Black Ghost Knife Fish

[joeskandal]

Hey,
my wife has her heart set on us getting a Black ghost knife fish.
im just after some information about them.
I know they are electrogenic, and they are nocturnal, and that they like to have somewhere to hide.
She used to have one in a big 6ft tank, from small, and it was great.
She used to feed it bloodworm through a turkey baster, and sometimes by hand.
There were never any problems with it eating other fish or anything like that.
Now i have been looking on the www and it says they will eat other fish etc etc.

We want to get just a small one, and we have seen some as little as 8cm.
I have heard horror stories that these grow very big, very quickly.
Is this the case?

It would be great to hear opinions of people who have actually kept them, as the guy in our LFS said that he had one and it grew from 2 inches to 20 inches in less than a year.

Thanks,
Joe

 

[Davo86]

What tank size do you have atm? Personally wouldn't consider one unless you have a tank of around 240L to start with and then a tank of around 500L or more within one year.

They can and do get big, 20" in less than a year is a bit OTT but a good 9" should easily be achievable over a period of a year,

Some will eat small fish but depends entirely on the individual, As they are predatory by nature always assume they might,

Foodwise bloodworm isn't sufficient on its own, and a much wider range of foods should be offered.

 

[joeskandal]

its 200L.
We have seen some tiny ones, about 8cm.
in a 6ft tank it grew only to 20cm from 10cm in nearly 3 years.
She used a tropical mix of brine shrimp, cockles mussels etc.