Black Ghost Knife Fish

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stevethescot

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Hi all,

quick question on the bgkf on how fast they grow, im hoping to add one to my tank to finish it off, im aware they can grow larger in size but my tank should take care of them for a good while ( i hope)

at the moment my tank is a jewel rio 300 approx 180 litres and in it at the moment i have

10 neon tetras
3 clown loaches
4 ballon molly's
2 headbangers
2 silver sharks
4 serpae tetras
4 fry (mollies)
2 angels

at my lfs they have some bgkf in and they are about 1 1/2 inch in length im, wanting to introduce one into the tank until i get my new house sorted which im planning on building a tank into the wall ( new house will take up to about a year to complete, then about a good 2 months setting up the tank plus cycling. ( planning on around something like 400 litres)

so if anyone can give me a good indication on what size i can expect after a year would be fantoosh.

also id like to mention that i lost a clown loach the other day, no idea why, came home from work and he was at the top of the tank, no signs of infection and the rest of the fish seem happy, tanks stats are fine just one of those weird things.

since the clowns were small and all my lfs had was medium size ( around 3 inch) i took the plunge and was happy that once i got him/her home, into the tank and left him with the lights off to calm down,

once i switched on the lights i was overjoyed to see my 2 small ( 1 inch) clowns huddling around him or her. made me fell all warm inside
 
I'm not entirely sure on how fast they grow, but from my experience, I wouldn't put on in with all those small fish as they would eat all the food before the BGK could get to it. they are nocturnal hunters, so even food that managed to make it to the bottom in a tank like that would be scavenged by all the other fish before the BGK would find any of it.

Also, to speed up cycling of your new tank, you can use a piece of filter media from an established tank to jump start the cycle.
 
A juwel rio 300 = 300 Litres, the rio 180 = 180 Litres, which is it?

So long as you get it small, the ghost, properly fed, shouldnt bother your other fish, mine has never once eaten another fish, I got him small, about 14 months ago I guess, he is now around 7", I got him at around 2" maybe slightly more. They are fairly slow growing fish, like to have a home of their own, mine loves his coconut cave (now caves as he's grown, so I have 3 pushed together to create a tunnel for him).

Will feed mainly on frozen/live foods, blooworm, brineshrimp, prawn seem to be a favourite for mine, he will also eat tetra prima, but no flakes or pellets. Loves a munch on cucumber too.

IMO you shouldnt really get one until you have the space to home him for life, they can reach 18", so a 5ft tank is best, but if you do decide to do it, remember to upgrade the tank in plenty of time.
 
yeah at the moment its 180 litres. but upgrading to 300 once i get into my new house, building it into the wall to add to the decor of the house

as for feeding the fish i would make sure that there is plenty of food for him even if i have to syringe food into his tunnel or where ever he makes his new home so that food is always close by, just have to make sure his home isnt the same place as the clowns as by god they love to hoover up blood worms,

wont be getting him for a few weeks at the moment treating my tank for suspected ich, believe ive caught it early enough aswell.

im not to worried about speeding up the cycling process of a new tank, even if i do add media from my other tank im still going to leave it for atleast a month just so i know its not going to cause any unwanted stress

thanks for the info guys

edit: just thinking can i have 2 ? or will they be aggressive to each other i seem to always buy fish in 2's so the other one has a bit of company
 
Its too small for a ghost at 180litres, even a small one, wait until you have a larger tank, had it been the 300L I would have said ok but upgrade.

No you cannot have two, only one.
 
A juwel rio 300 = 300 Litres, the rio 180 = 180 Litres, which is it?

So long as you get it small, the ghost, properly fed, shouldnt bother your other fish, mine has never once eaten another fish, I got him small, about 14 months ago I guess, he is now around 7", I got him at around 2" maybe slightly more. They are fairly slow growing fish, like to have a home of their own, mine loves his coconut cave (now caves as he's grown, so I have 3 pushed together to create a tunnel for him).

Will feed mainly on frozen/live foods, blooworm, brineshrimp, prawn seem to be a favourite for mine, he will also eat tetra prima, but no flakes or pellets. Loves a munch on cucumber too.

IMO you shouldnt really get one until you have the space to home him for life, they can reach 18", so a 5ft tank is best, but if you do decide to do it, remember to upgrade the tank in plenty of time.
My BGK loves scraps of un cooked bacon and his new favorite is smoked salmon. You should try it
 
The bgkf will eat your neons and small mollies as did mine witch is about 10" now :hyper:
 
Just because it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it won't happen - don't give bunk advice from a single short experience.

As the BGKF grows it's behavior and temperament changes (this happens with all knife fish, they are natural predators), around 12cm / 18 months. It will DECIMATE a pack of tetras.


