Animal Stories - People Talking About Knifefish



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Latest Animal Stories on Knifefish (139)

whiteaura - 2006-09-25
I just purchased an albino asiatic knifefish. It is 4" long. I put him in a 55 gallon tank that has a 3.5" blackghost knife; a 3.5" royal clown knife, a 3.5" silver clown knife, 4" african brown knife. The albino is absolutely not the shy type. It moves about the tank perpetually only occasionally stopping. It goes thru all the hiding places and chases out any knife fish it sees. All of the other knife fishes are a bit shy and like generally will stay in its hiding spot. The albino appears to be a little pushy and likes to assert itself. The only knifefish that can handle it is the african brown. The african brown has the most agility of movement when being chased by the albino. The albino tends to get a little aggravated when the african brown can easily dodge and put itself behind the albino. I'm not sure what to do with the albino. It is a bit more aggressive than the others and its perpetual motion reminds me of a giant danio. I'm a little disappointed that many internet sites claim that they are peaceful. My albino is very pushy with its tank mates.

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Dan - 2011-01-08
This may sound crazy but a lot of fish actually do have personalities. However rare they may be - exceptions do exist. It can make fish either really entertaining , peaceful, or stressful to have and observe. I'm only speaking from my years of research and experience in fish in both marine and freshwater aquariums. Sometimes we take gambles - and sometimes things turn out alright ... other times .. not so much. This also applies to fish. (ex. Angelfish generally will eat tetras small enough to fit in their mouths [the chances are higher as the angels grow bigger], but I have seen both of them get along peacefully. That being pretty average sized angels. But I haven't seen this or heard of it very often at all - its a gamble)

Kimberly - 2010-11-21
Hello,

I just purchased 3 black ghost knife fish and 2 silver tipped sharks for my 45 gallon aquarium. I purchased the fish at PetSmart and was told to add water conditioner to the tank. I did so following the exact directions on the bottle and acclimated my fish to the tank leaving them in the bag and putting the bags in the tank for approximately 40 minutes for the temps to adjust. About 30 minutes after I introduced them to the tank they started dying off. The temperature of the tank is 82-84 degrees Farenheit, and the pH level is 7.6 which according to this site is the appropriate level and temps for both kinds of fish. I now have one silver tip shark surviving. Could someone please tell me or give me any suggestions as to how or why these fish could have died so quickly? I think it may just have been the fish from PetSmart, but I've purchased other fish from there that have lasted years. There were no other fish in the tank when I introduced these new guys to the aquarium and the water was fresh with everything rinsed off in warm water. The filter had been running for over 12 hours to make sure everything was clean and ready for these new fish. I just don't understand so any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you,

Kim from Glen Burnie, MD

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Enrikus - 2010-12-21
Water is too bad.
Try
*ph around 7 (6.7-7.3) is best.
*make sure your tap water is hardness or softness. make medium water softness and hardness.
*Degress is ok but better between 80-82
*black ghost knife need 125 gallons up+
*filters run 24hour. make sure ammonia and nitrite to 0. don't worry about nitrate between 1-2ppm is fine. water change can help low nitrate.
*tap water have chlorine, add carbon in filters.

Hope that helps you.
jessica - 2011-01-03
I disagree with a lot of the people on fish set ups. I don't honestly believe the tank has to be over 100 gallons for a Knife fish. Your tank set up sounds almost perfect. I agree with the last comment though and that you should make so minor adjustments to temperature and pH levels. I think where you went wrong is: you shouldn't have bought so many fish to start out a new tank and you did it a little too early. It's probably best to wait 24 hours. My 30 gallon tank has been running empty for about a week now and I just put fish (guppies; because they are a hardy breed) in it today. I have done some research on the Black Knife fish because I really liked them when I saw one in the store. They do say that you should have a 50 gallon tank at least, but in reality any fish (as well as any reptile) will only grow as big as the tank they are in will allow them. As for the 'Clean and Ready' thing, there are a couple cycles the tank has to go through before the fish can be added. You did the right thing by putting in the water conditioner, but you should have waited a day or so after putting the treatment in for it to work properly. Next go round, (if you decide to go with Black Knife Fish again) I would recommend letting the tank run empty for a couple days. Put the treatment in it again if you are using new water. Test the pH levels and all other things you feel like you should test and wait another day or so to make sure it stays sustained. Then only put one or two fish in at a time. Also, I have read that you shouldn't try to feed them for the first 24 hours, because most wont even eat and usually it will stress them out in their environment. Hope this helps. Good luck next time.

charlie - 2010-12-12
I have a clown knife that i have had for about 3 weeks, he stays on the top of the tank, wont hide, i have noticed that he has knots on his side. he seems to be eating very well, moving around like nothing is wrong. Has anyone ever had this problem?

