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Caring
for Your New Black Ghost Knife Fish |
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Name Origin: Theoretically,
the local natives believe the ghosts of their dead relatives live in these fish.
Or perhaps their missing kitchen cutlery re-lives in these guys? We cannot verify
either theory from personal interviews. Most of the local
people now probably have cable and watch the Discovery channel.
Chances are, they’ve changed their minds. Water Conditions: In
general, plain old aquarium water works fine.
If you make regular water changes and don’t overfeed, your black ghost
knife fish will thrive. Appeal: Who can resist a
jet-black fish that undulates in the water?
A fish that can swim as well backwards as forwards?
A fish that rapidly learns to eat from your fingers?
Size: We’ve seen
reports of 20-inch long specimens. On
average, few black ghost knife fish exceed 12 inches – probably because most people keep them in
smaller tanks. Arguers: Don’t mix two
black ghost knife fish together. They argue
very much with each other – especially in small aquaria. A: In a large tank like yours, your knife fish have plenty
of room with no need to argue. Too many people try to put two in a
10-gallon tank (40 litres) because they buy little ones. Knife fish
are bitey predators and like small, tasty fish -- including bettas.
Your red mosquito larvae are probably what we call frozen bloodworms over
here. Most fish love them. I'm adding your comments to my
ghost knife page to encourage everyone to keep them in larger aquaria.
LA A: Always glad to add to the knowledge pool. I'll add
your comments to our black ghost knife page. LA Hiders: At least one
manufacturer makes clear plastic “ghost houses” for black ghost knife fish to “hide”
in. We like the glass chimneys of
hurricane lanterns better. An
upside-down clay flowerpot with a notch in it will also work.
Ceramic or rock caves look better. You’ll
often see them poking their heads out as though waiting for food to pass by.
If you give them no place to hide, they duck behind your filter tubes. Trick
Them. Lean a piece of slate against your front glass. Your black
ghost knife fish will quickly slide under your instant hiding place. Works every
time. You will see your knife fish front and center 90% of the time. Foods: Black ghost knife
fishes readily eat small live foods – Ryan,
West Bloomfield, MI, January 31, 2006 A: Thanks for the report,
Ryan. I’ll
add it to my black ghost knife fish web page. LA
A: Thanks for the info. I'll add it to my
black ghost knife fish LA Electric Food Finders. These
nocturnal feeders use a weak electric current to locate food in the dark.
This makes black ghost knife fish poor tank mates with other so-called electric fishes such
as the elephant noses, baby whales, and other mormyrids.
Tank Mates: Keep black
ghost knife fishes with fish too large to swallow but not mean enough to beat
their stuffings out. For instance,
most cichlids would harass them unmercifully. A: Not every fish fits the mold. Most do. Yours
certainly doesn't. You may want to give him one more shot by mixing
him with four to five-inch American cichlids. I'm including your
report on my black ghost knife fish page. LA Breeding: Never say
never, but don’t waste your time. We’ve
never personally heard of anyone breeding black ghost knife fish. (Or
even trying to breed them.) Since
they fare poorly when kept together, you probably need a very large tank. A: How big are
the babies? I'd take them out right now so the parents would not be
tempted. I'm unaware of any black ghost spawnings, so keep me
informed. Baby black ghosts hit the market at 1.5 to 2 inches long.
If you have friends like some of mine, they would sneak in baby black ghost
knife fish to tweak me. Any chance of a photo? I'll add your
report to my black ghost page. LA
A: Congrats. Start
passing out those cigars. In the
meantime, Kathie (who works at Aqualand)
sent me a couple ghost knife spawning
reports. I lost them temporarily.
I'll get them to you later. LA
A: Congrats, Shane. Now you need to write it up so we
know the secrets of your success. I'll add this report to my black
ghost page. Thanks. LA Substrate Choice: Usually,
light colored gravel on the bottom will bleach out a dark fish.
You can put these guys over bright white sand and still enjoy a jet-black fish.
White sand will, however, bleach out most of your other fishes. Don’t
put your black ghost knife fish over black gravel, or he will become invisible. Disease Treatment: Many
parasite and ich treatments will kill these “scaleless fish.” Use them
at half strength or weaker. Filtration:
Your black ghost knife fish needs clean water. Do not overfeed. Use good
aeration and frequent water changes to help keep their water clean A:
Alright. I'll add your info to my ghost page. Thanks.
LA A: Thanks for the report. I've added it to my
ghost page. LA A: Thanks for the info. I added it to my BGK
page. LA
A: Good report. I'll add it to my ghost page. LA
A: Thanks for your report. I'll add it to my BGK page. He probably ignores your trumpet snails because they spend 97% of their time under the gravel. LA
A: Very interesting. I'm adding your report to my black ghost knife page. Thanks. LA
Quinn Family, Westminster, CA, April 28, 2011
I just discovered your website and enjoyed the discussion of Black Ghost Knife Fish, but had a couple of comments to contribute. Ours is named Flipper and we've had him 4 or 5 years in a 29 gallon tank. He was about 3 inches long when we got him and is now about 12 inches. He has lived with 3 scissortail rasboras, 2 knight gobies and a plecostomus for many years (also a half dozen or so feeder guppies which occasionally disappear and we seldom see babies, but that's why the guppies are in there). The tank has a 12-15 inch limestone rock and lots of plants (both rooted and floating). If we put in something new, it has lots of places to hide and if it survives the first week, it generally does well. Once a scissortail lost an eye, but he healed up and lived a couple more years. We are convinced that the reason many ghost knives don't thrive is because they are stressed from not being able to avoid bright lights. Flipper's first home was a pair of abalone shells; one with the inside up and the other propped upside down over it so he could nestle inside. He always makes sure that his front half is hidden from light. When he outgrew the abalones, we shopped at the hardware store and found (in plumbing) a Y-shaped black sewer pipe. We put it into his tank diagonally so we could look through and see him but he could escape the lights, then planted plants and propped his abalones over and around it so it's invisible (the gobies hide in the cave formed above it). Once a month, I put in a dollar's worth of live bloodworms and 10-20 ghost shrimp. The rest of the time we rotate dry foods. Each day we put in a little "big" food (floating pellets, dried baby shrimp or dried bloodworms), a corner of a block of tubifex, a few flakes and 3-6 algae pellets. He will eat any of these. Occasionally we put in thick slices of fresh zucchini (we thought for the pleco). Surprisingly, Flipper sometimes comes out in the bright light to gobble the algae pellets like candy, and at times he eats big chunks of the zucchini. Sometimes there are still a couple of ghost shrimp in the tank when I add the new supply. I think the combination of dark hiding places, variety of foods and vegetables has helped him to be healthy. He's the fattest ghost knife I've ever seen. This note is kind of long, but I hope it is helpful to some of your new folks.
A: Good info and good advice. BGKs do prefer low light and hiding places. They are good eaters. I'm surprised he doesn't eat all your smaller fish. He has a very large mouth. I'm adding it to my BGK page. Thanks for your input. LA
David Cessna, NC, August 16, 2012
A: Interesting observations. I'm adding them to my BGK page. LA © 2000, © 2003, © 2004, © 2005, © 2006, © 2008, © 2009, © 2010, © 2011, © 2012 LA Productions
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