Clown Knife Question........
- Thread starter joeytoe
- Start date
No, they're not the same family. In fact, they're no more closely related to each other than a Corydoras is to an Arapaima. "True knifefish" (black ghosts, carapos, glass knives, and many others) make up the Gymnotiformes, and are only found in South America and extreme south Central America. "Featherback knifefish" are of family Notopteridae which are Osteoglossiformes, which contains arowanas (African aros and A. gigas included), the African butterfly fish, elephantnoses, the aba, and several others. The Notopterids are found in Africa and Asia, and have no "electrical" capabilities. They have similar habits, but are not closely related in the least. If you'd like, I can post a topic on knifefish phylogeny as it is quite complicated.Springtyme said:I had a black ghost knife fish and all the research I did on it said that they were very sensitive to light and he hid most of the time when I had the light on. Perhaps clown knife are the same, they are the same family after all.... Not sure though. Just thought I'd offer my 2 cents
Papyrocranus afer. They are African knives, but are much harder to find than their close relatives Xenomystus nigri. I see them at lfs occasionally, but if you're up to paying shipping Toyin at Rehobothaquatics.com has them for great prices.jenBLKAROWANA said:Great questions blacktip...I was gonna ask the same things....I have had a couple of knife fish...they always seemed to hide behind things, and only come out to feed and gulp some air...I did have this awsome little knife fish...it was labled a "pom pom" knife...that was the coolest knife I ever had, or seen, I can't seem to find them anywhere...He was just only 5-6" and was a grayish brown color, it almost looked like an african knife, but I know it wasen't one of them...He swam all over the place, killed on of my green scats...we called him the pitbull...lol...it was a mean little sucker...He would swim right in front of the ARO's face...and some how the ARO never ate him...untill one day, he was missing....I think he taunted the ARO one to many times...lol....and became a midnight snack...I was very sad.....I wish I could find another one.....
Jen
As for the clown, they all have individual personalities, and some are more shy than others. However, even the shyest of them will grow less shy over time.
i've had 2 clowns knife's before. both around 5in., they were very shy and only came out during feeding time. i tried different kinds of food (pellets, bloodworms, tubiflex...etc) but the only thing they consistenly ate was guppies and worms. i was in the military so i never got to keep my fish for long periods of time, i ended up giving mine away when i moved, i'm thinking about gettin another and was wonder what MFK'er feed their knives.
KurseD said:
Ive been feeding my frozen Krill an Sinking carnivore Pellets, both with a home made feeding stick (so the other fish dont get the food first).
I have a 8" clown knife, who, although very eccentric in the feeding department, is actually quite a friendly fellow. He thinks he is king of the tank and swims around all day long even coming right up to the glass to touch noses with me when I come home from work. I absolutely love this fish even though I'm not sure what I'll do when he gets bigger than 2 feet long! I have a couple of black ghost knives who were rather shy, but this guy is a more curious knife.
Mine Swims around with Impunity at night. an now eats freeze dried Krill beside my Silver Aro like there buddies. But he still hides during the day.