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brandon - 2011-01-01
I have had seen this many times. It almost sounds as tho it may be a birth defect with concerning the knots. I have owned many of these fish and for the first couple of months they sat at the top of the water and did nothing. I kinda assumed that my tank wasn't suited for them so I bought a few cave/ rock like structures and now they like to hide in those, and swim around a lot more. When I turn my tank lights on the morning they usually are found out scavenging which is probably due to the fact they're nocturnal. But my advice to you is to simply give it some stuff to hide in and it should be fine.

Jay - 2010-12-29
My 7" clown knife is having fin rot and looks bent out of shape. Any tips for treatment will be greatly appreciated.

jesse - 2009-07-20
I would like to find a clown knifefish but I don't know if he will do well in a 55 gallon tank.

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dennis - 2010-02-26
A 55 gal tank is ok for a clown knife they will grow to the tank size. I had 1 for 5 years and it got 26' long in a 80 gal tank but they do eat alot.
JT - 2010-04-24
There is no such thing as a fish that "grows to the tank size", their growth may slow down considerably, but this is because they are being stunted which will eventually lead to their death. You need at the very least a standard 180 gallon, but even that would eventually be too small, and could cause them to become slightly deformed. To properly house a clown knife for life, you will need a 240-300 gallon tank.
Breanne - 2010-12-12
Hi. I currently have a 16" clown knife in a 46 gal bowfront tank. He is doing wonderful but he eats about 40 large goldfish a week. He is only about 7 months old now. Make sure if you have other fish in the tank that they are large also. He will try to eat anything that fits in his mouth.

Heather - 2010-12-09
Our BGK has been doing well since we got him in May, but now I'm getting worried. He recently came out of a growth spurt and now will barely eat and sleeps a lot. Of course, I've been panicking lately when I find him asleep because he sometimes doesn't respond or move when I touch him. (We hand feed ours and he loves to be petted.) I'm trying to figure out if this is normal behavior or if something could be wrong.

Chad - 2010-08-01
What are the odds the Black ghost knife will eat neon tetras?

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janine - 2010-08-18
There seems to be 2 stories. Definitely will and they won't. Just be sure there aren't too many fish in the tank and perhaps feed your bkgf well. At night if possible. My ghost will chase fish when annoyed by them but doesn't go out of his way to fight. Nosy perhaps but not violent.
Becka - 2010-10-09
From our experience, if the neons go into your BGKF's cave, pretty high... We got our bgkf (5ish in. at the time) at the same time as our neon tetras. We'd been told by the pet shop they'd be fine together.
It wasn't until we saw tetras going into the cave but never back out we did some research and found bgkfs find neons pretty tasty...
He had a go at our blue longfin fighter too, though the fighter lived to tell the tale (had one eye shocked out and some pretty bad fin damage though).

It's at your own discretion really. If you DO decide to put both in the same tank just make sure you have a big enough school of tetras, a big enough tank and feed your bgkf at night. That's how we've kept our remaining tetras alive now :)

All the best, they're fun fish really (minus blowing out eyeballs sometimes).
I hope our novice mistakes can be of help :)
Heather - 2010-12-09
The odds are very good if the BGK is hungry and the Neons are small. Our larger Neons don't seem to be on the menu though. Our BGK is approx 10" now and prefers bloodworms to anything else.

leonard - 2010-11-16
I got 2 big fish tanks, 350 gal with too wolffish, a jack demsey, about 3 others in there too, & 75 gal wide, that holds my gymnotus knifefish or banned fish, I kinda wanna put knifefish in the big tank but I think my wolffish will kill it.

Lorenzo - 2010-10-30
Hello, I am currently going to get a clown knife fish from my uncle(he is a breeder of this fish). I want to know if I can keep him in a 45-gallon tank-no company, just him/her and a filter/pump and of course, water. Is it also OK if I dont put any pebbles OR a small cave since I heard that they need a hiding spot since they are nocturnal. However, my uncle keeps his clown knife fishes in one of those tiled ponds in pet stores(you know, the ones that usually keeps kois or carps) and I do not see any hides. I just wanted to know.Thanks.

Heather - 2010-08-16
I currently own 2 African Knifefish. I've had the older one for awhile and just recently bought a baby one. At first the older one would pick on the baby but now they are best buddies. The older one loves to come up to the front of the tank to greet us as we watch them & he also follows our faces/fingers. They love hand feeding. Esp live black worms, blood worms, and brine shrimp. They have many hiding places but don't go in them as much as before. The 2 fish follow each other everywhere. It's adorable! (even if the older one seems to get annoyed sometimes) lol I highly recommend these fish. They may not have much color, but they have one heck of a personality! :)

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debbie - 2010-10-23
I have 2. They play. I bought a bigger one today. He hides. He is quite bigger.

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