My Clown Knife

clutchxr · Mar 20, 2008

Howdy, I got a clown knife about 2 weeks ago. I have him in with a few cichlids that are about the same size all around 6in or so. None of the fish seem to pick on each other but I noticed today that the knife has a red thread thin line running horizontal the length of his body. Its directly right down the middle. I dont remember it being there when i first got him. Which makes me wonder if maybe something is wrong with him. He doesnt seem to lack a apetite he ate some goldfish today. He also seems to swim around just fine. If I can ill try and get a pic to show what i mean. I am hoping maybe someone here has kept knife fish and maybe has a idea what this may be. It dont really look like a scratch and it runs down both sides of its body. Hopefully i am over reacting over nothing. I dont know if its normal or not. Thanks for any light you all can shed on this.

simonas · Mar 20, 2008

I don't know what problem is but I keep a Clown Kknife and struggled with a couple of smaler ones before I got this one from a fishkeeper as opposed to a shop.The fact he is eating is a great sign as I know from these forums that people often struggle to get them to eat as I did with one I had before thsi one.

Maybe its a water quality issue and a couple of water changes could sort it. Once settled they seem very hardy fish.

Great fish thougH iN ABSOLUTELY love mine after keeping one to a good size about 14 years ago. I want mine to be my main fish and hoe to keep him for a long time in a huge tank eventually

try yours with catfish pellets as mine eats a load of them aloong iwith frozen silversides etc

CFC · Mar 20, 2008

The lines could just be the fishes lateral line which almost all fish have.

cane76 · Mar 20, 2008

sounds like the lateral line if its symetrical
do you guys know how big clown knives get and what size tank they will need?

simonas · Mar 20, 2008

I've never seen a red lateral line on a clown knife though. Its black/dark grey on mine

theyget mighty big probably 30inches or so

clutchxr · Mar 20, 2008

Yeah the line is perfectly straight down both sides of it. Seems to still be eating today. It also seems to be happily swimming around and playing in the bubbles. I still am worried though about this line being red like that. Last time i seen something like that the fish died a few days later. But that was months ago and totally unrelated. I was also told when i bought the fish that it could survive a lot worse water conditions that the cichlids I have. I dont want to put him back in the quarantine tank or put chems in the water if I can help it. I guess I will do a small water change and just wait and see what happens. thanks everyone. :good: