African Marbled Knife Fish

That's Papyrocranus afer! You're very lucky to have that fish! It's quite rare, at least in these parts anyways!

It's one of the Notopterid knifefish, a group that includes regular African knives and clown knifefish, a group that I've grown very fond of and kept a good few species from.

They can get quite large like other knifefish - I'd say a maximum of half a meter. You'll need a fairly large tank with a good few hiding places to make it comfortable. It may be shy at first but will eventually loose this shyness. Feed it a protein-rich diet, being sure to regularly feed it good quality sinking frozen foods - shrimps and pieces of fish should do, and you can supplement this this sinking pellets if it takes them. If it's still hooked on live food, you'll want to grab a few feeders to use during the weaning period.

Anyways, I'm so jealous! All the best luck with this fish!

 

I would love to get my hands on one of these fish.... I love the knife fish.

 

I think I saw some at Pet Stop the weekend.

 

It's not what you'd call an aggressive fish - more predatory. It won't go out of its way to attack another fish, but if it comes across an organism which it thinks it can fit in its mouth, yes, it will attempt to eat it. It should get on fine with other bigger, non-aggressive fish.

 

Having never kept this fish, I can never say that it will never nip the fins of another fish. However, having kept several species of knifefish and doing far too much reading on this species, I've never come across any particular accounts of fin nipping. Eating other fish, or attempting to? Yes. If they try to eat another fish and fail to do so, however, I do see some damage being done to the fish.

Also, NEVER use Axelrod's book as a reference for fish KEEPING. Use it for IDENTIFICATION only. All the 'fishkeeping info' in summarized into symbols, which cannot cater the specific needs of every fish. The tank sizes are especially wrong - the largest freshwater fish in the world, the arapaima, a fish that can grow to well over 2 meters, is suggested to have only 1000 litres...