African Knifefish acting WEIRD

Hi,

I bought a african knifefish a couple of days ago and I love it, but it's acting like it has brain damage. I'm not joking.

At first it would just twitch randomly, but that soon went away after a few hours in the tank. I just figured it was stress related.
A few minutes ago I saw the fish doing some crazy swimming, up down left right, it was just swimming everywhere and fast.

After a few seconds of swimming with no reason or logic it snapped out of it a carried on like nothing happened.:huh: I have no idea what got into it, but it acted just like a brain damaged animal would.

Has anyone ever encountered something like this?

Please help!

 

Your tank parameters aren't right,get a test kit and make sure the Ammonia,Nitrite,Nitrate,pH,Chlorine and Chloramine are all in safe levels.Fish tend to swim eradicly when they don't like the environment they are in.

basics:
Temp 22-28 C
Ph : 6 to 8
Hardness: 5 – 15 dGH
Minimum tank required: 45 to 55 gallons

Source

 

It's either the water parameters or kniffish acting odd lke they always do - I've seen similar behaviour in both my African Knifefish and Clown Knifefish, normally over the first two days I've had them.

Has it been eating?

 

yeah , i am inclined to agree with Salmon
How big is he, mine was quite big and used to swim up and down fast for a little while, then relax.
i think they also dont like to be cornered, so when in a tight spot, he would make a big spash and knock something and swim away fast, and then avt normal again.

Dont think there is anything wrong.

 

Thanks for the advice.

My water parameters are all ok. He didn't eat yesterday, but today he ate like crazy and looks fine to me. I'm hoping it was just a once of thing.

 

Mine just hides away or lays on the bottem untill i feed my fish then also goes crazy like super fast and sort of tries to scare the other fish off. Then eats like it hasent goten fed in days. weird

 

Looks like they are just very weird fish..

 

Just keep an eye on it in case. When you do get your 250L it will probably calm down a bit also

 

What sort of foods are you feeding him and how big is he?

 

Besides the water parameters, I would suggest having a look at your lighting. They can be quite timid and lighting that is to bright or a lack of suitable hiding areas could unsettle the fish jus as much as incorrect water which as you mentioned doesn't seem to be the case.