Knifefish species

[stevenht]

I currently have a BGK but he's slowly out growing his aquarium and I'm upgrading him soon to a bigger home with more room and small fish to feed on.

I've been reading about brown ghost knife, barred knifefish

Some say these species don't get as big as the black ghost knife.

Also, I'm smack dab in the middle of Texas. Anybody around the area know where to find these species?

 

[Delapool]

I've heard that for brown but never kept one.

 

[stevenht]

I also heard they're a little more outgoing

 

[confusedfishmom]

I've seen them carried at stores in San Antonio but they're not as common as BGK.

 

[stevenht]

I'm in temple so that's 2 hour drive. Idk if he would be alright for that long

 

[mambee]

Of course he would be ok for 2 hours. Knifefish are generally wild caught, so think about the logistics involved: collecting location in South America, local distributor, shipment to wholesaler in US, shipment to local pet shop. I'm probably missing a few steps, but the point is that wild caught fish travel thousands of miles before they get to your tank.

 

[stevenht]

That is true. I've had a $60 pleco die on me from the time I left a fish store to the time it took me to get home and and get him acclimated. Which was around 45 minutes in total. I think he was already dying on me. Luckily they gave me a free replacement.

I also have been looking at a blue phantom pleco but my pH sits too high at 7.6

 

[stevenht]

But BGK prefer a lower pH and he does fine and has so far. He's at about 12" now and I got him when he was about 5 or 6". That was just over 6 months ago, so he's doing good.

Maybe somebody can enlighten me about the shyness and how to break that. I want to get my BGK to hand feed but he never comes out. He used to only come out because my gf's dragon goby would force him out of where ever he was posted up. I since removed him and put him in a brackish water setup with my angels. He still never comes out, even after the lights go out, he's always in the same spot. I tried clear tubes and nothing. Still in the same spot. I don't want to completely remove the hiding spots and stress him because I do have a really bright light but I also would like to enjoy him more. Any ideas?