I spawned my Ghost knife!

[Fanlie]

Thaks ahead "gianniz" some photos for reference would be G8
I could put the pic's in our local forum as well for others to see!
I've been to shops to spot some larger BGK's to look at & searched a fair bit online for ino on BGK as well. Even tough they are pretty much all black they are an awesome & amazing fish

Here are two of my BGK @ 6" & 10" feeding before the plants got put in the tank => http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISXr5IzkURk
They love to foliage & feel a lot more at home now...

[YT]ISXr5IzkURk[/YT]

Cool Black ghost knife. I want now go to home. miss me BGK, im at jobs now
I have the same 2 BGK in one tank. I just wonder can another add BGK in the same tank?
My BGK do most like hide ,under driftwood and around plants in day. When i sit blue lighting on. they swim around.

 

[Ogrim]

"Fanlie" see my thread on the issue => Two BGK in one tank concern...
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=378818

Apparently it is not unusual for two BGK to fight or even kill each other if placed in the same tank

My BGK are fairly active, even when the lights are on since I've put more driftwood with plants attached in the tank

I do have another smaller BGK, but I am hesitant to put it in with the other 2, but I may have to try under a close watch
Cheers

 

[Rawrzer]

way to accomplish the impossible!

 

[Peanut_Power]

Super awesome accomplishment! Hopefully they will continue to get friskay on a regular basis!

I am confused why you put eggs from a fish from the AMAZON that has low pH, and soft water, into water that has a HIGH pH and more than moderately hard? A lot of soft water species eggs simply cannot hatch in hard water conditions.

The trick might be in getting your water as soft and as low of pH possible before the eggs will hatch. Only problem is if its different from the parent tank then you have potential of shocking the eggs, thus failing all together. If you risk trying to drop the pH and hardness in the parent tank, there is a chance they might not breed any more.

Either way I hope you get it figured out! LoL

 

[gianniz]

fanlie you got both girls.

ogrim, girls aren't agressive, they just setup dominance over night then they stick to the pecking order (however just like human some females are more agressive then others). i have not seen any of my females get too agressive.

males on the other hand will set very strong dominance and if size is similar then they will fight. i wouldn't have a small tank with just 2 males. however more than 2 is ok but make sure they have a home furthest away from each other. (even for breeders)

there is no sexual dominace from my observation, bigger the fish more respect it gets (smaller ones will clear the path of the bigger ones and if not, the bigger one will give the smaller one a light snapping and smaller one will backaway and bigger one continues on with whatever it was doing.


regarding high ph etc. well from my experiences, I am a strong believers in getting the fish to adapted to MY WATER CONDITION and I haven't found any fish that didn't. In saying this, my water condition should be great. massive overfilter with high quality debary uv etc. one other thing, I don't believe in frequent water change as long as water is clean. i might do it 3-4 times a year.
(btw the breeders tank did have high ph as it used to house black occies. then i added these guys and did water change few times without adding any buffers so it should be low ph (i have no idea as care factor is zero! lol hmm come to think of it, dropping ph gradually could have started their breeding trigger??? as my other pair isn't doing anything but this tank hasn't got any places to breed (can't be bothered setting it up! lol)

i grew zebra plecos, knifes, elephant nose etc which are known on the net as soft water/ low ph.... could be but it's not absolute.



anyway some more pics. temps got to 30c today. some eggs which were good in the morning is cooked! lol

might have to come up with a way to lower temp. some eggs are still lookin good.

 

[Ogrim]

"gianniz",
Thanks for having a look at the footage! I was afraid i got 2 girls (BGK) my self

If you don't mind me asking what brand & model is the power-filter the eggs are on. I like the design of the intake strainer.

I have read that BGK's prefer to deposit they eggs over large smooth pebbles so the eggs fall in between & this way less gets eaten while increasing the survival rate. Also the nitrates & waste must be at a much higher than preferred level for fry development in the 2 foot tank with so many large BGK's in there for a bioload.
I believe in frequent small water changes & I do 25% per week on my tanks. If I have eggs & fry I do 10% every other day & match water temp as well.
Good luck with the eggs
Cheers

 

[gianniz]

Here you go. these photoes were taken during feeding and some 20minutes after so they are kinda full. you should easily be able to tell them apart from these shots.

Male first. look at the overall shape. it's very slender

 

[gianniz]

Female

notice the pot belly, rounded face (it's much more noticeable cause it's gold ghost form, so i added another shot of black female from anothe tank at the bottom).

other ghost knives 2 female 1 black male, see if you can tell which is which???

 

[gianniz]

ogrim, filter?
lfs get a powerheaad and everyone of them should come with it for additional attachment as a prefilter to powerhead. i bought 3 of them and all 3 came with similar if not same thing (plua i have seem them stacked in boxes as a loose part in lots of sydney aquariums).

btw most lfs large bgk in sydney are males i guess since males look scary and females look cute as they grow.

 

[Peanut_Power]

Its not that they won't breed or survive in the wrong conditions, its that the EGGS will have a hard time hatching in the harder waters. It calcifies the shells, which makes them harder to get out of.

You do what you do. Cheers!