Is There A Chance That My Bgk Will Eat My Silver Tipped Tetras?

[MewMew42]

after a lack of advice given to me in the shop i perchased the beautiful ghost knife, but ive read he will feed on smaller fish
i have 6 silver tipped tetras in my tank [so far]
and an albino red finned shark [thoses two seem pretty friendly actually]
but im worried the littlens are going to get eaten

what do you think?

 

[markandhisfish]

from what ive read of bgk's id say your tetras days are numbered

 

[Davo86]

Yes they will get eaten,

What size tank do you have? if you don't know that the BGK is predatory i'm guessing you also don't know that it will eventually get to a good 18 inches in length.

 

[MewMew42]

oh deary, until i get another tank i need to watch out

luckily its only just been introduced today so its still pretty shy

silver tips are about 4cm long and BGK is about 7

would that make any difference?


*fingers cossed*


ps ph yes i know that now, but soon i am to get a bigger tank anyways, again after the bad advice given, though so far its hiding in a corner even though its dark [they also told me my shark was a plec, until a customer told me other wise]

 

[Davo86]

They'll be ok together until the BGK feels it can fit the tetras into its mouth, then they will be gone

 

[MewMew42]

phew

thats made my outlook on my tetras a lot better!

thanks a lot, most grateful!

 

[minxfishy]

At that size he isnt capable of eating them, they have pretty small mouths for their size. There is also the theory (not completely proven) that a bgkf will not see the fish it grows up with and around as food, it uses its electrical sense to map out the tank and knows which fish are which and its only when its grown up more that anything new and small is in the tank it will see it as food.

Having said that, my bgkf has been housed with many other fish in his time and so far hasnt touched a single one, in fact at 7" he is now with rasboras amongst other things and he didnt bat an eyelid when they were put in his tank and he hasnt bothered them at all, they all swim freely around his hideout and dont even flinch when he comes out. And he is now capable of eating them. Providing you keep your ghost well fed then you shouldnt have a problem for a while or if ever IMO.

 

[nInfan1990]

At that size he isnt capable of eating them, they have pretty small mouths for their size. There is also the theory (not completely proven) that a bgkf will not see the fish it grows up with and around as food, it uses its electrical sense to map out the tank and knows which fish are which and its only when its grown up more that anything new and small is in the tank it will see it as food.

Having said that, my bgkf has been housed with many other fish in his time and so far hasnt touched a single one, in fact at 7" he is now with rasboras amongst other things and he didnt bat an eyelid when they were put in his tank and he hasnt bothered them at all, they all swim freely around his hideout and dont even flinch when he comes out. And he is now capable of eating them. Providing you keep your ghost well fed then you shouldnt have a problem for a while or if ever IMO.

We woke up this morning and all the fish were okay, infact the black ghost has eaten the flakes i layed down AND found a new daytime hiding place under the castle we have in there, i guess it just had to be night for it to want to (I Personally saw it eat them at 4am this morning)

 

[minxfishy]

Well if you can get it to eat flakes, then your one up on me, mine will only eat frozen/live food, no flakes, pellets, zero nada. Picky little oik!

 

[millie1]

lol - my BGK eats anyhting... loves live food - will eat flakes/pellets - and loves bloodworms....

i have aquired 4 neons and he's never touched them.....