Breeding and keeping Black Ghost Knives

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HugeGhost

Candiru
MFK Member
Mar 28, 2006
375
4
48
California
Wondering if its possible to keep 2 BGK in a 55 gallon thats heavily planted, with lots of caves and hiding places! Anybody ever heard of ghost breeding! Occassionally i see baby ghosts for sale at the pet stores! Thanks Howie
 
1 ghost is 12 inches the other one is 10 inches! They seem to be getting along as of the first day!
 
They will most likely start fighting. They have weak electrical forces that come off of them and it bothers other fish that use the electrical forces to hunt. Also I don't think there has ever been breeding in home aquarium.

Chad
 
the only time you can keep 2 together is if you have a huge aquarium. like 200+ gallons. other wise as chad55 said they will fight or they might not fight but they will not be happy. a 55 is way to small for a full grown BGK anyways. they get 20" long. if you buy a big aquarium you can keep some
 
I had 2 black ghosts, one wads about 6 inches and the one I have now was about 9 inches. The bigger one killed the smaller one. Bite mark on his back, came back from a weekend out and the little guy was dead. 250 gallon tank and many many hiding areas. The little one always wantred to follow the big one but the big one didnt like that. Becareful even in a huge tank.
 
TankBuster said:
I had 2 black ghosts, one wads about 6 inches and the one I have now was about 9 inches. The bigger one killed the smaller one. Bite mark on his back, came back from a weekend out and the little guy was dead. 250 gallon tank and many many hiding areas. The little one always wantred to follow the big one but the big one didnt like that. Becareful even in a huge tank.
my point mabye if they were both about the same size. yours were 3 inch difference and they could of been 2 males
 
they have been bred in captivity, at one point they had all white ones being exported from asia, and those were definately not wild caught. Not sure if anyone in the U.S. has ever bred them though.
 
Ya they fight, thats what happened actually the small one followed the big one, and they went crazy last night! Its when its pitch black that they fight! I took the smaller one back to the store. thanks guys, i am wondering if you got lets say a male and female the same size will it work, i am getting the ghost a 90 soon, i might try again in the future.
 
In order to breed them I would think you need a very large tank, lots of hiding spots, multiple specimens (because they are unsexable), and ideal water parameters for breeding. You might have to use a method similiar to spawning Pirhanas like a rain system to trigger the spawning behavior, not to mention some very soft and acidic water that is close to the same conditions they breed in the wild.
 
if you want to breed them i would say you need over a 300 gallon. 1 male with a group of females. the females have shorter snouts
 
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