Jump to content

CLown knife tankmates


Milet

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 81
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

You have possibly spotted this already.. but just in case :)

It might help..

http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/1-vt22 ... sc&start=0

Bill.

yeah, I contributed quite a bit to that thread actually. Stella's information on there is only relevant to NATIVE freshwater fish. There are different regulations regarding introduced fish. Some species require permits to hold them (eg, Gambusia), others are classified as noxious pests and people keeping them can face extremely stiff fines (eg, koi and rudd). I attached some info on this to the end of that thread. I'm not sure where the brown bullhead fits in, because its legal status has changed recently I believe. It used to be treated as a sports-fish but is now an unwanted organism or something along those lines.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

sweet thanks.

Yeah i hate common names too! While on the topic of names, which is the proper scientific name for the clown knife fish? I just writing out a whole lot of stuff on it to help me more, but there seems to be a few different versions, (Notopterus) Chitala ornata, Chilata chilata, Notopterus ornata etc. Which is it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the Asian knives were all Notopterus but some are now in Chitala ("Chilata" is a misprint). Basically either generic name is usable. There are several species and as is common in taxonomy and nomenclature there is some confusion over what is what. On the import list, they have both Chitala ornata and Chitala chitala

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK, here's the story on Old World knifefish taxonomy Milet. There are three species in Africa, Xenomystus nigri, Papyrocranus afer and P. congoensis. The first two are allowed to be imported into NZ. X. nigri is a small one with no dorsal fin. The Papyrocranus spp used to be in Notopterus with the Asian knifefish; they are black and look similar in body-shape (with a dorsal fin) but have no pelvic fins (Notopterus spp have them but they are very small).

There are about six species of Asian knifefish. They were formerly all in the genus Notopterus but Chitala is now seperated by many authors (I personally don't agree with this). The clown knife is N. (or C.) ornata. N.chitala is apparently a synonym of this. However the import list has both Chitala ornata and Chitala chitala (I wouldn't put any faith in this meaning anything though: whoever made up the list wasn't too concientious about correcting spelling mistakes and synonyms anyway, eg there are two listings for the same plec species, as Perygoplichthys etentaculatus and Pterygoplichtys etentaculatus!!).

The royal knifefish seen recently in many shops is Notopterus (or Chitala) blanci. It is not on the new importable fish list.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Get a Datnoid. They are so cool! If i was you i wouldn't get a pleco as they shit all over the place. You could have some nice plants in your tank if you didnt have a pleco. I have a few Hoplo cats to clean up the left overs

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...

×
×
  • Create New...