PLEASE HELP

[Aquaguy]

Picked up these two knife fish from a petco down the street yesterday. I don't really like petco for the same reasons that some of you don't, but they were the only LFS that carried what I thought were "African Brown Knifefish". The tank they were in labeled them as "African Knifefish". I didn't think much of it until I took a glance at the bill today which said "Clown Knifefish". I don't know much about knifefish identification so needless to say Im confused. If any of you could I.D. these knifefish I would greatly appreciate it. The first two are of the slightly larger one(approx. 4'') and the third pic is of the smaller one(just slightly smaller).

 

[benzjamin13]

They look like Clown Knives. The second pic, the flash and the angle is a bit hard to tell, but I think it's a Clown Knife as well. Looks pretty small. They'll develop more spots as they grow. They first one looks like it might be a Spotless, but we'll have to wait and see.

 

[Hao]

yea spotless or CK

 

[Aquaguy]

Thanks guys. so a clown nife of some sort...?

 

[benzjamin13]

Yes...all of them are Chitala Chitala.

 

[Hao]

hey ben how come it kinda looks like a brown knife is there a diff? im noob in CK sorry

 

[benzjamin13]

hey ben how come it kinda looks like a brown knife is there a diff? im noob in CK sorry

The flash throws it off. At first I wasn't too sure because I couldn't see the dorsal fin, but I saw the arch in the back of the tail and some faint spotting, so it's a Clown Knife. Some times as babies and juvies, their color can vary from a dark gray, light gray, tan, dark green, and silver.

 

[midnightCK]

dead giveaway the dorsal......

 

[cr8on]

Yep, both clown knives with juvenile markings, will start to develop their spot patterns soon.

 

[Aquaguy]

WOW. Thanks guys. thought I had an africanbk. How much should I worry about two of them in the same tank? they're in a 45 growout with 2 6'' florida gars at the moment. I haven't seen any problems as of yet. I plan on purchasing a 60''x30'' tank in the next couple weeks. any suggestions on care or anything at all?