Help with Puffers???

[BlackGostKnife]

Hey i just got a new tank and have a black gost knife and thats it, can freshwater Puffers go in there with him and can you have more then one frestwater puffer with out them killing/hurting each other?

 

[madasafish]

I'm sure you'll get more informed responses on this question BlackGhostKnife, but I would be inclined to say that this is a very bad idea. Black GHost Knives are sensitive fish with that get very large (up to 1.5 feet; I hope you have a large aquarium). Puffers are highly aggressive fish that love to nip fins. NOT a good thing for Black Ghosts, which rely greatly only their long, wavy anal fin for propulsion. Also, most FW puffers like a slightly alkaline pH, while BGKs like a neutral-to-acidic pH. And, some of them prefer brackish water to fresh...

Call me a coward, but I usually err on the side of caution when combining fish. There can be terrible consequences to putting incompatible fish together. For example: if your ghost (how large is he/she?) is abused by the puffers (which species are you thinking of? Brazillian/Peruvian, Indian Dwarf, etc?), he/she may come out traumatized and shabby looking (with nips throughout the anal and other fins).

Generally, BGKs do well in a community tank, or by themselves, not with aggressive fish. They are very shy, and nocturnal. They HATE bright light. Do you have a Ghost Tube or a hollow log for him/her to hide in during the day? Quite important... A black light/red light for night viewing?
How powerful is/are your light/lights?

Are you familiar with www.fishbase.org? Here is the link to the Black Ghost page for future reference, though it doesn't have as much info as other fishbase pages, unfortunately.
http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?ID=12220&genusname=Apteronotus&speciesname=albifrons

Another good site to check out is www.liveaquaria.com. Here is the link to their BGK page.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=21&pCatId=857
They say that you need at least a 50-gallon tank to house the guy when he gets bigger. Sounds about right... And that's conservative.

Choose other fish wisely (nothing too small; nothing too large or aggressive). It sounds like you might do best with a species-only tank, or with some gouramis/plecos.

Oh, and lastly, you have to be very careful with puffers. As I understand it, they can be housed together while juvenile, but they will get aggressive when older. The best idea is to try and get a 1 female/1 male combo, or a few females and one male. (Feel free to correct me, anyone else, if I'm wrong!)

Best of luck.

 

[TankGirl]

I keep dwarf (malabar) puffers, which are true FW, and indeed are very aggressive, though incredibly interesting. I do not have any experience with the BGK, though, so can't help there, but I do know that you really have to be careful about FW puffer tankmates. I would definitely be hesitant to combine the knife with them.