Its good to be king!!! Bro i read your article on BGK breeding. If i lived closer i would be on those breeders!!!
Honest opinion on BGK
- Thread starter ljk09
- Start date
mine was in a 75gal all its life.. was one of the largest BGK around .. 14 inches... he lived for 9 years... i only had a couple of clown fish with him.. the main thing with BGK is water quality..
They are slow growers after the 8" mark. They pretty much average around 14" so a 75g would be fine.
Watching my bgk (over 16") in a 60x18" 120g tank, at night with moonlights on I felt he was cramped. They don't move much at all during the day but are very active after lights out. Their eractic swimming style requires a lot of room to move freely.
I've got a 9 or so inch BGK in 4 ft 90 g with an 8" oscar right now (got them both about 5 months ago, oscar was about 1.5" and ghost about 2.5 - they grew Very fast on new life spectrum floating pellets for oscar and sinking pellets for ghost). Both seem extremely happy and ghost is out during the day quite often, also instantly comes out whenever I put food in obviously. As soon as the lights go out it's bombing around the tank in all directions. It seems to swim laterally/backwards a lot which makes me think BGK/s will be ok compared to other fish that need longer footprint to work up a head of steam and swim longer distances without turning.
I'll eventually probly get a 6ft tank but from everything I've read and my observation of mine at 9 inches or so it seems fine in 90g for life if need be.
Another note: I've got an eheim 2262 on the 90g and the ghost loves the current - it will ride the current across the top of tank, then down side, bomb across the bottom then repeat. I also have a tall piece of wood with a large space underneath that has a still current for when the ghost or oscar want to go in there sometimes (not very often which is how i know i dont have too much current). And I have the 2 back corners covered with 3d background, one hiding the filter intake and the other empty, each make a space with a 4x4" or so opening. Ghost will sleep in the one with the intake in it, and will often go back and forth between the 2. I'd suggest providing something like this (two hiding spots) as mine seems to really like this. I also put cloth over the one with the pump so it has a totally dark place to be during the daytime hours. I have put pipes both clear and solid horizontally in the tank, but ghost never went in them, always preferred the vertical spaces in the corners.
Long story short give it multiple places to hide and it will be much more active.
I'll eventually probly get a 6ft tank but from everything I've read and my observation of mine at 9 inches or so it seems fine in 90g for life if need be.
Another note: I've got an eheim 2262 on the 90g and the ghost loves the current - it will ride the current across the top of tank, then down side, bomb across the bottom then repeat. I also have a tall piece of wood with a large space underneath that has a still current for when the ghost or oscar want to go in there sometimes (not very often which is how i know i dont have too much current). And I have the 2 back corners covered with 3d background, one hiding the filter intake and the other empty, each make a space with a 4x4" or so opening. Ghost will sleep in the one with the intake in it, and will often go back and forth between the 2. I'd suggest providing something like this (two hiding spots) as mine seems to really like this. I also put cloth over the one with the pump so it has a totally dark place to be during the daytime hours. I have put pipes both clear and solid horizontally in the tank, but ghost never went in them, always preferred the vertical spaces in the corners.
Long story short give it multiple places to hide and it will be much more active.
Oh one more thing - at one point maybe 2 months after getting these fish, the oscar started to nip at the ghost knife sometimes. It never did any damage to the main body of the knife, but I noticed a tear every once in a while on the ribbony lower fin that hangs off the ghost knife. The knife wouldnt even swim away, itd keep eating and basically act like it didnt even notice. But from then on, every time I saw the oscar swim at the ghost or nip at it, i would poke at the oscar with my water tong things - never actually touching it, but indicating back off the ghost and making it swim away. I did this for about three weeks, and now there is absolutely no hostility between the two, the tears healed really fast, and I havent seen any in months.
I swear the ghost will now taunt the oscar to try to make the oscar attack, knowing that I will poke the oscar with the tongs. But the oscar never does anything, and both will swim pretty much touching each other or with knife darting all around the oscar and no aggression. The knife will be eating off the bottom with its tail directly in oscars face even touching its eyes, and oscar wont react at all. At first after this treatment the oscar was scared of whenever i stuck tongs in and would go play dead in a corner, even if it wasnt to make him back off the ghost, but now it is not scared of them, and really just seems to know "dont fck with the ghost and there will be no problems." Oscars seem trainable.
I swear the ghost will now taunt the oscar to try to make the oscar attack, knowing that I will poke the oscar with the tongs. But the oscar never does anything, and both will swim pretty much touching each other or with knife darting all around the oscar and no aggression. The knife will be eating off the bottom with its tail directly in oscars face even touching its eyes, and oscar wont react at all. At first after this treatment the oscar was scared of whenever i stuck tongs in and would go play dead in a corner, even if it wasnt to make him back off the ghost, but now it is not scared of them, and really just seems to know "dont fck with the ghost and there will be no problems." Oscars seem trainable.
I used to do weekly water changes in my 55 gal, but now that i'm using my 430 gal, I do w/c once or twice a month. Doing roughly 20% w/c on a 430 gal is alot of water. I'm in the process of building a constant drip system. Haven't figured out what gph to go with, but i'm working on it.
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