Clown knife not eating

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Thanks for the great advice. So I should leave the light off for a week?
 
If it ate in the other tank, then it might be afraid of the Oscar attacking it. Maybe if you have a spare tank, keep the CK by itself until it gets a bit bigger than the Oscar and put it back in. And then see how it acts around the Oscar during feeding.
 
Gene0514;1600132; said:
Thanks for the great advice. So I should leave the light off for a week?

i would... but everyone else in this thread knows a lot more about this fish than i do. :) i guess i just got lucky with mine. it likes frozen food, and pellets. along with daylight for some reason. nocturnal eh?

maybe your clown knife is just a shy one. give it time, give it plants, and like the poster above me said, give it its own tank. alteratively you can feed the oscar till it cant fit any more food in its mouth, then drop some food around the tank where the clown knife hides, and turn off the light. the oscar will be occupied with the food it has. so the knife should be able to get at some of the food. thats what i do. but then my knife (3") has been in the tank for a while, where as i got the oscar last week, and its only 2". you may have to remove some food if it doesnt get eaten.

you could also put a pvc tube in the tank and put some food in the pipe. it works for elephant noses, why shouldnt it work for the shyest knife fish ever? :) its worth a try...
 
Leaving the lights off can make them more comfortable. I have a ghost tube in my tank, and one knife likes it, the other doesn't. I have them in a very heavily planted tank, and if you buy the plants that are tall enough to float on the top as well they seem to appreciate that. Patience is key with these guys.
 
Well he ate a pellet when it landed on a leaf because they sink too fast. The oscar doesn't bother anyone (except the goldfish) so i don't think he's afraid of the oscar. The tank is pretty planted because the two amazon swords take up about half the tank and the tips of the leaves are actially out of the water. The ck is actually 4 inches not 3. He hides in the plant leaves so when i throw food in, it sinks, and he doesn't eat the floating food. There are plants at the bottom of the tank but he doesn't hide in them. I am getting my 55 next week (because the stupid UPS driver lost the package with the stand and petco is sending me a new one) so I will put in many hiding places. I already have many plants and pieces of driftwood for it.The biggest piece is about 17 inches long and has a good cave in it.
 
Hooray! He ate frozen bloodworms in his tank today!!!
 
thanks! I can't believe he finally ate! :headbang2
 
Gene0514;1606175; said:
Hooray! He ate frozen bloodworms in his tank today!!!
I have had great success with beefheart as well. Try it sometime my knife loves it. The only thing it will eat besides feeders. Sometimes mine will eat bloodworms its a very picky eater.
 
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