Paraguay
rivers and their tributaries. 
LA
Black ghost knife fish look like this when
they "give up the ghost."
Name Origin: Theoretically,
the local natives believe the ghosts of their dead relatives live in these fish.
Or perhaps their missing kitchen cutlery re-lives in these guys? We cannot verify
either theory from personal interviews. Most of the local
people now probably have cable and watch the Discovery channel.
Chances are, they’ve changed their minds.
LA
Wholesaler's tank full of black ghost knife fish. Most are in that
black tube.
LA
Other black ghost knife fish are out in various positions.
LA
They do weird things in wholesaler tanks.
Water Conditions: In
general, plain old aquarium water works fine.
If you make regular water changes and don’t overfeed, your black ghost
knife fish will thrive.
LA
Black ghost knife fish swim at strange attitudes.
Appeal: Who can resist a
jet-black fish that undulates in the water?
A fish that can swim as well backwards as forwards?
A fish that rapidly learns to eat from your fingers?
Size: We’ve seen
reports of 20-inch long specimens. On
average, few black ghost knife fish exceed 12 inches – probably because most people keep them in
smaller tanks.
Arguers: Don’t mix two
black ghost knife fish together. They argue
very much with each other – especially in small aquaria.
Hans Willemsen, Nederland, September 14, 2006
Sirs, I read your article on the Apteronotus albifrons. Mine react
a little different from what I've read so far. I hold 2 Aptos in a 200 x
50 x 50 cm aquarium. They hardly ever interfere with each other and show
themselves on feeding time.
I hold them in a black water-creek habitat with wood, sand and hardly any
plants, together with 5 Geophagus proximus (or Geophagus
surinamensis, I'm not sure), 5 pearl gouramis, 2 Sturisoma aureum,
5 Ancistrus dolichopterus and a few left-over female guppies, and
some Barbus conchonius.
The Apteronotus (one 15 cm, 1 22-25 cm) grow well; they were added
to the tank some months after the Geophagus and algae eaters. Since
they are present all male guppies have either disappeared (if eaten: OK)
or died with eyes and fins eaten away. Feeding all the fish in the
aquarium is twice a day and every fish takes part. The Apteronotus eat
frozen food (red mosquito larvae) and any kind of granules.
A male Betta I added on Tuesday also has eaten fins and is so scared that
it hides in inaccessible places. I'm afraid it won't make the weekend. Is
it common for an Apteronotus to just eat the fins? If it would eat
small fish it wouldn't bother me that much, but fish just being killed is
not very useful.
Greetings,
A: In a large tank like yours, your knife fish have plenty
of room with no need to argue. Too many people try to put two in a
10-gallon tank (40 litres) because they buy little ones. Knife fish
are bitey predators and like small, tasty fish -- including bettas.
Your red mosquito larvae are probably what we call frozen bloodworms over
here. Most fish love them. I'm adding your comments to my
ghost knife page to encourage everyone to keep them in larger aquaria.
LA
Paul Guest, Melbourne, AU, November 1, 2007
Firstly thank you for all your helpful information. On more than one
occasion it has come in very handy. My email is concerning my black
ghost knife and a group of friends who have them. It seems from what
I've just read on your site and individual experiences that they display
very individual qualities. I've now had mine 24 months. He is approx 16
inches. He has never been a fussy eater: flake, frozen, live bloodworms.
He (I assume he) is in a 4ft x2ftx18" community tank (4 angels, 1 red
tail and 2 silver sharks, 1 up-side-down cat and assorted loaches) that
USED to have neons and guppies and betta m/f.
All the smaller fish were eaten inside 6 months, as he grew and his
mouth grew. Now he is peaceful enough and even Friendly towards other
fish. But if you put a small fish in, it won't last the night. I
recently bought 20 neons to brighten the tank a bit. They should last a
month. He didn't even look sideways at them when they went in.
Next morning I had two left. Yet a friend's knife won't touch even her
BABY guppies, and that knife is 10." Smart fish ...Yet they ALL lie on
the bottom ASLEEP on their sides looking like they are dead. I hope this
helps add to your knowledge pool and is useful in some way.
A: Always glad to add to the knowledge pool. I'll add
your comments to our black ghost knife page. LA
LA
Two rocks make an instant cave for your black ghost knife fish.
LA
Hurricane lamp chimneys let black ghost knife fish hide in plain site, eh.
Hiders: At least one
manufacturer makes clear plastic “ghost houses” for black ghost knife fish to “hide”
in. We like the glass chimneys of
hurricane lanterns better. An
upside-down clay flowerpot with a notch in it will also work.
Ceramic or rock caves look better. You’ll
often see them poking their heads out as though waiting for food to pass by.
If you give them no place to hide, they duck behind your filter tubes.
Trick
Them. Lean a piece of slate against your front glass. Your black
ghost knife fish will quickly slide under your instant hiding place. Works every
time. You will see your knife fish front and center 90% of the time.
LA
He's only six-inches long but has a big mouth that would easily snag neons at
night.
