gymnotus carapo - first time keeper help me:D

[henward]

gymnotus carapo
south american banded knife fish.

rather rare in my country.

just wondering.

care for these?
i mean food, will take pellets?
beef and fish fillets?
will it eat off the surface like ck and rck?
also, is it ok to put this in wiht CK?

is it strong enough to care for itself

in the tank is a large RTG, DAT, severums, delhezi, palmas polli, tyre track eel...... i dont know what size it will arrive at, but what size does it have to be to be mixed with these tank mates?

 

[henward]

also, clown loaches, the cloowns are not small... 4 inches mininum to 5 inches above.

 

[henward]

also, are these fish shy or will they come out and compete for food.

and anything else i need to know

 

[Hoyo12]

Ah, the Carapo Knife.
Alright, Carapo Knives will sometimes eat pellets, but otherwise you will need to look for earthworms, tubifex, feeder fish, insects, etc. Beef heart and fish fillets should work just fine also. It should eat off of the surface, but you may want to hand feed it just to make sure that it is getting the right amount of food it needs.
They are similar to my Zebra Knife, which I am feeding live earthworms, and ossasionally live feeder guppys. I have to hand feed him to make sure no one else eats the food before it gets to him.
They will get to 24", and as far as compatibility I am unsure. It is said that they are very aggressive, so it makes me think that it would nip at the CK or the other way around. It will all depend on the size that the Knife is currently.
Post pics once you get that chance, and figure out the size of the fish. You may want put him in a seperate tank or at least have one setup, just in-case.

 

[Hoyo12]

If the Knife is around 6 or 8 inches, I wouldn't put him with the Clowns. They may become food.

 

[henward]

Oh, so they have a big mouth. i find the clonw knifes mouth is generally not as ...expansive as other fish' mouths.

these ones, can consume extremely large chunks of food?

i have two set ups.
one with all only big fish.
the other wiht other stuff like polys and clowns loaches.

 

[Hoyo12]

Actually what they may do, and I have watched this with my Zebra Knife, is that they will pick at the fins of smaller fish (Sometimes larger fish) and slowly eat it bit by bit until the other fish just gives up and dies from stress, etc.

 

[Hoyo12]

Alright, I'm heading to bed. Before I go I will say this:
It could work out perfectly and have nothing go wrong, but I was just naming the possibilities. I think that when you receive the Knife that you should put it with the Polys and Clowns, because they are not too aggressive. But that is just my opinion. And make sure you have hiding spots.
Good luck.

 

[King-eL]

I have three carapo. Care is very much like any other naked back knifefish. Clean water, well oxygenated tank, plenty of hiding space as they like to hide but will come out during feeding time once settled down. Mine will eat anything meaty and big pieces are trash around till it's ripped off to smaller parts. They also eat pellets. If they smell food from the surface then it will not hesitate but to grab the food. They have a good sense of looking for food.

BTW don't compare them to CK or RCK as they are NOT related. CK, RCK, GK, AK and MK are featherback knifefish and Carapo, BGK, Glass knife are nakedback knifefish.

As for defending itself, yes it can defend itself very well but with fast moving fish with big teeth, then NO.

I would tried to remove the cichlid as I notice cichlid picks on the tail of the carapo as they look like worms. As for those bichirs they better be the same size or the carapo will get eaten. I have mine with similar size sene, moke, polli and delhezi all in 9-10", 14" fire eel, 9" CK, 9" marble knifefish, 12" african arowana, 9" 6bars sexafiatus, and 7x 7" occelated snakeheads, 3x 6" emperor snakeheads, 1x vampire galaxy pleco, 2x 10" goldline knifefish and 1x 9"BGK. I don't think they will bother CL as they are way to fast for them. None got bother by the carapo. Carapos are not fin nipper and they are not very active compare to tiger and zebra. Tiger knifefish is by far probably the most aggressive in Gymnotiformes.

 

[henward]

hey king el, kumusta!
im from philippines too, but living in NZ

well, in the tank will either be - 17 inch red aro, red hook metynis, spotted metynis, 16 inch ornate bichir, pleco silver dollars, 8 inch dat, 6 inch 6 bar......

OR

17 inch RTG, 7 inch sens and delhezi and palmas polli, 4 inch dat, 18inch TT eel, royal pleco, severums.

not manh fin nippers maybe the 6 bar.
what do you tink?
i really wnt the knife, i will remove sev and 6 bar if needed, only possible fin nippers there. i want this knife, its rare in NZ. but the aro is rarer and my pride and joy.

more advise would be awesome~!!!!!

so generally they are peacful so long as they arent with fish that are fin nippers and that like to harass?

both tanks are 1200 litres.
first atnk is 2400x81w, 60h
second tank is 2100x83w, 72h