Centipede Knifefish Steatogenys duidae

[kniesh]

Hi, I just bought one of these to put in an oddball setup 6x2x2 180 gallon. I have looked around but cant seem to find too much info on them. Anyone here have much experience with them they would like to pass on?

Its currently in a slightly smaller tank with 3 archers and a Neddlenose. Tank is a 2ft cubed

Thanks in advance, Vinny

 

[Hoyo12]

Hi, I just bought one of these to put in an oddball setup 6x2x2 180 gallon. I have looked around but cant seem to find too much info on them. Anyone here have much experience with them they would like to pass on?

Its currently in a slightly smaller tank with 3 archers and a Neddlenose. Tank is a 2ft cubed

Thanks in advance, Vinny

From my experience, these are very picky fish. The only thing that I was able to actually observe mine eat was Bloodworms, and they will normally only eat at night. If just the slightest thing goes wrong, they will die, lol. Temp. can't get too high, need a constant flow in the tank, and you need to make sure that it is getting enough food to eat at night.
What else would you like to know, specifically?

 

[kniesh]

Thanks, Mine is obviously a very shy fish, which is a species thing from what I've read. I was hoping to find something other than bloodworms that they might eat to be honest. I have put some chopped prawns/mussels in and it did seem to eat these, even with the lights on, and has since ate bloodworms again with the lights on.

I am looking to put a mixture of decent sized oddballs into a 6x2x2 that this will be in, and was wondering about compatabilitys really. Within a year I will be getting a 9x3x3 tank so will probably have some quite large fish in there. Do you think a BGK would work in the 6x2x2 with it for now, or a group of elephant nose, am not too sure about this because of the electrical pulses they both ommit

 

[Hoyo12]

Thanks, Mine is obviously a very shy fish, which is a species thing from what I've read. I was hoping to find something other than bloodworms that they might eat to be honest. I have put some chopped prawns/mussels in and it did seem to eat these, even with the lights on, and has since ate bloodworms again with the lights on.

I am looking to put a mixture of decent sized oddballs into a 6x2x2 that this will be in, and was wondering about compatabilitys really. Within a year I will be getting a 9x3x3 tank so will probably have some quite large fish in there. Do you think a BGK would work in the 6x2x2 with it for now, or a group of elephant nose, am not too sure about this because of the electrical pulses they both ommit

Yes, they are a very shy species of fish. And glad to hear he eats with the light on, mine never would...lol. The electrical pulse I wouldn't worry about, if anything it just helps the fish locate each other. Which could be bad or good. The BGK can get fairly aggressive towards tankmates, as mine fights anything that stands up to it, and Elephant Nose can also be somewhat aggressive. Mine likes to push around the Cichlids in the tank. I'd also like to say real quick that BGKs and Elephant Nose have been kept together with no issues before.
Bottom line is it could work, but def. have a back-up.

 

[MeiTnerium109]

Do you think a BGK would work in the 6x2x2 with it for now, or a group of elephant nose, am not too sure about this because of the electrical pulses they both ommit

You could technically get both (although the BGK could show aggression towards the elephant noses), but the BGK would be more suitable if you plan to get more massive, aggressive fish in the future.

BTW, archerfish (Toxotes jaculatrix) need brackish. Needle nose gars can tolerate the salt, but to my knowledge, not centipede knifefish.

 

[kniesh]

Thanks for the replies, the Archers are not (Toxotes jaculatrix) they are Toxotes microlepis which is the freshwater version. I did buy them thinking brackish though as I already have one set up.

As for backups I have set up 2 cubed tanks at around 60 gallons so there will be somewhere for them to go if it doesn't work. This is where they are at the minute until I strip down the 180 and re-home the fish. I was thinking more about a group of 5/6 Elephants to be honest, you think it would just be better keeping these in a tank roughly 26" cubed or you think that tank is too small for them an a small schooling species of Rainbow or something?

I think I will go with the BGK for the larger tank, as you say better for long term I think.