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hi,
I was wondering if anyone has had any experience keeping these.
thanks

my father loves these fish, and when we first started out unfort, we didn't know much about them and lost alot,

but sooner or later we got it right, and have currently 6-7 varying in sizes. my largest was about 15 inches when he got basted by a tankmate(by accident) and was killed.

general notes: tank size is important as these fish get very large.
~not really good with smaller fishes, as i have heard stories about at night this fish eatting the eyes of small tetras etc..
~territorial, you must have a large tank with many hiding places to house alot of them,as they can be very aggressive towards eachother.
~water changes: these fish are very shockable, and make sure when adding water you do it away from the fish, and at a close water temp.

I just bought a 140 gallon tank and was looking for an interesting center piece fish. From my research I have done, they seem pretty peaceful and very interesting. My smallest fish right now are a school of 1 1/2 inch black neons. The knife fish I was looking at is roughly 5 inches. Do you think it would be alright to add the knife fish or would he eat the tetras?

Thanks for your response!!!

Hi Amanda,

I have two in a 55 gallon and they are just great. As a centre peice fish you might find that you wont see them a lot during the day, they are nocturnal, make sure that they have lots of plants/caves/driftwood etc to hide in. If you do get more than one, they must each hve their own territory - can be aggressive towards each other but not to other fish that i've noticed.

They will eat the eyes out of smaller fish, I found this out with one of my Rummy Nose Tetra. It amazingly survived so it now only has one eye!

They are bottom dwelling so they would need sinking food (shrimp pellets, algae wafers even), mine will eat bloodworms from my hand and that didn't take very long for them to do.

All in all - a great fish, very different and very interesting to watch (like I said, when you get to see them).

Cheers - Crusha

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Those who say they cant, Never will !!!

Thanks for your reply!

again liek with most predators, dont stock with fishes that you are not willing to risk, so as you can imagine a large 15 inch BGK in a tank with alot of small schooling fish, might have a chance, but it doesn't look to good.]

and the point of center fish, also i agree, you will probably not see this fish, and it isn't to active during the day, so you may want to reconsider.

I have a BGK fish in my 55 gallon for about a year now. He has been with aggressive fish the whole time and I haven't had a problem. Great fish to have.

Maybe if you reversed it, and had the lights off in the day, and on at night, they would make a good centrepiece??

yeah!!!!

I just got a pair of BGKF!!! They are awesome!!! Very docile, they haven't nipped at any of my tetras or my angels. The two of them are even sharing a cave together when there are plenty of other caves avilable.

Thanks everyone for the advice! You guys are great!

YAY!!! I know you are going to enjoy watching them. I mine.

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Those who say they cant, Never will !!!

maybe i was unlucky, but i had in my (semi new restocked) 75 corner tank, but i had alot of places for hiding and when i add some new baby BGK they wouldn't stay together, they were actually very aggressive to eachother.

just unlucky i guess.

Bettachris mine aren't friendly towards each other either. They keep at opposite sides of the aquarium, when they do come across each other one will chase the other away.

I think Amanda is really lucky that hers get on so well.

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Those who say they cant, Never will !!!

Yeah, I'm so surprised that they are getting along so well. They love staying together. They share the same cave and when they leave, they're together. I love these fish!!!! Thanks for giving me all the advice!!!!