Crap. Adopted an aba aba knife.

[Mr Aidan]

A friend of mine recently bought an aba aba knife online thinking it was a black ghost knife(He's dumb, I've already informed him lol) at about 4". Right now it's alone in my 55 and was wondering how long it could be in there before I got a bigger home for him/her.


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[Fish on Fire]

Are you looking to keep it for life? If not, I would get rid of it ASAP to someone who does want to and is capable of keeping one for life. They easily hit 3'+ in the home aquarium an are very active fish once they get to a good size, around 14" or so. It's gonna grow pretty fast, expect it to hit anywhere from 15-20" within the year depending on what you feed, how often, and how well you maintain the tank. Also, you gotta be careful once it gets bigger with the water changes, it won't be afraid to go after anything you put in the tank, including your hands. Never kept one myself but it's one of my dream fish so I've read a lot about them, lol.

 

[Mr Aidan]

Are you looking to keep it for life? If not, I would get rid of it ASAP to someone who does want to and is capable of keeping one for life. They easily hit 3'+ in the home aquarium an are very active fish once they get to a good size, around 14" or so. It's gonna grow pretty fast, expect it to hit anywhere from 15-20" within the year depending on what you feed, how often, and how well you maintain the tank. Also, you gotta be careful once it gets bigger with the water changes, it won't be afraid to go after anything you put in the tank, including your hands.

I would love to keep it for life is possible. They look like very personable fish from what I've seen. In the next 6 month ill move him to his own 120 then bigger depending where he's at. Thank you


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[Fish on Fire]

I would love to keep it for life is possible. They look like very personable fish from what I've seen. In the next 6 month ill move him to his own 120 then bigger depending where he's at. Thank you


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People who've kept them recommend tanks bigger than 8'x4' for life, think twice that, lol. Try to do a forum search or google search, I bet that you'll find a bunch of info like I did, including first hand experiences with this very interesting fish.

 

[Naos1984]

Careful with your fingers.

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[MonsterMinis]

First get it past 12"..... then worry about a new tank... sadly these fish have an insanely high mortality rate at that size in captivity... why you see them that size.. but to find one for sale larger will cost you $$$... I love our Aba... few time we thougth about getting rid of him, but we where so glad we haven't... a 55 should last threw it's first year... I would then skip a 120 and go straight to a 180. the problem with a 55 is it's depth... ours at 2yrs is approx 18" they grow very fast the first 4-6 monthes then slow down. then hit spurts during the different times of year I've noticed.

imo a 75 will last up to and includeing 2yrs potentially, larger is better. a 55 is just so narrow imo should be moved into a wider tank by 10"

Mine also tolerated a whiptail catfish, and a flash pleco ( until the flash got an attitude i'm guessing and the aba killed him) I would try docile well protected cleaner type species. anything territorial or aggessive will be immediately destroyed ime.

btw- my aba has never gone after my husband or me.. not that i've tried to hand feed or otherwise encourage him to associate hands with him. But we do treat him with the respect they deserve. I wouldn't hand-feed them.. but ours is actually very skittish towards most people.