clown knife and ghost knife fish

[Rallysman]

Ah I knew there was something I missed. But yes I have read this and also read that this contributes to hole in the head as well. Having worked at a pet store I can also add that even if these fish don't have any parasites or anything to harm your fish, they don't contain much nutrients. These fish are fed really poorly, if at all, and if you choose to buy feeders such as guppies make sure you gut load them.
As a good staple pellet, if you can get the clown to eat it, I would recommend hikari pellets. Carnivore and massivore are good ones depending on the size of your knife, my bichir sure loves them.

Spot on

LFS feeders usually are terrible. Rather than trying to jump on pellets right away, start with frozen prepared foods like beef heart and mysis shrimp. Eventually you can move to market shrimp, but they'll get the idea that an open lid means food and you can get them on pellets. I've got a 22" Clown Knife and a 15" Black Ghost Knife on pellets by slowing introducing them to non live foods. I normally would say "Starve 'em" but Knives are tricky.

clown knives get to about 3 feet long. move it out of that tank ASAP.

the BGK itself needs a 150 gallon at the very minimum, and the clown knife will need at least a 300.

unless you plan on getting tanks big enough for them soon, take them to the LFS now before they get too big and noone will take them off your hands.

CK needs 300, and a BGK needs a 150? What dimensions, and why? Also, wouldn't taking them to the fish store put them in jeopardy of falling into a less capable keeper?

so should i take the red rosys out of my tank now? and how should i start to teach my clown knife to accept frozen foods or pellets?

Let them finish the rosys off, but just start offering blood worms and frozen beef heart on a regular schedule. I suggest feeding them once every 2 days until they take it (remove uneaten food) and once they get used to the frozen food feed them every day. Once they get used to your schedule cut the frozen foods off and start feeding pellets exclusively until they accept them. Knives really aren't too picky when they get a bit of size on them. You just have to work with them and be patient.

 

[anyoldthing1]

i got brine shrimp frozen the ghost knife eats the brine shrimp but my clown knife eats the rosys i also got some regular gold fish in there they are a dencent size and one gold gourami i feed them flake foods and cichlid staple and im wandering if they will try to eat most of the frozen food before the clown knife gets to the frozn food

 

[abi88]

i got brine shrimp frozen the ghost knife eats the brine shrimp but my clown knife eats the rosys i also got some regular gold fish in there they are a dencent size and one gold gourami i feed them flake foods and cichlid staple and im wandering if they will try to eat most of the frozen food before the clown knife gets to the frozn food

UMMMM....all I have to say to that is....get the gold fish out of there!


Oh and for your size of fish IMO Brine Shrimp really are nothing....you should at least be doing blood worms or Black worms....but beef heart and the worms will be your best bet! Also be watching your water perimeters to make sure that you are doing enough water changes, whether you take the other fish out or not!

 

[Tifftastic]

I concur. Goldfish and a tropical tank are not a good mix. Also a good way to feed frozen is to use a turkey baster to "target" feed that way you can get it past the other fish and to the area of the tank where the knives are.

I am also a little confused as to how the BGK needs a 150 gal tank? At full size maybe, but still thats a huge tank.

 

[anyoldthing1]

ok ill take them out right now but i dont know where to get beef heart

 

[abi88]

i dont know where to get beef heart

You should be able to find it not only in the freezer of your LFS-or Big Box store-but also in most frozen meat sections of large grocery stores

 

[captaincaveman9]

On a side note, it's best to only keep one knife fish in a tank. These feed and locate prey using an electric organ, and more than one knife fish in the tank can and will screw up their ability to hunt well and place more stress on the fish. I would take one or the other back for that reason alone, They are nocturnal but any tube (even clear) will make them feel safe and hidden. IMO it's better to start the fish (more closely related to eel than fish) in one tank and not move it later. I would only start them in a smaller tank if your budget prevents it....

 

[SchizotypalVamp]

Well, when fully grown clown knives are 3' and BGKs are 22'' around..they are slow growing but should not be severely stunted by being kept in a 54 gallon their entire lives.

 

[Rallysman]

Well, when fully grown clown knives are 3' and BGKs are 22'' around..they are slow growing but should not be severely stunted by being kept in a 54 gallon their entire lives.

Then a 3ft clown knife probably needs a bit more than 300 when it's 3ft long.

Have you ever seen a 22" BGK? Can you point me in the direction where I could see one? Even if it's wild, I'd like to see one. a 54g is a great place to start a BGK. It's not really sufficient for life, I agree, but I don't think 150 is the minimum. I guess it depends on the footprint of the 150 that you have in mind.

 

[GuiltyPleasures]

I had both a ghost knife and a clown knife and they never bothered each other. The ghost is always eating something he finds and the clown would only eat nightcrawlers, raw shrimp, chicken, raw thawed fish and sometimes beef heart. I could never get him to eat any pellets or other types of flake or frozen fish foods. I also never feed any of my fish live fish (goldfish, rosy reds, ect) I think that besides the above reasons of the dangers of live foods, it also gives them more a reason to eat my other fish in the tanks. I never had a problem with the clown bothering any of my other fish, even the 6 cory's that shared the tank with him.