My New Ghost Knife Fish!

[mike_980]

Just bought his yesterday after weeks of researching them and admiring videos of them on youtube

hes only a baby, can see the size compared with that jam jar. Ive presumed its a he and called him "casper the friendly ghost knife"

he seems happy enough and is already wizzing around the tank like he's been in it years. Only put him in last night and nearly got him to eat from my hand tonight! he came up and bit the cat fish pellet put didnt pull it from my had just sort of let go again but it was nearly there! He's my fave fish by a long way but my rainbow shark hasnt taken to kindly to him, when they first met the shark chased the BGK around for a short while then retired to under his log to sulk, i was pretty worried to start with because i love both fish but now they seem to be staying out of each others way which is good!

just wondering if anyone had any further advice on these fish which might be of use to me. I know my tetras might vasish eventually but im thinking of re homing them anyway and going for fewer larger fish...

 

[james_fish]

Lovely fish Mike. I to research these alot, but unfortunately they are not sutied for my tank. If i ever upgrade i'll be seriously considering a BGKF!

James.

 

[mike_980]

cheers fella! yeah hes so nice, cant wait for him to settle in properly so i can hand feed him!

 

[james_fish]

And don't worry about the Shark, my Red Tail was the same with some Barbs I added recently. But he does them no harm, he just chases them and goes back to his cobbles and 'sulks' like you said The sharks are softys really

James.

 

[mike_980]

haha yeah i know they are lol, just like their own space i think! mine has a plastic hollow log what he defends to the hill!

 

[james_fish]

Yeah they love a territory. Mine has cobbles to chill in, but he is quite sociable when it comes to feeding, till he bumps into the Barbs

James.

 

[mike_980]

mine gets on fine with my tiger barbs to be honest, just my new ghost knife it doesnt like! i read they dont like things that look similar to them selves lol so that might be why, my shark sometimes has fights with its own reflection in the glass hahaha

 

[james_fish]

Haha, they make me laugh sometimes the sharks. Mines pretty much a baby but he think's he's 10 foot long when he sees the Odessa Barbs! They'll get use to one another im sure.

James.

 

[BethK]

What an interesting fish, never seen one before!

 

[ian]

these fish can/do get really big, up to half a meter!!!

he'll need a 5ft plus tank in the near future, they do take there time to grow, but will max out most tanks.

 

[mike_980]

these fish can/do get really big, up to half a meter!!!

he'll need a 5ft plus tank in the near future, they do take there time to grow, but will max out most tanks.

yeah i know how big he'll get, from what iver read they rarely exceed 10-12" in captivity but can reach 2 foot in the wild! ive spoken to people who have kept them and have them and they say he'll be fine in my tank for a few years providing i dont overfeed as this makes the rocket in size apparently lol! once im out of uni and have my own place i can upgrade to a 250liter plus, we have one at work which is about 1.2 meters long, i worked it out to be roughly 250 liters which i could buy off them for peanuts because we dont even use it anymore so would this house him do you think? thats like a 60 ush US gallon

 

[barrybarry]

I can't wait for my big tank to get one! I love the wat they move! I have heard they will eat everything that will fit in there mouth! Which is quite a lot even when young as thee mouths are maahoosive! Good luck with the fish

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

I can't see your video but I love ghost knife fish; I'd have bought one if they didn't grow so big; I'd love to see pics as it grows

 

[arobinson1984]

Hi,

The 1.2m tank will not be big enough long term as its only 3.9ft long, you would need a 5ft tank minimum so you'd need to be looking around the 400-500L mark.

I wouldnt rely too much on the bgkf only reaching 12" as one of my lfs has one that is 18" and they cant seem to get rid of it lol, it was brought into them about 2 months ago now and no one has got a big enough tank to rehome it and those that do, dont want to take it due to it eating smaller fish as already mentioned.

They are a lovely fish but very sensitive and your whole tank will have to be bought, designed and stocked based around the bgkf


Andy

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

one of my lfs has one that is 18" and they cant seem to get rid of it lol

Wow I'd love to see one that big. My LFS only have them in at about 4" max