BGK's Amazon set up advice.

[amazontank]

Looking to get 3 large black ghost knifes this week. All are 12"+. I have an amazon set up 150 for them.
I was told if i added lots of long pvc pipes and lots of plastic plants it can work.
Any advice would be appreciated, would hate to get them all and have them start fighting at night. I can separate them with dividers and ease them into it?

 

[ceeej31]

i would use the pvc and moniter them carefully for the first few hours

 

[aclockworkorange]

I wouldn't attempt it in anything less than an 8 foot long tank. Why not just get one?

 

[siôn.griffin]

I wouldn't attempt it in anything less than an 8 foot long tank. Why not just get one?

for a bgkf?

 

[aclockworkorange]

For three BGK, yes. They don't particularly like sharing a tank and can get really aggressive with each other, especially without lots of space.

 

[kdrun76]

Don't do this. Your tank isn't even close to big enough.


Keep in mind that these are electric fish. The vast majority of their sensory system is based on electric pulses that they send out and receive. Having another electric fish close by means their own electric signals are constantly getting jammed.

In nature they drive each other away from them selves for the simple reason of preventing this jamming. Best case scenario is that you will have a tank full of severely stressed fish. The worst case scenario involves a lot of dead fish.

 

[siôn.griffin]

For three BGK, yes. They don't particularly like sharing a tank and can get really aggressive with each other, especially without lots of space.

ah right. thought u were referring to just one.

 

[siôn.griffin]

Don't do this. Your tank isn't even close to big enough.


Keep in mind that these are electric fish. The vast majority of their sensory system is based on electric pulses that they send out and receive. Having another electric fish close by means their own electric signals are constantly getting jammed.

In nature they drive each other away from them selves for the simple reason of preventing this jamming. Best case scenario is that you will have a tank full of severely stressed fish. The worst case scenario involves a lot of dead fish.

this is why bgkf and elephant nose fish don't work.

 

[aclockworkorange]

this is why bgkf and elephant nose fish don't work.

Actually this is a bit of a myth... BGK and ENs give off two different signals (one is a pulse, one is a wave), and they can be kept together... I kept 3 ENs with my BGK for months with no problems. The thing I didn't anticipate is the conspecific aggression level of the ENs... You really need at least 6 ENs to spread out the aggression, and that requires a tank bigger than most people are willing to dedicate to a species.

 

[benzjamin13]

I wouldn't try it. There has been members here with the success of keeping multiple BGKs together, but these are very few members. Usually they start them off as babies as well. 3 12" BGKs will more likely be very territorial towards each other and you'll either need to separate them or you'll end up with just one BGK.