Ghost Knife Fish

[rachyw]

Hi everyone, im new to this site and after some advice. Ive been keeping tropical fish now for around 8 months and am really enjoying it! Im just feeling abit sad at the moment as i bought a gnf yesterday and got up this morning to find it dead, i really feel quite guilty about as if id not of bought it it would still be alive in the shop... I am really interested in keeping this fish but definatly do npt want to get another if it is likely to end up with the same fate...
Im not sure of water capacity of the tank as it was inherited but its a good size, ive got a couple of caves and a log in with a few plants so plenty enough places for it to hide in or at least i thought? Other fish i have a bulldog plec, 2 honey and 1 pearl gourami, 2 phantom tetras , 2 black neons, a corydora and 2 angels which can be abit bossy, which did cocern me but from when i put the gnf in till when i went to bed they never bothered it once. All my other fish are are very peaceful.
Does anyone have any thoughts as to the reason it could of died, abd wether my tank is suitable for one. Thanks in advance

 

[Ninjouzata]

What are the dimensions of your tank? Using the calculator at the top of the site can give you the volume of the tank, but I'm 99% sure your tank isn't large enough anyways
No offense intended at all but these guys get quite large (20 inches) and have heard of some getting up to 2 feet.
 
What are the parameters of your tank? Such as temp, pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrates. Did you add anything recently other than the BGK? Also how did you acclimate it?
 
Depending on your tank size, you may want to up your current schools of fish, the tetras, neons, and corydoras all need to be kept in groups of 6+

 

[fluttermoth]

I'm afraid Ninjouzata is right. You'd be looking at something like a 6'x2'x2' as an absolute minimum to keep a BGK properly
 
They're also a strange mixture of aggressive (so will eat smaller fish) and shy, so angels wouldn't be suitable as tankmates; in fact none of your current fish would be.
 
We couldn't say, for certain, why it died without some test results for the water parameters and te other info that Ninjouzata has asked for. More fish are lost to poor water quality than anything else. 
 
If you don't currently have test kits of your own, I would strongly recommend you invest in some; they're a tool no fishkeeper should be without, IMO.
 
I'm sorry we can't sound more positive for you!

 

[rachyw]

thankyou for your replies, and its ok about it not being posative i appriate your honosty.
 
ive used the calculater and its says my tank is 93 litres, so i dont think near big enough
 
as for the parametres im not entirely sure of what they all are, the temp is 25 degrees. i dont have any testing kits myself, but if this is something you strongly recommend i will purchase some. what excactly do i need? and when and how often should i be testing the water? I had a speight of losing alot of fish in a very short space of time so i did take a sample into my local fish shop around 4 weeks ago and he said the water was fine then. we came to the  conclusion that the water may have been poisened as my partner sometimes sprays deodorant on in the same room as my tank is he has stopped doing that now id i had done a couple of water changes since then and i have stopped losing fish.
 
i added the bgk on its own but had added the plec and 2 honey gouramis a few days earlier. id acclimated it same as i do all my other fish leave the bag in the water around 10-15 mins, undo the bag add some tank water into the bag leave for another 10-15 mins before releasing it into the tank.
 
sorry if i am doing things wrong, but i am very keen on becoming a really good responsible fish owner and i really appriate any advice

 

[fluttermoth]

We all did things wrong when we were starting out, don't be too hard on yourself 

 
The important tests you need are for ammonia and nitrite; they're the two toxins that can be present. Useful, but not essential are pH and nitrate.
 
Once your tank is established and properly cycled (and by 'cycled', i mean has a colony of good bacteria in the filter), you don't need to test the water very often, but we don't know if your tank is yet!
 
How long has it been set up? Do you make sure never to wash the filter media (that's all the stuff that lives inside the filter; sponge or ceramic rings, stuff like that) in tap water? 
 
I think it more likely that you lost a lot of fish due to your tank not being cycled, rather than your partner's deodorant, but without knowing more details it's hard to be sure.

 

[rachyw]

ive had it up and running since jan/feb time. and it had all been good (had lost an odd fish here and there) up untill around 4 wks and i started losing a fish a day, this went on for 9 days!! i think it was on the 3rd day i took a water sample into my local fish shop, but he said that it was clear., and thus coming to conclusion the water could of been poisened? so it has been about 3 weeks since i lost anymore fish (apart from the gkf) so fingers crossed whatever the problem was its now sorted!
 
umm i think the tank had been cycled properly. i started off with 5 neons and 5 phantom tetras left it a couple of wks took a water sample in to the shop that came back clear left it another wk took another water sample which also came back clear so then i slowly started to introduce more fish. i dont know wether that the tank had been previously used before i got it may of helped this with all the bacteria being in the filter already possible? and no i only use the water that has been siophoned out of the tank to clean the filter.