Black Pom Pom knife

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youseshan

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 3, 2011
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howell
I have owned a couple clown knifes, an African knife, and a ghost knife. Bit recently I purchased a black Pom Pom knife which should be arriving sometime early next week. I have tried to find as much info about these guys as I can but it seems there isn't much on google about them. I was just wondering if anyone had any info about these guys ie. size, tempermant, favorite foods ect. He will be in a 120 at 5 inches until he gets larger then he will be move to a 500. Also if anyone has personally owned one I would love to hear about their experiences!


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What you have coming is probably papirocranus afer and some of them are spotted as mine was.It is my favorite knife fish but they are nocturnal and can do some damage to other fish which may be asleep at night.I was able to train mine to eat bits of cut up shrimp.They are said to become aggressive as they grow but I had no problems with mine,probably because I kept it well fed.


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Hey thanks for the reply! I'm glad I finally have a scientific name to go off of! What do you have yours housed with? I figured he would probrably be nocturnal like most species of knifefish but does he ever come out or do you have a problem with him hiding all the time?


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I no longer have mine but it was in with my datnoids grow outs and they all got along pretty well while they were together.They do like to hide during the day if there is cover but after a while mine would come out and cruise around the tank before going back into hiding.I think if you stick to feeding them during the day they will become used to being out during that time as opposed to night time.I plan to get another one soon but currently they are only available on line.I would like to be able pick out the one I want which would have the most spots out of the bunch....Glad to be able to help and I hope you enjoy your Pom Pom.


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pom pom knife is a serious bully. It will make life absolutely miserable for any fish smaller than it. I put mine in my grow-out / QT when it first arrived (nothing goes directly into my display tank). During the brief two weeks he was there, I suddenly lost one texas cichlid (jumped out of tank), two (out of three) pike cichlids (both eaten), and the fins of both my catfish and both of my convicts were quite shredded. pom pom forced me to break my own rule and put him in display tank before the QT period (six weeks) concluded. No problem now, but, only because all of the other fish are much bigger and mean by nature!!! My pom pom is only about five inches.

He eats NLS, freeze-dried krill, freeze-dried plankton (but, only if soaked in garlic-guard). Haven't tried feeding anything else and have not fed any meats to my fish for quite some time.
 
Oh wow that aggressive at only 5 inches? How big was the Texas and your pike? Mine will be going into a tank with a couple date and an orino pbass, hopefully they will be fine!


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Pikes were each just under 4 inches. The texas was about three inches, but, it was a "small" fish for it's type. Mileage will vary, but, I hope you make out fine. You should have a plan in place (like another tank), however, just in case he is a mean ba$tard (probably) like the one that I got. No aggression in a tank with much bigger fish, but, if he is the biggest (or close enough to it), you may have problems.
 
I have a 16"+/- PomPom in my 300 right now.. I do have to say this is my favorite knife i've ever had, it is awesome and i love the spotting on it.. Mine eats cut shrimp and tilapia, and sometimes pellets if he gets interested in them..
Now for the bad part.. the only fish in my tank that he doesn't mess with is my 15" Leo Stingray.. I have 4 large silver dollars (4-10"), and 6 Geo Altifrons(6-10"), and 1x 10" Datnoid and all their fins are tore up due to this knife.. :irked: He's taken out 2 silver dollars, and one big jurupari already.. He is definately the boss in the tank.. If i had another tank he'd be moved to his own tank in a second.. I've heard a few people say they'll need their own tank as they get bigger and now i know why..
 
Mine is coming in tomorrow and will be around 5" he will actually be with similar stock, I have some sd's, a couple indo dats, and an orino pbass. Hopefully they will be ok for the time being, if not then I will have to keep him in my spare 75 for a little while. If that is the case as a worst case scenario what is their growth rate like? Obviously I couldn't keep him in a 75 forever but would it buy me a descent amount of time to get something larger?


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Can't answer all of the questions in your most-recent post, but, it is good to see that you are already prepared to execute on "Plan B". I would recommend that you have that 75 all set up and ready to go!!! You've got feedback from two of us who still have our pom pom knife fishes and the feedback is similar. They are bullies!!! Bigtime. It seems like their only purpose (besides eating) is to constantly harass the other fish. And not in a harmless way. Other than back in the day when I had snakeheads, this is probably the most aggressive fish I've owned. I had some ba$tard jaguars, but, they were only bad when breeding or at feeding time. I've got a 6-inch Jardini who (so far) doesn't really mess with anything (although he lets my silver dollars know that "he will be coming for them someday"). Pom pom is awesome fish, but, super aggressive.
 
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