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Black Ghost Knife Fish


scoobyjene

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:)

Hello.. we just purchased one of these dudes, and he is huge.. anyone got any advice re how to care for him/her? we did get alot of helpful information from the seller.. any advice is cool.. cheers.. oh and a huge thanx to the person who warned me against a certain trader on trade me selling non existant fish.. they have been disabled..

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Your welcome scoobyjene : -)> hate seeing conartists ripping people off, the easy way i've found as to where to put a subject is either fresh water or salt water LOL

You could try doing a search for Black Ghost Knife, you'll find it about mid page up the top, and welcome to the best fish site in NZ hope you find it as helpfull as i have. There's a chatroom where people seem to congregate at about 9-9.30 pm most night if you would like to meet some of the people on here :D

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I grew 4 of them upto 35cm, but passed them on 2 years ago. I had the tank set up with a 3 hollow logs & about 4 gravel vac tubes, so they all had their own home. 1 used to get picked on every now & then but they were generally fine. I used to hand feed them blood worms, also fed them little feeder fish..... :D

My mate kept 2(males have more of a horse head & females have lower set eyes) they breed for him twice before one died, there is another guy i know of who breeds them consistantly.

If anyone wants to know of set ups for breeding drop me a line. I'll post up information. eg:Set up filters to stimulate rain/river current.

Frenchy :D

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Hi ya mystic vampire..

Didnt know u had a ghost fish.. lol.. :lol:

My boys just love our one.. he/she is rather big and hides behind a log thingy we have in the tank with plants etc... seen tiny ones at animates for $49-95 and they r 5 cents darer at wetpets but they r bigger!

The guy we bought ghosty off, said not to have more than 1 in the tank as they fight? maybe if they were bought up together mite be ok??

I also seen a couple of those fire eels , they r wacky.. :P

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Scooby - yep - they do that when they are asleep, just like a lot of the botias too. And just like you and me - being prodded when asleep is likely to wake us up grumpy ! LOL. First time i saw my clown loach doing that i nearly had a fit. Same with my ghostie. Mine was only about 4" long though.

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I cant remember for sure but i seem to recall the ghostie is nocturnal. If this is the case (can any of the other folk confirm or rebutt this?), then i would try feeding after lights out and just watch to see if he is feeding that way - leave it a good half hour though so that the other fishes have settled down. Mine was so friendly he practically ate out of my hand - which was great.

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You could get a moonlight (not sure if this would work, but dont see why not) or even a red or blue shaded light - we went to see the kiwis and they used a blue shaded torch i think which they werent aware of. I used to us a really dim light over mine at night sometimes just to watch what went on. Oddly - my 6 corys used to go on the prowl every night 10 minutes after lights out - literally swimming as a shoal, just on a litte reccy before settling down.

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tank is in my boys bedroom and mostly at nite they have the tv going. else just the last few days the baby snake neck terrapins have had a lite going.. but the tanks are in different parts of the room.. perhaps the moonlite may work.. mind u i havent actually sat in the room and waited for ghostie to make an appearance, :oops:

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I own one which is approx 30cms long in a 430l Community tank. Have recently introduced a whole heap of new fish (as its a new tank) and he thought it was supper time. Has managed to eat 47 neons in 2 weeks. Have been feeding him aswell but neons seem to be his favourite now!!

Since bought him a seperate tank which I am yet to set up. They are definitely a nocturnal fish, somewhat shy but can be trained to lie in hand while feeding him. There are a couple of good sites on net telling you how to train them to do this. Very neat fish that is for sure. For viewing a half cut piece of downpipe in the tank works a treat, as he things he is hidden but you are looking straight through the glass at him. If you have wood etc in tank he will prefer to hide behind this and very rarely see him.

Is a bottom feeder and feeds by swimming over the pray as has senses in tail, then backs back over food to eat. I believe is the only fish that can swim in any direction. Definitely suppose to keep singly in tank and according to all internet articles never been bred in captivity however am intrigued a Kiwi has achieved this feat.

1 tip - I dosed my original tank with Melifax (you know the one I mean) and it killed him. They are scaleless so have to be careful with treatments.

Feed mine shrimp, however after seeing the size he has put on after eating number of neons, I intend on breeding up some guppy food for him as he has become a very big boy.

As far as viewing, you just have to get him used to your presence - will come out in daylight if feels comfortable or you make this its feeding time. Blue cellophane under lights can give fish effect of night but allow viewing too (also a black rubbish bag is suppose to work)

Have fun

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Definitely suppose to keep singly in tank and according to all internet articles never been bred in captivity however am intrigued a Kiwi has achieved this feat.

It wasn't me, but I have seen 2 seperate succesful setups. Its a bit of a hush hush topic here.

1 guy breed them once in Brisbane, killed the fry, yet offered to sell the information. :lol:

A mate of mine who had a pair setup, breed them by accident the first time. Turns out how he had the tank setup was the way to go.

There are 2 others I know of, 1 is tight lipped too :evil:

& the other works for a wholesaler who was keen to bounce ideas. A guy on a forum I am on over here is also keen to try & breed these(hasnt yet) & found more information.

It is documented that somewhere else breed these, 3rd world country, they stopped as of not as much money as the drug trade. :roll:

I have another friend who has a pair, shows the signs just a little young still we think. :oops:

I will post story of tips & breeding set ups in a couple of days. Its a bit of a story.

Frenchy :D

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thanx that was very interesting. :) Matthew did tell us that Ghostie doesnt have any scales, abit like an eel type skin and the kuli loaches we have etc and yes he did also say that when you handle Ghostie you have to be careful and what you treat any illnesses with.. he did say he burnt his nose on the heater last year.. i am thinking of putting a heater cover over the heater,, though havent seen it go near it..but it mite be a safe idea..I did see Ghostie swimming last nite as i turned off everything except the loo lite and i could just spot him.. lol...

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey all,

Im a BGK keeper, I have 3 (2 medium, 1 small) Knives in a 4ft tank, in that tank i also keep: 1x Elephant Nose Fish, 4x Widow Tetras, 3x Salmon Tail Catfish, 2x Bristlenose Catfish, and 12x Glass Bloodfin Tetras.

The tank is one big happy family with the Elephant Nose as the boss fish and guardian to my small BGK, there's never complaints over food they all share.

On the topic of BGK's mine are always roaming the tank day and night, I feed them flakes in the morning and they love and bloodworm in the evening.

I am also starting to hand feed them in my tank. As for what people say about never keeping more then one per tank i couldnt agree less. my two medium BGK's had a bit of a tiff when i released them into the tank as they had just come over from Singapore, now there friends and hang around the tank together.

But as for the rest of the fish they have their places around the tank, as long as they dont go into the Elephant Nose hole they all leave each other alone.

Hopefully i can get a picture of them to post ya's soon, but if anyone has any knowledge on breeding the BGK's as i wish to start them breading when I get a bigger tank that would be greatfull.:D

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Hey

The cover for them that I have is a piece of drift wood, hollow volcanic rock, glass jar, and the pipe of the gravel cleaner, and a glow in the dark coral which my littlest BGK loves to lounge in.

I'm thinking of going an all skeletons and skulls though as I recon the BGK's will look the part coming out of the eye of the skull. lol :D

I also have some different types of weed in the tank as well that they love to play and hide in.

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