Researching Black Ghost Knifefish

[feemia]

Over the past week I've read a lot a personal accounts from people who have kept BGK. The majority have said that they are very peaceful and either only eat the small fish, or else they don't bother anything in the tank. There were a couple who said that they killed or injured every fish in the tank including large angels and silver dollars, but there are always exceptions with any fish.

They aren't completely blind, but their eyesight is very poor and they navigate with sonar. If they were human they would be considered "legally blind". That's why it's possible to fool them with a clear glass or plastic tube into thinking they are hiding in a cave.

They sound like cool fish. I'm not going to encourage it, but if my husband still wants one when we go back to Seattle in July, I'll go along with it.

 

[Malefic23]

I've housed mine with snails with no problems. Plants are another issue though. Mine likes to bite leaves out of plants trying to drag them around his cave. I've watched him gather java moss to line the door of his cave, hiding it from other fish. Overall a peacefull but active fish, so long as he's housed with things that don't fit in his mouth. Mine currently resides with a 12 inch oscar, three midsized severum and two senegal bichirs with no problems. He occasionally nuzzles the oscar's belly and pushes him out of his cave, but that's about the extent of his agression with large fish. Guppies on the other hand... gulp, bite, rend, and he'll eat the rest later.