Foods: Black ghost knife
fishes readily eat small live foods – California
black worms, feeder white clouds, and other tasty morsels.
Larger ghosts graduate to guppies, rosy reds, small goldfish, and earthworms.
Most will convert to frozen foods. We’ve
never seen any of them eat flakes. (Helen
Crowe reminds me that these rascals do eat flake foods and Tetra's
Colorbits. Her black ghost knife fish grew from four inches to 12 inches
in six months and consumed lots of flake foods in the process.) We’ve
heard some people say they feed theirs shrimp pellets.
We personally dislike this food because it pollutes the water.
Beware: Black ghosts grow
large enough to snap up neon tetras and similar sized fishes.
Ryan,
West Bloomfield, MI, January 31, 2006
Hello, my name is Ryan. I am 14 years old and I
live in West Bloomfield, Michigan. I really enjoy
the information that your website has provided me
on black ghost knife fish and other fish. I have
noticed that in your information on black ghost
knife fish that you have never seen them eat fish
flakes. I have fed my black ghost knife fish TetraMin
Tropical Fish Flakes and he likes them just as
much as he likes his blood worms. I have had my
black ghost knife fish for almost a year now. He
appears to be in very good shape. Well, I just
wanted to let you know because I just feel cool
reporting this. Anyway, thank you for your
information and I hope you find this interesting.
PS I wish I could send you a picture of my
tanks and fishies.
A: Thanks for the report,
Ryan. I’ll
add it to my black ghost knife fish web page. LA
Eric, Attleboro, MA, January 11, 2007
Hey, I was reading up on your section about the African knife Fish,
black ghosts etc. I have had my African knife for about 6 months
now, and I have seen him eat flakes and pellets.
I mainly feed him ghost shrimp though, there's nothing better than
watching these guys grab up a ghost shrimp at night! I mention this
because I didn't see it mentioned that you can use the ghost shrimp
to feed the knife fish in your section. He is about 7" in length and
he has yet to touch any of my neons or fancy guppies. Great fish!
And your site is awesome!
A: Thanks for the info. I'll add it to my
black ghost knife fish LA
LA
Your black ghost knife fish back stripe is white in real life.
LA
Brown ghost knife fish. Quite similar but half the price. Stays
smaller. Treat the same.
LA
The browns love tubes also. We poked his tail to nudge him frontward.
LA
Here's a brown ghost knife trying to blend into the leafy vegetation.
Electric Food Finders. These
nocturnal feeders use a weak electric current to locate food in the dark.
This makes black ghost knife fish poor tank mates with other so-called electric fishes such
as the elephant noses, baby whales, and other mormyrids.
Tank Mates: Keep black
ghost knife fishes with fish too large to swallow but not mean enough to beat
their stuffings out. For instance,
most cichlids would harass them unmercifully.
Sharon Carr, Sorrento, FL. February 4, 2007
I have read your site over and over. We have gone through about $150
worth of tank mates for our black ghost knife. I did the research this
last set of fish we went through. We were given the knife with two
silver dollars (over 3" tall each) and two large cory cats in a 20 tall
tank. They had been housed together for a year or so. The knife is
about 7". All of the sudden the silver dollars had black "wounds" on
their sides and eventually no eyes. They died quickly. We put in a few
other sets of fish before I decided to stop wasting my money and Google
tank mates for our little guy. I found a website that said bala sharks,
angelfish, plecostomus, loaches, cats, etc. He poked 6 fishes eyes out
and killed them within a 4 hour span about a week after they were all
placed together! The angels seemed to survive then about two weeks
later three of them were murdered. So, he is now in a tank by himself,
but it's very boring for our 10 year old to watch, since she is normally
in bed when he comes out to play. The pet shop that normally buys back
other fish doesn't even want him. Hate to toss him in the yard but I'm
about at that point!
A: Not every fish fits the mold. Most do. Yours
certainly doesn't. You may want to give him one more shot by mixing
him with four to five-inch American cichlids. I'm including your
report on my black ghost knife fish page. LA
Breeding: Never say
never, but don’t waste your time. We’ve
never personally heard of anyone breeding black ghost knife fish. (Or
even trying to breed them.) Since
they fare poorly when kept together, you probably need a very large tank.
Vicki Erickson, MA, February 13, 2007
I have 3 ghost fish in a 55 gal tank, the biggest is 16 inches, the next
one is 12 inches, and the smallest is about 9 inches. I don't know which
one, but one of them just had 2 babies. I was looking to get help on
what to do with the babies, or how long to leave them in the tank, or
who's the mom How many times they will have babies? I still can't
believe it happened. They are so cute. Any help let me know.
A: How big are
the babies? I'd take them out right now so the parents would not be
tempted. I'm unaware of any black ghost spawnings, so keep me
informed. Baby black ghosts hit the market at 1.5 to 2 inches long.
