black ghost knife

[Red Devil]

my 12" bgk is damn mean! seems to hate some fish, doesnt care about others. bites the hell outta em!

wow... it just proves all fish have their own personality.... you just have to find out what their personality type is...

 

[Red Devil]

just got him some slate, he still is just hanigng at the top by the power head but hopefully by tonight he will realize its there when he comes down to swim around. Ugh i was so sad they had a baby alligator gar for 20 at the pet store i wanted to buy him sooo bad but i was like no he will probably kill my gk and my peakocks

hows the slate working..never heard of a BGK hanging at the top so much..i quess he found a spot that he feels secure for now...

 

[l3raD]

I dunno wat ur all talking bout never have 2 bgk in 1 tank lol i still have 2 bgk in an 80g tank almost full grown both bout 28-30cm and they love each other, play around in the tank, follow like there glued to the tail,

then again i also got told by everyone u cant do that they wont get along ,

only thing that doesnt get along with the bgk is my 20cm common plec hahaha
anytime my plec goes near one of the bgk its WW1 lol!

this is the only good luck out of fish i have ever got though,
tried adding my jag wit the red devil they fought
tried adding my jag wi the oscar they fought
tried adding red devil with oscar they fought
tried adding them all together they fought
tried adding them all + my aro jardini and again it was another World War lol

hey, they should kinda get along though right???
haha

 

[benzjamin13]

Your not supposed to put multiple BGKs in one tank - reason is, they are an electric fish (weak ones) but they use some kind of sonar system to help them see. If you put more than 1 in a tank, it confuses them because their sonars get crossed - causing them to fight all the time.

This is a myth. There is no "crossing of wires" that happens. Electric fish have Electric Organ Discharge (EOD) which helps them navigate through objects and locate food. Each fish has their own frequency as they discharge. However, if there were fish on the same frequency, they would be able to change frequencies to avoid jamming one another. The reason they fight is for territorial purposes.

 

[groovitudedude]

This is a myth. There is no "crossing of wires" that happens. Electric fish have Electric Organ Discharge (EOD) which helps them navigate through objects and locate food. Each fish has their own frequency as they discharge. However, if there were fish on the same frequency, they would be able to change frequencies to avoid jamming one another. The reason they fight is for territorial purposes.

I read once that they fight for who gets to use the "better" frequencies or something. Maybe some are easier to use? Can they change frequencies?

 

[benzjamin13]

http://people.virginia.edu/~mk3u/mk_...ric_fish_E.htm

[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]What is an electric fish?[/FONT]​

[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]You may know that an electric eel can produce very strong electricity to shock large animals. But did you know that some tropical freshwater fishes use electricity for navigation and communication? They can use electricity to 'feel' its environment, and they can 'talk' each other using electrical signals. [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]All of these electric fishes produce electricity from an organ in the tail called an 'electric organ'. [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]

[/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]The electric organ contains electrically excitable cells called 'electrocytes', which receive simultaneous command signals from the brain to 'fire'. At the moment of 'firing', the electrocytes are asymmetrically polarized acting as serially connected batteries.[/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]The simultaneous firing of electrocytes results in the electric organ discharges (EODs) which are emitted in the surrounding water. In strongly electric fishes, such as the electric eel, electric catfish, and electric rays, the electric organ is huge containing numerous electrocytes. Therefore, their discharge voltage can reach as high as 600 volts. In weakly electric fishes, which use electricity for navigation and communication, the discharge voltage is small -- often less than a volt.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]There are two types of EODs, pulse type and wave type. All strongly electric fishes and some weakly electric fishes are pulse-type electric fishes. They discharge short electrical pulses intermittently. Some weakly electric fishes are wave type. They produce wave-like continuous A.C. electricity.[/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]All electric fishes mentioned so far not only produce electricity but sense it with a very sensitive sensory organ called 'electroreceptors' which are embedded in the skin. [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Electroreceptors are used to detect a slight change of electric field cause by nearby objects. Electric fishes can thus electrically 'see' objects in an environment where vision is useless (at night, or in murky water). This process is called 'active electrolocation' because the source of electricity that they use for electrolocation is their own electric organ.[/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]

[/FONT]​

By the combination of electrogeneric and electroceptive capabilities, some electric fishes are known to communicate each other by electric signals. Dr. Carl Hopkins at Cornel University studies on electrocommunication. Visit Dr. Hopkins' page to learn more about electrocommunication.
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Some fish can only sense electricity but cannot produce electricity. These fishes are also categorized as electric fishes. They are sharks, rays, skates, catfish, and paddle fish. These fish can sense very weak electricity generated by prey animals. So, sharks can find a small fish buried in sand by weak electricity given off by the prey. This type electrolocation is called 'passive electrolocation'.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Electric fishes are divided into the three main categories.[/FONT]

• [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Strongly electric fish [/FONT]
  • [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]electric eel [/FONT]
  • [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]electric catfish [/FONT]
  • [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]electric rays [/FONT]
• [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Weakly electric fish [/FONT]
  • [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif] knife fishes [/FONT]
  • [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif] elephant nose [/FONT]
• [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Fishes that can only sense electricity [/FONT]
  • [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]sharks [/FONT]
  • [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]rays [/FONT]
  • [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]skate[/FONT]
  • [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]catfish[/FONT]
  • [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]paddle fish[/FONT]
  • [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Platypus (though not a fish, they are electroreceptive.)[/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]The jamming avoidance response[/FONT]​

[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]The wave-type electric fish normally discharge at a fixed frequency. Each individual has its own frequency of discharge much as each radio station has its own broadcasting frequency. When two individuals with similar discharge frequencies meet, however, their EODs interfere each other causing problems in electrolocation. To avoid jamming, they shift their frequencies each other until their frequencies are separated enough for normal operation of electrolocation.[/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Since its discovery by Watanabe and Takeda in 1963, this electrical behavior, the jamming avoidance response, has provided neuroscientists with important scientific questions of broad implication, such as temporal and spatial pattern recognition, feature detection, and distributed computation of sensory information. My laboratory focuses on brain mechanisms for the jamming avoidance responses in central-south American and African electric fishes.[/FONT]
​

 

[HarlanAshmore]

they arent realy aggressive accept to othe BGK's

 

[groovitudedude]

So they CAN switch their frequencies. That's pretty interesting. Thanks benzjamin13

 

[Scarycakes]

sweet info guys! I get smarter everytime i come back and look at this thread I think im just going to keep him solo for now. He does love the slate though. I think he found it last night. haha it was funny my pleco was swimming around, and my bgk was like following him and like playing with him the pleco didnt like it though haha. but he hangs down under the slate now and i can see him since its up against the glass greattt idea! thanks

 

[sbuse]

for some reason one of my bgks plays and shares a log with a goldnugget and a baby redtail cat 3"(witch will be moved before it can eat the pleco or bgks). i get smarter every time i log in...