black ghost knife

[Jramatized]

I have a black ghost knife. very pretty and interesting fish. Looks like a puppy in the face lol. I cant begin to explain what you would call the bottom fins on this thing. ALways swims back and forth too is this normal? Anyway Ive had him/her for a few months, but all it wants to do is hide in this coral cave thing I have. Is it really sensitive to light? In noticed it will come out when I turn the lights off, but I enjoy watching him casue they are so unusal looking to me. He will eat out of my hands too kinda cool.

Oh and I forgot to mention that its tail is kinda crooked. All the others I have seen are straight. If you know what these fish look like then you know what I mean.

 

[HannahJ]

Yeah, BGK's are nocturnal. My swims every which way, too. As far as the tail goes, some fish just have crooked spines.

 

[Jramatized]

OK thank you.
These fish are very, very amusing. I recomend one for everyone lol. Their fins, the way they swim, look. Sleep on there side. Ive even heard that they have some kind of electric current in them, that dont bother any other species in the water. Im in love with this fish. If any of you dont know what they are do some research

 

[coldmachineUK]

The Ghost Knife, and I think other knife fish too, use electrical signals to detect their food. They're not an electric fish as such, they just have...um...I guess electric sensory perception (hehehehe).

They are extremely shy normally, its amazing you got one to hand feed! And yep, don't worry about the swimming habits, they occasionally swim backwards and upside down!

You might want to think about changing your bulb to suit your interesting occupant

Btw...they grow pretty big...

 

[Jramatized]

yes I have been doing some research. One of my bulbs have burnt out so there is only one n there now. i actually just put a black light in there tonight to see how they react. What type of bulb can I get thats not too harsh on the eyes of this fish, but will allow me and others to see the rest of my fish? If possible lol

 

[coldmachineUK]

Hmm....well you might want to try using some floating plants which will diffuse light levels. Alternatively, you could test out a moonlight level lamp though your plants would not do well under those conditions. Arcadia make a marine blue actinic lamp you might want to check out though this is more for marine aquariums to simulate moon light on reefs/corals. It might still help (it really depends if your friend has tankmates: if not then it might work).

If you've any reflectors built in to your hood or lighting unit, you might want to cover those somehow (or take them out if possible) too.

 

[Jramatized]

Yes I have 2 silver dollars, a bala shark, a black fin shark, and a peacock eel. Oh and 2 algea eaters. Im wanting to add a couple more fish with colors that wont bother my other fish, not too small though. Maybe about 5-6 inches. Maybe a little active too.

 

[coldmachineUK]

Hmm...your tank does seem really quite stocked already: I wouldn't really be considering adding other fish but I know I always get mad at people when they say that to me so it's your call...but really you have a lot of large sized fish for that size of tank.

But, anyway, on the lighting. Ok, I would try out floating plants for now, tho the worry is that your silver dollars might decide to munch a lot! I would recommend something like hornwort (Ceratophylum demersum) since they won't like the taste, and it floats too. You could also try Liverwort/Crystalwort (Riccia fluitans).
The good news is that your black fin shark (arius seemanni?) also prefers a darker environment, and dollars are shy by nature generally too. You picked fish that like to hide!

If that doesn't work, then there might be other tips from people but I would personally go for floating plants as a first (inexpensive, and non-risky) attempt.

 

[Guest]

what size tank is it? You can try placing a clear tube at the front of the tank so he can be seen while in it and wil start coming out more and more once he/she get's use to you. Becarful as the BKF likes to eat what ever can fit into there months.

 

[Jramatized]

Its a 55 gal. and I have one of the tubes. A hampster tube lol. Yea he goes in there soemtimes, but he mostly stays in my cave thing I have. Its not really big I know he must be tired of stayin in it. there was a whole in the cave he would go insde and never come out, so I stuffed it, so he'll stay in the cave

 

[evercl92]

I have about 420wt of lighting on my 125 gal. My BGK doesn't come out and 'play' but he'll venture out to where it's shaded (I have a lot of plants). I have a ghost tube as well, but he doesn't seem to care for it as much as the rock cave / canapy that I put together. He'll swim in any direction, back, forth, upside-down, even backwards while he's in a vertical position. They use a organ that helps produce electric current, and if that current is disrupted, it tells them of potential food. It's called electrolocation, similar to what hammerhead sharks utilize.

 

[hc8719]

silver dollars, BGK, and your peacock eel will get big, if you want them to live a half decent life when they get bigger, i'd get a bigger tank.

BGKs in my experience grow slow, so you might delay the a bigger tank for a bit, considering the BGK is small to begin with

and it is normal for them to hide excessively, never come out during the day, once in awhile their curosity gets the best of them and they'll look around a bit

because of their electric organ, dont put more electric fish in with them, ...clown knifes, elephant noses, or baby whales

 

[scalesojustice]

because of their electric organ, dont put more electric fish in with them, ...clown knifes, elephant noses, or baby whales

oops, i have a BGK and a baby whale in a 10 gal. right now.


on a serious note, do people actually keep baby whales or was that a joke? what size tank do you need for that?!

 

[hc8719]

there is actually a freshwater fish called a baby whale, it kinda looks like a whale i guess

*sigh* i'll find a link

 

[hc8719]

http://www.members.tripod.com/~Boeing_Dude/id122.htm

the picture is kinda dinky, but its what i had...

today there were some pop-ups, not the best site i know

 

[Jramatized]

Well I just updated from a 29 gal. to a 55 gal. so I wont be getting anyther tank for some time. Ive had the silver dollars over a yr. now they are full grown(I THINK) and not very big. One is maybe 4-5 inches at the most. The BGK is still small Ive had him/her for about 3 months. And the peacock eel is still small maybe 6 inches if that