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How many can be kept together. I had two, both healthy but within a week one had died whilst the other had flourished? I love these fish and would like more. I have a 4ft aquarium heavily planted and lots of caves, driftwood, etc.

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Those who say they cant, Never will !!!

you could probley get 2 bkgs and if you want you could get a couple rainbow fish but they have to be a larger type.

1 Blackghost Knife per tank is good...
don't think you should keep more then one as they use electric pulses

BGK is correct.

These fish use weak electrical pulses as a type of sonar to navigate the tank, as they are for all practical purposes, blind. Two in a small space such as a home aquarium would cause their pulses to cross, confusing and stressing them.

One is best.

i dont know what the 4 foot tank equals to, but 1 is good, due to size, but i do have about 6 in one tank with no problems for right now anyway, untill they get moved.

I doubt that you lost one of your BGKs through any electrical pulses being crossed. Was one being bullied by the other? If so then that's where the stress was coming from, if not the BGK might have been sick to begin with.

You can have more than 1 BGK in one tank as I and other people do with no problems at all. I have 3 (all over 2 yrs old) in my 6ft and they do come in contact with each other quite often and there's no stress other than each one making sure they get their food and the others aren't pinching theirs

But you'll need more room than a 4 ft if you're going to keep them for any length of time.
Good luck with your other BGK crusha and welcome to Fish Profiles

just another note, try and stock the BGK at the same time, onces one makes a part of the tank its own, and later u add another terortoral aggression might occur,(i know mines did) but after awhile they will find their areas.

Thank you all for the advice, I'm just going to enjoy the one I hve for now, when I actually get to see him that is.

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Those who say they cant, Never will !!!

The pulses are not just used for navigation , some research has gone into the use of them as communication, and yes they can threaten each other by bio-electric pulses.Its not a frequency crossing as presumably they have individual frequencies , just as many other species use different frequencies of sound , light emission or indeed bio-electric energy to communicate even in groups of thousands without confusion, black knifes are unlikely to "jam" frequencies.Its far more likely that the electrical communication was used as deliberately targeted assistance to dominance in this case. Fish are not radio's .lol. Black knifes can only be risked with other fish when they are young, even a larger species of adult rainbow could be fatally bitten by a black knife. They are a predator, dont let the comparatively small size of the mouth fool you.

To be mixed with fish of same size or greater only, for maximum safety. They get to around 20 inches long.At night they can be a very different fish, it gives them an edge over diurnal or even much faster species.

Last edited by longhairedgit at 28-Nov-2005 01:57

Last edited by longhairedgit at 28-Nov-2005 02:00