bloodworms, you recommend that I give him live food? Can you elaborate? I have fed live -insects to reptiles but not to fish, will he try to eat the tetras?
thanks, Dij
thanks, Dij
Digitelle said:
Looks like you have a major tank upgrade in your future, unless you plan on returning him The minimum recommended tank size for these guys is 90 GALLONS!!!! Check out the species profiles on the fish before you buy them Once he gets bigger, yes the neons will start to disappear
Digitelle said:
As said your 10 gallon will be way too small. As for the pleco, it too will quickly outgrow that tank. Water tests and changes should be done weekly, not monthly. Also, as said, your neons will likely come up missing shortly. Frozen/freeze dried foods are fine. I prefer to give them live whenever possible to encourage natural hunting behavior, but It's not a requirement(sorry to confuse you). A varied diet is what's important. When the blood worms run out, get some brine shrimp or krill, skeeter larvae, what have you. Also they are omnivorous, so algae wafers or blanched letuce will work for thier greens. I cannot stress enough how much you need a bigger tank if you want to keep this fish. If it is your budget, go get a 90 gal as suguested, or close to that size (bigger is always better). If you do that, you could keep guppies or some other prolific breeder in the 10 gallon and use the fry as food. Good Luck, you've got a really interesting fish there.
Hi everyone
after posting this thread I moved my Pleco and Knifefish to a 55 gallon tank, they both seemed to enjoy it and grew steadily. But suddenly the knifefish is acting strangely. He lies on the gravel instead of inside his shelter and seems to have trouble swimming. I checked all the levels and the nitrate/nitrite are in the black, while the water is a little hard, I have made adjustments to the PH and I know that knifefish like hard water anyway.
I am at a loss to know what is wrong with him, does anyone have any suggestions?
thanks in advance.
-D
EDIT: I realize that some people might say my fish has outgrown the tank, but he is still only 6 inches long, I had been feeding him live guppies (kept in a seperate tank that I checked for health problems before moving) and supplimented the diet with bloodworms. The pleco shows no signs of illness.
after posting this thread I moved my Pleco and Knifefish to a 55 gallon tank, they both seemed to enjoy it and grew steadily. But suddenly the knifefish is acting strangely. He lies on the gravel instead of inside his shelter and seems to have trouble swimming. I checked all the levels and the nitrate/nitrite are in the black, while the water is a little hard, I have made adjustments to the PH and I know that knifefish like hard water anyway.
I am at a loss to know what is wrong with him, does anyone have any suggestions?
thanks in advance.
-D
EDIT: I realize that some people might say my fish has outgrown the tank, but he is still only 6 inches long, I had been feeding him live guppies (kept in a seperate tank that I checked for health problems before moving) and supplimented the diet with bloodworms. The pleco shows no signs of illness.
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Common Plecos are pretty hardy unlike the ghost knife which will show health problems way before a common pleco would. Are you feeding enough? What temp are you keeping the tank at? Does he have a big enough hiding spot of his own?
I think the 55 will be ok for a little while, but you rally want to get something bigger in time. the problem is both fish will get longer than the 13 inches your tank has from front to back. But kudos for upgrading!!!! :thm:
BGK are not 100% blind. They can sence light. While I have found they usually will hide when the lights are on, and come out when they are off. I have seen some in tanks where they felt comfortable in the open during daylight. These fish will actually lay on thier sides and take "naps" which is normal for thier behavior. Can you elaborate on the abnormal swimming? They use an elecrto-sensory navigation, so will swill with back and forth motions, wagging thier head side to side to "feel" thier way arround.
As for PH and hardness, they are actually a south american knifefish, and prefer soft acidic water (low ph/gh/kh), unlike african knifefish which prefer the hard alkaline conditions.
BGK are not 100% blind. They can sence light. While I have found they usually will hide when the lights are on, and come out when they are off. I have seen some in tanks where they felt comfortable in the open during daylight. These fish will actually lay on thier sides and take "naps" which is normal for thier behavior. Can you elaborate on the abnormal swimming? They use an elecrto-sensory navigation, so will swill with back and forth motions, wagging thier head side to side to "feel" thier way arround.
As for PH and hardness, they are actually a south american knifefish, and prefer soft acidic water (low ph/gh/kh), unlike african knifefish which prefer the hard alkaline conditions.
I used to have a pair in 200G but was gonna move them so they had more room, they are a truely Amazing fish, when I get mine they start out in a 10G stay for 3 weeks and Immediatly go to 75G before they get 9 inches they go into atleast 100G. if you have any questions please feel free to ask.