Gymnotus stenoleucus?

[M075]

I just got this cool knifefish a couple days ago, it was sold to me as gymnotus stenoleucus or tiger knifefish, its about 15cm long i think wich makes me think it might be a different gymnotus knifefish species.

IF anyone could identify that would be amazing.

Hes got some hiding spaces and one in particular that it sleeps in most of the day but planning to add a lot of wood to the tank so it will feel less anxious to go outside with the other fish swimming around.

Any other tips about these fish are also welcome ofcourse, i know the water parameters they enjoy and it has been eating some frozen food i put into his "cave" so i think im good on that but any little piece of information helps since theres not much to be found about these amazing fish

 

[jjohnwm]

One of our Canadian importers has on several occasions this year had a knifefish species that looks like this one. They labeled it as Gymnotus javari.

 

[M075]

Btw it will be going in a 160x50x50cm tank that holds 10 bleeding heart tetra's that have been very peaceful with every other fish ive housed with them, together with and 3 hujeta gars of about 10-12cm long.

the only hujeta that has been interested in the knife fish was the biggest one, probably the only female of the 3, i got them all at about the same size but the one just seems to grow a bit faster and is also more aggressive food-wise.

I am thinking of possibly housing the female hujeta somewhere else if it keeps showing aggression but it hasnt been too bad yet, it has tried to bite the gymnotus tail end once since it was sticking out from under a piece of wood and ive seen it "stalk" the knifefish till the knife got spooked once.

I have been staying awake for most of the nights and kept only the red led strip on its lowest setting to observe, the knife doesnt come out much yet but its only been a couple of days.

I will create a lot more hiding spots by adding a layer of spiderwood to divide the upper level of the aquarium from the bottom level creating both a lot of free swimming space for the knife making it harder for the hujeta to stalk. As well as some "caves" where it can feel safe and take a rest.

So far the hujeta's havent really been bothering the bleeding heart tetra's too much, they come close to observe but its mostly peaceful with some jumpscares for both ends when one makes a sudden move or accidentally touches the other. Ive even noticed sometimes the bleeding heart tetra's will hang out alongside the hujeta's as if theyre schooling together.

During feeding the hujeta's only seem to have an eye for the food itself even though the tetra's are half its size, the smallest of them all maybe even less. Wich is also kinda why its weird to me that the one hujeta will stalk the knife thats actually quite bigger than itself and especially bigger than the bleeding heart tetra's.

 

[M075]

One of our Canadian importers has on several occasions this year had a knifefish species that looks like this one. They labeled it as Gymnotus javari.

Thank you, yes i know about the javari, Tigre, anguillaris and pedanopterus wich all look a lot like this one, for me its very hard to keep them apart and even experts seem to struggle with it sometimes i think.

My local said they think its the gymnotus stenoleucus but also were given the common name Tiger knifefish, in not 100% sure if they were told its the stenoleucus or if if thats what they think it is.

all i know its beautiful and i want to give it the best home possible whilst hopefully being able to keep all 3 of the hujeta's, if it would take having to buy another tank then so be it but id love for them to peacefully co-exist.

 

[kno4te]

The ones I’ve used to see had wider bands that tapered off for supposed stenoleucus. Haven’t looked at these guys in a while. Hard to ID. Think it does look javari. But still a cool knife. I’d keep it in a blackwater setup if able gymntous sp seem to do better atleast when I used to keep them.

 

[M075]

The ones I’ve used to see had wider bands that tapered off for supposed stenoleucus. Haven’t looked at these guys in a while. Hard to ID. Think it does look javari. But still a cool knife. I’d keep it in a blackwater setup if able gymntous sp seem to do better atleast when I used to keep them.

I will try my best to do black water as far as possible but not sure if the hujeta's will appreciate it, the tank will have a lot of wood soon enough, it already got quite a lot actually but more is definitely better in this case.

I kinda hope its a javari that would be great since they get to the perfect size for this tank and tankmates.

 

[kno4te]

Hujetas should be good with a blackeate setup too. Just slowly adjust the ph/water hardness.

 

[M075]

Cool i will do that then, was already thinking of it, all the wood and leaves in the tank makes the water color a bit yellowish already and i love how natural it looks so thats good news.

Ive heard about adding Peet (i think it is, in Dutch its turf) to the filter media and am definitely willing to try that out, seems like i got some more reading to do about setting up the tank to fully blackwater.

Thank you very much for all the helpt its greatly appreciated!