Aggression? Food? Playing?

[lucid2]

I just got a black ghost knife, and the fish is awesome. It has a nice hiding place, plants, good temperature, clean water. The guy's still a little baby (maybe 3 or 4 inches).
The people suggested I get another fish to put in the tank with him for now, and said to get a Molly. I questioned their logic (since I figured my fish, Lucid, would just eat the molly once it's able to) but since the molly fish was less than a dollar, i bought it anyway.
It took a day or two for Lucid to start eating, I was assuming he was just getting use to the new tank. Though when I fed him today, he started to attack the molly fish instead of the food, whenever the molly fish got too close to his hiding spot.

He seems to be wanting to eat the fish more than the food I put in the tank.. Also, he won't go near any food that doesn't sink. I bought the food I was told they fed him with before, but it doesn't sink so I don't see how he actually ate it.. Any ideas?

What do you guys normally feed your Knifes?

 

[sross]

Maybe you should try taking the molly out and see what he does. My BGK will nip on the other fishes fins at night if he wants them out of his way. I feed mine frozen Brine Shrimp, Plankton and Bloodworms. Mine also like the frozen shrimp that you can buy at the grocery store. I used to hand feed my BGK when I had him in a smaller tank. But now that I have him in a 450 gallon tank I have set up pipes under that sand and added a T that goes to the surface. All I have to do is put a frozen cube in the pipe and tap on it. And he swims up the pipe to eat. I have an Oscar in the tank. He would never get to eat if I didn't feed him that way.

 

[lucid2]

That's a really good idea.. I've been hand feeding him frozen shrimp which works (but he eats really slow). I started to just put the shrimp in his hiding spot so it can't float up, that seems to work really well.
He's started to actually leave his hiding place and swim around the tank now too.. I think he's a little menace, already pulled up some plants and somehow dug a whole under his hiding area (no idea how he accomplished that one..)

 

[sross]

sounds like you have an extra aggressive knife.

 

[lucid2]

I'd have to agree.. The food idea is now out the window, he's been eating a lot! The playing is definitely out the window.. He just killed one of my algae eaters right in front of me.

 

[alexanian]

Thats a very agressive BGK, mine is about 3 inches and i have lots of fish with him and he doesn't bother anyone. Well at least u'll have fun feeding him feeders later on and as for tankmates try smth close to his size. Silved dollars work pretty well

 

[cmj15]

BGK's are sometimes be menaces, I had one that killed several different species of fish, some of which were larger than itself

 

[RareExoticFish]

BGK are very curious so if they get a new tank mate the probably will start picking on it,
Some great tank mates are silver dollars, bichirs, clown loaches, mormyrids and spiny eels.
My BGK is with 2 tiger oscars, 1 florida gar, 1 senegal bichir, 1 tsn and a pleco.
I feed my BGK silver sides, hikari pellets ( floating and sinking ) and bloodworms.
I hope this Helped

 

[lucid2]

So... My BGK seemed to be good with the remaining fish in his tank. I figured he had finally gotten use to them, so I kept everything as is..
I've been trying to feed him at night around the same time every day, 6pm. Today I was caught in my research lab for longer than I anticipated, so I didn't get home till 9pm.

I found the 1 remaining molly fish dead, bite marks/ pieces of him missing, and stuck in the plant right next to my BGK's cave. Apparently my BGK wasn't too happy that I didn't feed him on time...
I'm going to take your advise for some good tank mates. Like I said before, I only got these molly's because the pet store insisted and they were about $1 each.
I've been wanting to get a spiny eel, wasn't sure how they would do together.. If I did get one I would definitely upgrade the tank and add them both in at the same time. Though, this won't be for probably a few more months.

 

[daleteekz]

Good luck with your BGK. Truly a great fish to have, especially at night with the lights off!
Ive had mine for about a year, no problems with any of his tankmates. Kissing Gourami's, Green Severum, Electric Yellow, Elephant Nose, Tandanus Catfish, Berneys Catfish, Clown Loaches, Pakistani Loaches, Zebra Loach, Hoplo Catfish, Leopard Bush Fish, Bumblebee Catfish and Raphael Catfish.
Mine shares his hiding spot with the raphael catfish. Would roughly be 10cm long.