Black Ghost Knife Fish (Apteronotus albifrons)

[Linchpin]

What an interesting little fish. Well he's little now.
These guys can grow up to half a metre in length.

Does anyone know haw fast they grow? :dontknow:

[Warr7207]

Where is the pics :bigsmile:

[Linchpin]

I can't seem to take a good pic of him but here's one from the net.

http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Knife,80.jpg

http://keysboroughaquarium.com.au/2008/images/blackghost.jpg


http://www.tropicalfishprofiles.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/black-ghost-knife-fish.jpg

If he's out and about i can watch him for ages, one of few fish that can swim backwards, but this one takes it to a new level, its not just backwards but upside down, vertical, barrel rolls, everything.

And its face resembles a dog :)

Apparently they get very tame and owners can hand feed them, pet and stroke them. They'll apparently see u and swim right into our hands :)

I've only had my ome for a week or so, so he's still shy.

[Henk Hugo]

What are you feeding him?

[Linchpin]

I'm feeding him blood worm. I got those frozen packets with the blood worm cubes in them. I either dilute some in a glass of tank water and throw it in or i take a piece of the frozen cube and hold it in front of him. This morning's the first time if ate out my hands :) I'd still like to hatch some brine shrimp for him.

[Sabi]

One day when i can make a huuge built in tank, thats the first type of fish i'm going to get. I just love them! How big is he now?

[Linchpin]

My guy's about 7cm now.

Only got him a month or two ago.

When I get home from work he knows its feeding time and swims out of his cave to his usual feeding spot. Still a bit shy tho, doesn't swim into my hands yet but he does take food from me.

http://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/attachment.php?attachmentid=10&d=1225820483

[mtroboer]

Hi, this is one of the top 10 most beautifull tropical fish imo. I had two of these before I moved on to reefkeeping and also fed them bloodworm and earthworms. They became tame very fast feeding out of my hand and coming to the glass when seeing me! Unfortunately they can grow very fast, mine grew from +/-10cm to 16cm's in about 6 months!

[Henk Hugo]

i have been trying to find small earth worms - you cna buy them for a wormery but they will not sell them to you unless you have one :(

[mtroboer]

I just dug them up from the garden, then soaked them in a glass of water until they became 'clear' and fed them to the tank. It sparked a feeding frenzy every time I dropped one of these into the tank!

[Henk Hugo]

yea i know - but i am lazy :P

[mtroboer]

yea i know - but i am lazy :P

Hehe:bigsmile: Aren't most of us reefers, just take a look at all our expensive filtering equipment....

[Henk Hugo]

hahahahahaha :D

[Linchpin]

What about a fish and tackle shop. Wouldn't they have earth worms for fishing?
Mayb there's a way of breading them easily at home for a constant food supply. (for those who don't have a garden :) )

[Linchpin]

and those of us who are too lazy to dig :)
Not mentioning names..... :D

[Henk Hugo]

hehehehehe - the problem is the gut loading of the fish you buy.... i am REALLY thinking of setting up a wormery - all your kitchen waste goes into it... at the bottom you get worm pee and poo for the garden and LOADS of worms to feed to the fish :D

[Linchpin]

Share some info man, do u know how to set up a wormery?
If u too lazy to set one up urself tell me how and I'll let u know if it works out :)

I'm relatively new to fish keeping so excuse me for asking, but "gut loading"?
Is that over feeding or just fattening your fish up?

[Henk Hugo]

gut loading is when you feed the item you are feeding to the fish with added goodness :D

http://www.fullcycle.co.za/

http://www.motherearthworms.co.za/

http://healthspas.co.za/wormeries/shop-step1.php

http://www.the-worm-factory.co.za/

http://www.globalworming.co.za/products.htm

http://www.wizzardworms.co.za/domestic.htm

it REALLY cant be that hard to make it :D

[Linchpin]

Check this out, it seems really simple indeed.

http://www.thekrib.com/Food/worms.html

I'll try get the stuff together the weekend to start one of these "worm farms"

[Linchpin]

He's getting very tame and developing his own personality...:cool:

[Slummies]

yeah, must say a great fish! i have 1 in my community tank and he is active 24/7! best thing to do is dim the lights at feeding and put in dried tubiflex worms. he swims up (only in the corners) and grabs the biggest chunk of food ever and thrashes it around. kinda rough but is a great trick to show friends! good fish!

[Sabi]

He's getting very tame and developing his own personality...:cool:
Nice!!

[mark d]

I also wanna get one.What size tank should I put it in?

[Linchpin]

They grow big man. Some up to half a meter in length.

I'd say minimum 400 to 500 litre tank to start off with. 4 to 5 foot in length.
I've had mine for 2 years and its just under 200mm long so they don't grow too fast.

I'm still planning a 600 to 700 liter tank just to be on the safe side.

[mark d]

Can I keep one in a tank that is 120x90x70 cm tank?

[Firefly]

Talk about bringing up an old post! Yes mark d that should be OK, but bigger is always better with these guys. I know this is mostly about KNF but check it out: http://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/showthread.php?4435-Clown-Knife-Fish
Hope it helps.