Is a knife fish compatible in my tank???

[Guest]

i saw a knife fish at Petco while i was shopping today and i was wondering if they are compatible with all the fish in my tank.. they are on sail for the next two weeks so i have some time to think about it. They had it labeled "Clown Knife fish"

The main fish im worried about is my rainbow shark becuase my shark likes to hide in tunnels and stuff and i know knife fish like to as well. would that be a problem? And what about all the other fish in my signanture?

One more thing... don't worry about the size the fish get, im getting a new tank, probably at least 100 gallon for a gradutaion present I graduate from nursing school May 5, 2006

 

[flamingonhot]

no, even if you have a 100 gallon tank. 180 gallon MINIMUM at the least. They get about 36 inches plus for most of them.

 

[Toirtis]

Actually, you do need to worry about fish size on this one....he will eventually hit 3'-4' (too big for anything short of a 500G) and grows very quickly to 18" when kept under good conditions (and at 15" can eat a 4" African cichlid).

 

[Guest]

awesome.. thanks for the info.. i thought they got about 2 feet

 

[Toirtis]

Even at two feet, they would eat every other fish you have in very short order.

 

[Guest]

right, point taken.. LOL.. i wont get one, i just thought they were neat looking. If im going to get a 300 gallon tank im going to get an OSCAR

 

[Toirtis]

It is unfortunate, because they are really cool as they get bigger...lots of personality, too.

 

[Guest]

if you had them in a 300 gallon tank say, is there any tankmates you could have with them? Becuase i really want to get an oscar one day and i know they need a big tank and are very intellegent fish.. well mostly my husband wants the oscar.. lol.

 

[Toirtis]

A large (14"+) oscar would likely be safe, yes.

 

[Guest]

A large (14"+) oscar would likely be safe, yes.

but would they thrive together? Say i got the tank and bought them both fairly small... 4-5" would they grow together and be happy?

 

[Toirtis]

Probably be happy together, but if you bought them both at 4"-5", the clown would quickly outstrip the oscar in size and then eat him.

 

[Guest]

Probably be happy together, but if you bought them both at 4"-5", the clown would quickly outstrip the oscar in size and then eat him.

really... so i would want to get the oscar first and then when the oscar gets big, get a small clown knife... i don't know if i will ever do that, but someday maybe... lol.. i have so many tank ideas in my head. I want to do a cichlid tank one day, and an oscar, and community of course like i have now a semi-aggressive community, and i want to try discus ONE day... an dmaybe a tank of just barbs.. and maybe a tank of just cories and loaches, or a tank of ONLY schools of tetras... and and and ... the list goes on!!!!

 

[mrcrazypants05]

One of the LFS around here have an oscar about 8-9" and a jack dempsey the same size (very beuatiful!!!) In there he also has a 13" common pleco and about a 14" clown knife. Also he has a jaguar cichlid about 10". The jaguar beats up everything, but the others do fine with each other. Those darn jaguars

 

[Pacifico]

Here's a pic I found... May be another species, but I've definitely seen pics of extremely large clowns.

 

[Bubble_B0y]

Here's a pic I found... May be another species, but I've definitely seen pics of extremely large clowns.

OMG !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HOLY COW !!!! 8O
i can DEFINITELY see why people recommend a 100 gallon or tank or more!!

this is proof
scary

 

[mrcrazypants05]

Thats wild though.... Most species get larger in the wild... Of course that might not be full grown in the wild lol

 

[BrianNY]

Not only do they grow large but they're decidedly predatory. Most will only accept live swimming fish as food and that brings a host of other problems IMO.