Black Ghost Knifefish Tankmates?
- Thread starter jdmboy
- Start date
jdmboy;4391319; said:
I keep 3 silver dollars with my BGK with no problems at all. Bala sharks tend to get huge. I used to have some, but got rid of them. I got them at the 2 inch mark and they grew up to 8 inches in about 8 months. They would ram into some of my other fish and I got concerned about them doing internal damage to their victims, so they had to go. lol.
You could do bala sharks in a 125, but I wouldn't go with anymore than three in that size tank. Bala sharks are a schooling fish thus 3 should be the minimum. They will definitely hit past the 12" mark in the aquarium with a growth potential of over 20 inches which is longer than the width of a standard 6' 125 gallon aquarium. A standard 180 (6x2x2) is really the ideal tank to have as a minimum for a shoal of bala sharks.
Silver Dollars are shoaling fish like the bala sharks and a far better choice. You can get red-hook silver dollars, if you want fancy ones. They grow 6-8 inches and are very active. If you get three of them, you would still have room for a mildly aggressive cichlid like a geophagus or severum. If you don't want a cichlid, you may want to try an oddball like the leopard ctenopoma. They go well with black ghost knifefish and loaches IF you get the ctenopoma small and let it grow up with them. Buying leopard ctenopomas already large from the fish store is really a hit or miss. You can put the large ctenopoma in a your tank and it may get along just fine with everything or it may pick fights with your other fish and be a real terror. They get to about 8 inches. If you buy it small and let it grow with your tankmates as they tend to be very mellow this way.
Yo yo loaches are a great choice for you. If you get the yo yo loaches, be sure to get at least 5 or six of them to get a lot of activity out of them and see the shoaling behavior. If you only get 3, they will likely just hide a lot.
jdmboy;4391568; said:
I don't know anything about these cichlids, but I never have more than one cichlid of any given species in my tank for fear of them becoming a mating pair. If you get several cichlids and you get a pair out of the bunch, they will be very aggressive towards other tankmates. The pair will double team any other fish that enters their territory.
yea i was planning on getting 6 or so yo yo loaches. and thats what i was worried about with the cichlids, id end up having a pair and then they might do some damage to other fish in my tank. im still not sure about the silver dollars, idk if they are what i want. i have a feeling that im going to be setting back up the other tanks i have, in order to get all that i want again
jdmboy;4393024; said:
Try the bala sharks. They're going to get along well with the loaches and I doubt they will cause any trouble for your BGK if the knife has a cave to hide in. The 125 will hold three bala sharks for a very long time. If the sharks grow too big for the tank, just get rid of them then, but enjoy them in the meantime.
There are also other dither fish you can choose besides bala sharks and silver dollars. You can go for a large shoal of various rainbow fish mixed with giant danios. Rosy barbs also go well with black ghost knives and yo yo loaches and they are very coloful. They get up to about 5 inches, so you can get a dozen or so of those.
I would try to get one large, mid-dwelling fish if you go with the rosy bars or the giant danios/rainbow fish just to have everything swirl around it. Something that grows 8-12 inches and not too aggressive. That is why I was tossing the idea with a severum or geophagus or leopard ctenopoma around. Heck, with a tank like that, you could choose the ctenopoma with the severum or the geophagus with the severum or the ctenopoma with the geophagus or comparable cichlids. A 125 with a catfish, 6 yo yo loaches, a BGK, 2 cichlids of a different species and a large shoal of rosy barbs or a mixed shoal of rainbow fish and/or giant danios sounds like a nice filled out tank to me.
Okay, I just remembered that you wanted to do something other than cichlids. lol. Scratch the severum and geophagus ideas.
You might want to try researching mildly aggressive oddball fish like the leopard ctenopoma that grow in the 8-12 inch range and choose one or two different fish. You showed interest in bichirs earlier. A delhezi bichir and leopard ctenopoma would be two good oddballs to finish the tank with. 1 BGK
1 Leopard Ctenopoma
1 Delhezi Bichir
6 yo yo loaches
A large assortment of giant danios and rainbow fish
Anyway, let us know what you decide. There are any number of ways you can take this. The black ghost knife, yo yo loaches and catfish is a very good start!
I recommended the delhezi bichir since it maxes out at 12 inches and it has nice designs on it. Ornate bichirs get huge and can get aggressive. There are posters on here who talk about their ornates tearing their black ghost knives apart. I was thinking of doing a black ghost knife/ornate mix myself until I read about this. Endlicheri bichirs get even larger than ornates. I just think its risky tanking BGKs with bichirs that will outgrow it. Some people, like Benjamin, do it and it works. Others do it and loose their knife. If you had a much larger tank and had a clown knife instead of a BGK, then an ornate or endli would be ideal bichir tankmates for that fish. I think Senegals and delhezis are more appropriate for the BGK.
edited for content...TheEelKing;4393499; said:
What about an Albino Senegal for a contrast...same size as the normal, but it would be a total contrast to the BGK...
BTW, thanks for the heads up, I was about to go get an ornate for my 90 gallon set up this week-end(about 4"), after reading this post, I'm holding out for a Delhezi, it would make a great tank mate for my Senegal (about 11" last I checked) and albino (about 6") I already own...
I lost my other albino during the move to the 90-stressed itself to death me thinks, was porpoising (or breaching-swimming on her tail?!) wildly the night before she died...
thanks for all the help guys and all the suggestions, im still looking at possible tankmates, im out of town right now but ill be back home tomm, so im setting the tank up then and got to cycle it. so i have a little more time to see what i want, i want to much lol
Is that catfish like a pleco? If so, keep it well fed so it doesn't try and feed off the bichirs slimecoat. I think they should be fine.
