im thinknig about adding an african knifefish to my tank. how aggressive are these? i read that their maximum size is 8" is this the smallest knifefish? i have 2 other fish in the tank that i want to not get eaten, ive read that knifefish will sometimes eat fish during the night.
thinking about adding a knifefish
- Thread starter catfish
- Start date
The most peaceful knife fish is probably the ghost knife. I have a 10"clown knife and a 12" royal clown knife in a 200 gallon tank with two 16" silver arrowanas. None of these fish ever fight ar pick on one another. The african knife fish is ugly in my opinion plus they are very skittish, they will eat smaller fish but they shouldn't be too aggressive. My clown knifes are trained to approach me during feeding time and they have excellent spotting patterns. But they do cost a little more. The royal cost me $20.00 when he was 3 inches long. The clown knifes will get to be up to 3 feet long so keep that in mind, the afriican can get to be a foot or more. It all depends on what you like, I would go for a clown knife if I were you...
i want to get a clown knife but i dont have enough space right now. i plan on getting a bigger tank i just dont know when that will be. how fast do the clowns grow? and do i need something for them to be able to hide in? i read that they hide during the day.
catfish....
You didn't mention what kind of fish are already in the aquarium, how large they are, or how large the aquarium is. This would be helpful information.
The African Brown Knife (Xenomystus nigri) is generally a secretive and inoffensive fish except to other knife fish. They are, however, predatory and will eat any fish small enough to fit into their mouth. That being said, the African Brown Knife is an excellent choice for a community tank with appropriately-sized tankmates. I currently have one in a tank with medium-sized (6 - 9 inch) bichirs and a number of Bush Fish (Ctenopoma species) and there have been no problems at all beyond the fact that the Knife took an initial disliking to a male Microctenopoma fasciolatum which it chased every time it spotted the other fish. This behavior lasted about two weeks and I haven't seen any problems between the two ever since.
Just be sure you don't accidentally get one of the larger African Featherfin Knife (Papyrocranus species) individuals by accident. They can easily be distinguished from X. nigri because the Featherfin has a dorsal fin that the Brown Knife doesn't have. Papyrocranus can reach 30 inches or more and has a well-deserved reputation of being fierce predators and are usually completely intolerant of other knife fish.
-Joe
You didn't mention what kind of fish are already in the aquarium, how large they are, or how large the aquarium is. This would be helpful information.
The African Brown Knife (Xenomystus nigri) is generally a secretive and inoffensive fish except to other knife fish. They are, however, predatory and will eat any fish small enough to fit into their mouth. That being said, the African Brown Knife is an excellent choice for a community tank with appropriately-sized tankmates. I currently have one in a tank with medium-sized (6 - 9 inch) bichirs and a number of Bush Fish (Ctenopoma species) and there have been no problems at all beyond the fact that the Knife took an initial disliking to a male Microctenopoma fasciolatum which it chased every time it spotted the other fish. This behavior lasted about two weeks and I haven't seen any problems between the two ever since.
Just be sure you don't accidentally get one of the larger African Featherfin Knife (Papyrocranus species) individuals by accident. They can easily be distinguished from X. nigri because the Featherfin has a dorsal fin that the Brown Knife doesn't have. Papyrocranus can reach 30 inches or more and has a well-deserved reputation of being fierce predators and are usually completely intolerant of other knife fish.
-Joe
i have a 4-5" spotted pictus catfish and a 3-4" electric yellow labido(african cichlid) my tank is 29 gallons. i would only plan to have the knifefish in there temporarily until i got a bigger tank. but i would like to get a butterfly knifefish then i could keep it in the tank.
