duckbill knife, any info?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
C

conig

Candiru
MFK Member
Nov 2, 2009
211
0
46
tallahassee, fl
I am considering getting a duckbill or dragon knife Parapteronotus hasemani, but i cannot find any real care instructions. By the looks of them im guessing its a nocturnal fish. I would be putting it in the top tank of my signature are there any compatibility issues? will two males fight? a co-worker wants one but needs me to house it temporarily.
 
Mine just got killed by my big BGK...they've been living together for a year too. Anyways, it's a cool fish. They often sit out in the open, unlike a BGK. They mimic a branch, if you have thin branches in the tank it's amazing how well they blend in. Shy feeder, eats at night. They have a funny way of swimming that makes a BGK look normal. The males have the long beak, the females (like I had) look like a big Brown Ghost, but with a square tail.
 
one of the venders here has them. interesting looking knife.
 
Totally looks like a BGK when swimming (Google the scientific name and pick the first You Tube vid)

Very cool looking! I say if you have the space-go for it! ;)
 
I have 2 of them and the ones the vendor has do not look like Parapteronotus hasemani mine have huge mouths. The male stays on one side the female on the other if they meet in the middle they go at it.

Here is the female feeding on mysis shrimp.

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The next 3 vids are of the male. He will eat night crawlers out of your hand. The vid in the blue tank is when I first got them and they were quarantined in separate tanks. At first they only ate black worms but they were easy to get off of them. They will eat brine, mysis, and worms. The male always stays in this position. When they both got moved into the larger tank it was a war until they worked out who was going live where.


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Don't mean to hijack the thread, but a LFS has 2 of these duckbill knifes listed as brown knifes, they are around 8-9" and $20, is that a good price. This is the first time i've ever seen them in a store.
 
gtpsuper24;4993713; said:
Don't mean to hijack the thread, but a LFS has 2 of these duckbill knifes listed as brown knifes, they are around 8-9" and $20, is that a good price. This is the first time i've ever seen them in a store.
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It's a pretty good price IMO if they are Duckbills; fairly rare to come across around here, so at that price I'd snatch one with no problem, lol.
 
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