If you have friends like some of mine, they would sneak in baby black ghost
knife fish to tweak me. Any chance of a photo? I'll add your
report to my black ghost page. LA
Vicki Erickson, MA, February 18, 2007
RE Feb 13 email on ghost knife
spawning
I could only get a picture of one
baby ghost knife. The other one is
hiding. I don't know how old they
are, maybe 7 weeks. We never saw
them from egg to baby. The big one
is the dad.
VE
A: Congrats. Start
passing out those cigars. In the
meantime, Kathie (who works at Aqualand)
sent me a couple ghost knife spawning
reports. I lost them temporarily.
I'll get them to you later. LA
Shane Benck, Bunbury, Western Australia, April 26, 2007
Hi, I just bred black ghost knifes. I just wanted to share. As far as I
know, not too many people have!
SB
Good pic of Shane. Not so hot of the baby ghost knife.
SB
So it's a good thing he sent this pic also.
A: Congrats, Shane. Now you need to write it up so we
know the secrets of your success. I'll add this report to my black
ghost page. Thanks. LA
Links from Kathy:
LA
Like we say, black ghost knife fish like to swim weirdly.
LA
This guy spends his time torturing female bettas.
Substrate Choice: Usually,
light colored gravel on the bottom will bleach out a dark fish.
You can put these guys over bright white sand and still enjoy a jet-black fish.
White sand will, however, bleach out most of your other fishes. Don’t
put your black ghost knife fish over black gravel, or he will become invisible.
Disease Treatment: Many
parasite and ich treatments will kill these “scaleless fish.” Use them
at half strength or weaker.
LA
Pic
This black ghost knife fish chases these upside-down cats away but they keep coming back.
LA
Before you go you might as well see a mottled knife fish. Loafing
upside-down, naturally.
LA
Another one. He refused to take a bow until we forced him.
LA
Nice growth of algae here.
LA
These guys just refuse to show off.
LA
And they like to loaf lying on their side..
LA
Gold-line knife fish. Line on side -- not on his back. Treat
'em all like black ghost knife fish.
LA
Not a black ghost -- just has the same needs.
LA
Elephant nose knife fish.
LA
Intriguing trunk.
LA
Black ghost knife fish do not swim like normal fish.
LA
Here's a foot-long black ghost knife fish temporarily with several black
moors.
LA
Happy two-inch black ghost knife fish in a "forest" of
hygrophila and anacharis.
Filtration:
Your black ghost knife fish needs clean water. Do not overfeed. Use good
aeration and frequent water changes to help keep their water clean
and healthy.
LA.
Trevor Worthington, November 10, 2006
Hey Aqualand, I was browsing your site when I decided to check to see if my
favorite fish was there. Sure enough, it was. I have a Black Ghost Knife
and he's not aggressive at all. Actually, he seems to think all the fish
are his friends. He hides behind our almost 3 ft long plecostomus and
plays in the bubbles with our neons and tiger barbs. The PetSmart store
where we got him said that he was the best Ghost Knife they've had so far.
Apparently, he'll eat right out of your hand, and he'll play with you too.
I think your description of the little guys is a bit harsh. I've never,
EVER, seen my Ghosty make any attempt on another fish's life, and we still
haven't lost any fish since we got him (almost half a year ago), not even
our neons. I just hope that you'll have a use for my little report.
Thanks,
A:
Alright. I'll add your info to my ghost page. Thanks.
LA
Lisa House, Shalimar, FL, January 1, 2007
I like your site. I came on looking for information concerning a
Bolivian Ram that I just bought, except guess what? It's not a
Bolivian.....lol. Definitely a Ram of some type, just not sure what
yet. Love these pet shops!!!!!
Anyway just wanted to add a comment about Black Ghost Knife fish.
If they are happy they live a long time. My ghost "Dagger" is
almost 12 years old now. He lives with a bala shark, a young
iridescent shark, a young rainbow shark, a 6 year old synodontis
eupterus, and a bumblebee goby. The goby is around 8 years old now,
the bala shark is 6, I also have emperor tetras, so he is the
population control guy, even though he never gets all of them. He
never bothers the adults, my original breeding pair of emperor
tetras are 6 now and looking pretty ancient. I had a kribensis in
there until recently when she died at the age of 8, so the ram is
her replacement. I have had success with diamond tetras, black fin
tetras, angelfish, a brichardi, and even a young jack dempsey. I
guess because they were all little together, they never bothered
each other once they grew up. My ghost has outlived them all. I
did move another more aggressive Synodontis eupterus in with
my oscar in another aquarium because he and the ghost were
squabbling over a wooden log. My ghost has lived too long to put up
with that garbage, and the synodontis is doing just fine with the
oscar.
Not sure if I just got a sweet one or what, but this is my second
ghost. The first one was housed with small cichlids and a female
betta and I had no problems with that one either. I think keeping
them well fed with a variety of food, frozen, live brine shrimp, or
blood worms, flakes, a few shrimp pellets, etc.... seems to work for
me. I spoil my fish and try to set the tank up in a way that
pleases everyone and have been very pleased with most of their life
spans.
A: Thanks for the report. I've added it to my
ghost page. LA
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