If you really want to learn about Knife Fish i'd suggest the "Aquatic Predators" forum, google it and drop by their Knife Fish subforum.

Most of the aquarists there keep the larger varieties but they all know what they're talking about and you definatley won't get someone trying to tell you a BG is fine with Tetras.
 
I'm not entirely sure on how fast they grow, but from my experience, I wouldn't put on in with all those small fish as they would eat all the food before the BGK could get to it. they are nocturnal hunters, so even food that managed to make it to the bottom in a tank like that would be scavenged by all the other fish before the BGK would find any of it.

i have to jump in here, i disagree with that statement. i have a BGK and at feeding time, it'll come out and get the food. it searches around the tank until it finds it, and scoops it right up.

if you are worried about this, though, you could always feed the other fish on flake to distract them, and then put in a block of frozen bloodworm. we did this to begin with, but now it comes out looking and gets the bloodworm before the other fish. we also feed it earthworms, peas and chopped prawns.

we had to distract the other fish at first, as to be honest, the knifefish seems a bit thick... well, maybe just slow to realise there was food there, hehe. now anytime we open the tank it pops out, even if there is no food on the go. it's realised what the opening of the tank means! :good:

mine is about 2 and a half years old and is about 9 inches. it was just a couple of inches when we got it. not exactly fast growers.

edit: oh and it doesn't seem bothered about the smaller fish in the tank, so i again disagree with them eating the neons... granted i recently got a pair of galaxy rasboras, which really are no bigger than 1 cm, and refused to put them in the same tank as the knifefish, lmao!! i thought maybe that would have been trying my luck!! i do have 4 black neons in with the knifefish, and they're all still there!!!
 
Hi all,

quick question on the bgkf on how fast they grow, im hoping to add one to my tank to finish it off, im aware they can grow larger in size but my tank should take care of them for a good while ( i hope)

at the moment my tank is a jewel rio 300 approx 180 litres and in it at the moment i have

10 neon tetras
3 clown loaches
4 ballon molly's
2 headbangers
2 silver sharks
4 serpae tetras
4 fry (mollies)
2 angels

at my lfs they have some bgkf in and they are about 1 1/2 inch in length im, wanting to introduce one into the tank until i get my new house sorted which im planning on building a tank into the wall ( new house will take up to about a year to complete, then about a good 2 months setting up the tank plus cycling. ( planning on around something like 400 litres)

so if anyone can give me a good indication on what size i can expect after a year would be fantoosh.

also id like to mention that i lost a clown loach the other day, no idea why, came home from work and he was at the top of the tank, no signs of infection and the rest of the fish seem happy, tanks stats are fine just one of those weird things.

since the clowns were small and all my lfs had was medium size ( around 3 inch) i took the plunge and was happy that once i got him/her home, into the tank and left him with the lights off to calm down,

once i switched on the lights i was overjoyed to see my 2 small ( 1 inch) clowns huddling around him or her. made me fell all warm inside

I have had my BGK for over 1 year, and I do feed it seperatly than the other fish. I also have a mated pair of Lg angels, 2 clown loaches, royal pleco, Emporer Pleco, 12 rumynose barbs, and a flying fox, 6 coradora's and 2 smal octo catfish.
my smallest fish are basically the rummynose tetra's, octo catfish and several coradora's. I have always generally fed my BGK which is now around 8" or 9" by using a pair of plastic prongs, the plastic gardening ones you find at the fish stores. I usually lower 1/4 of a square of frozen bloodworm etc in front of him in his log home and he gobbles it down.
Heck, sometimes he grabs it with such force it feels like my tongs got hit by a freightrain. Lately he sometimes comes up to the surface and eats out of my hand when I feed him Krill but it has taken over a year for him to do that. When I put a peice of Cucumber in the tank a few times a week he will also munch on that as well. My BGK has never had a problem with any of my fish as I was a bit worried about the rummynose tetra's but no problems yet. Good luck with your new tank. My tank is a 90 gallon which I just upgraded from a 65. Hopefully it is my last tank as I spent a small forturne on it :unsure:
 
looks like everyones experience is different, lol. unfortunatly im not an ghost ownerer any more but i had one for 10 months in a rio 400(which personally i would say was the minimum size) got the little guy at 2" and departed with him when he was 11.5". had an ammonia spike in my tank and he unfortunatly died, amazing fish. was only agressive with fish over food or if they went in his cave. i never kept my knife with any fish under 4" long. i would have said you have to feed them everyday because if they get hungry at 6-7 inches and above the mouths big enough to swallow a tetra whole.

their mainly necturnal hunters but they can be trained. you wouln't see them eat your smaller fish you'd just wake up in the morning with a few missing fish

ok it has to be said catfish00 stop posting your just imbarrassing yourself
 

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