Black Ghost Knife Fish

dchaves · Feb 1, 2010

I just recently bought a black ghost knife fish. I did research on them beforehand and read that they can grow to be over a foot. I set up a 10 gallon tank for the fish, i plan on as he grows, i will upgrade the tank size, most likely to a 55 gallon tank because I want to buy other fish aswell. My question is, within its time in the 10g until i go up to a 55g, will being in a small tank stunt its growth, meaning it will not grow to its potential size because it spent a couple of weeks, 2-3, in a 10g tank?

minxfishy · Feb 1, 2010

2 -3 wks shouldnt hurt it at all, what size is it now?

For long term, your looking at bigger than a standard 4ft 55g tank, ideally 5ft or larger.

dchaves · Feb 1, 2010

Right now its roughly 3 maybe 4 inches, i saw the fish at the petsmart, only pet store around me, and it was the only one and i really wanted it, so i didnt wanna run the risk of waiting a couple of weeks to save up the money for a big tank and then come back to it being gone.

Assaye · Feb 1, 2010

dchaves said:
I just recently bought a black ghost knife fish. I did research on them beforehand and read that they can grow to be over a foot. I set up a 10 gallon tank for the fish, i plan on as he grows, i will upgrade the tank size, most likely to a 55 gallon tank because I want to buy other fish aswell. My question is, within its time in the 10g until i go up to a 55g, will being in a small tank stunt its growth, meaning it will not grow to its potential size because it spent a couple of weeks, 2-3, in a 10g tank?

If it's just a few weeks, it'll be fine.

However, you'll need more than a 55g for this boy. He'll grow to at least a foot (they can get much larger) and will ideally need a 6 foot tank minimum. If he gets larger than a foot, you'll be looking at an even bigger tank.

Good Luck

jourdy288 · Feb 1, 2010

You're going to want to upgrade to 55 gallons ASAP, a small tank will stunt his growth (and mess with his innards, too.)
Congrats on becoming a BGK owner! Also, when you get tankmates, (only after the aquarium upgrade) be careful not to get something like Elephant-Nose fish, the BGK dislikes them for their signals.

Jeff Lange · Feb 1, 2010

dchaves said:
I just recently bought a black ghost knife fish. I did research on them beforehand and read that they can grow to be over a foot. I set up a 10 gallon tank for the fish, i plan on as he grows, i will upgrade the tank size, most likely to a 55 gallon tank because I want to buy other fish aswell. My question is, within its time in the 10g until i go up to a 55g, will being in a small tank stunt its growth, meaning it will not grow to its potential size because it spent a couple of weeks, 2-3, in a 10g tank?

Well I have my BGK in a 90 gallon 4' x 18" tank and he is more than happy. He is approx 8-9" now and I got him as a pup 3-4" also over a year ago. I think a 55 gallon will be too small but I think you can get away with a 90 gallon or so.

Assaye · Feb 2, 2010

Jeff Lange said:
dchaves said:

I just recently bought a black ghost knife fish. I did research on them beforehand and read that they can grow to be over a foot. I set up a 10 gallon tank for the fish, i plan on as he grows, i will upgrade the tank size, most likely to a 55 gallon tank because I want to buy other fish aswell. My question is, within its time in the 10g until i go up to a 55g, will being in a small tank stunt its growth, meaning it will not grow to its potential size because it spent a couple of weeks, 2-3, in a 10g tank?

Click to expand...

Well I have my BGK in a 90 gallon 4' x 18" tank and he is more than happy. He is approx 8-9" now and I got him as a pup 3-4" also over a year ago. I think a 55 gallon will be too small but I think you can get away with a 90 gallon or so.

Really depends how big the fish gets. I work on a tank being at least 6 x the body length of the fish, giving them 6 'paces' across the tank. Still not much space but you wouldn't want to keep a 12" fish in a 48" tank - poor thing would hardly have any space to move!