African Brown Knife Fish

benzjamin13

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Sep 12, 2005
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Los Angeles, CA
Family: Notopteridae

Scientific Name: Xenomystus Nigri

Common Name: African Brown Knife

Origin: Africa. Coastal river basins in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Togo, Benin and Cameroon. Also in the Chad, the Nile, the Congo, the Niger (Benue and Niger Delta), the Ogôoué and the Congo (Cuvette Centrale and Ubangui) Basin

Water Parameters: pH 6.0-7.5, Temperature 75`F-82`F (23`C-27`C)

Temperament: Not Aggressive, but don't keep with small fish

Size: Average of 8" in aquarium

Tank Size: 50g minimum

Aquarium Set Up: A well planted and/or dim lit tank is most comfortable for them. Noctural in nature, so it is best to provide lots of hiding spaces. Small groups can be formed when they are small, however, as they get larger, they will become aggressive towards each other.

Feeding: Will except Flake, Frozen, Freeze-Dried, and Live.

Breeding: Difficult and rare in aquarium.

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African Brown Knife I.JPG
 
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nitrofish1

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jul 29, 2008
2,345
2
36
Northern Illinois
can they be kept with a BGK? there are about 4 hiding spots in my tank, but my ABK is occupying one of them, inside an ornament. i tipped it over so i could see what it was going all the time and it just made it easier for him, but im wondering if they would get along or not. cuz id like to get a BGk, but i have some swordtails in the tank, but i think itd be a while b4 he got big enough to eat them. plus i need another fish help eat their fry :p my tank is mostly angelfish, i have 7, but i have 1 male and 3 female swordtails. and a blue gourami, but i dont think hell have a problem of getting eaten
 

LittleBigAl3

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 25, 2008
435
3
0
Minnesota
www.youtube.com
i had one before and it seemed to stalk my fish more than my clown knife does! lol
 

Taso Zen Fish

Feeder Fish
Feb 17, 2009
4
0
0
Brooklyn, NY
I am looking to put four 3" kives in with irridescent sharks in a 55 gallon. Good mix? Maybe some debuai cats(too small?) or pims?

any help would be appreciated
 

nitrofish1

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jul 29, 2008
2,345
2
36
Northern Illinois
I had issues with anything more than one knifefish. They are very slow growing, I wouldnt mix them with an ID shark. The dominant one in my tank was always the smallest one, and when it looked like they were s tarting to get along, the bigger one was dead.
 

xanhax

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 7, 2011
10
0
0
The Shire
I have a 20g tank with a male bata, red tailed shark, female bata, angle fish and a rather large African brown knife. I'm amazed that they all are so peaceful, no fights and the nocturnal knife fish is over joyed with the random company. He actually leads the smaller fish around like they are a community of the same family of fish. Is this normal or am I just extremely lucky?
 
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