Is it possible that my clown-knifefish is eating my baby cichlids?

Question

Recently, me and my boyfriend restocked our 55 gal. african cichlid tank ( all but three of our fish [ clown knife fish, auratus, jewel cichlid ] died because our radiator was broken and blasting out heat while we were out... poor things, that plus the tank heater made the water like bathwater. ).

However, we bought a livingstonii cichlid, two long finned gray cichlids ( i'm unsure of their precise name ), & a 10 tiny baby cichlids - two auratus, two albino, a yellow lab, an electric yellow, two blue, two orange, & a loach.

But now, after about 4 days - out of our new fish - we can only find the two grays, the baby auratuses,the livingstonii, and the loach. I'm wondering if the knife fish ate the others. When the tank was originally stocked, it never left it's cave, except to eat and swim briefly to the surface.

So, is it the knife fish? He's the only fish I have with a mouth big enough to eat them, and I would like to know before I acquire some more babies from a friend.

He only eats the vegetable food put in the tank, and we've kept multiple other knife fish with baby cichlids, and they were never eaten.

My knife fish is only 3 1/2" long.

I'm not feeding it baby cichlids... my tank is predominantly a cichlid tank. I don't feed my fish live food due to the risk of contamination from sick feeders.

However - the knife fish only ate my blue, orange, white and yellow cichlids- not the baby auratuses - which were exactly the same size.

Answer 1

Yes, without a doubt, your knife fish is eating your cichlids and will eventually get large enough to eat all of them. The already eaten Livingstonii had the best potential to get to a decent size and avoid being eaten much longer than the others though that point is moot now. The Livingstonii would have eaten some of the smaller cichlids when it got some size on it as well though that doesn't matter anymore. I love knife fish though the clown knife will get slightly longer than your 55 gallon aquarium. Next time you are at a major public aquarium go take a look at some of their clown knifes. They are incredible. The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago used to have several over 3' and the largest looked to be about 4 1/2' long. I realize glass can have a magnifying effect on the fish though there is still no doubt that even if a clown knife's maximum length is only 3' it still needs a larger aquarium and can eventually eat any cichlid in the world. Watch the knife's jaw the next time you feed it something larger or the next time it yawns, which they seem to do a lot. The jaw seems to be folded on the sides and really does open up very large. They can pretty easily take something 1/3rd their size in their mouth and eat it. I used to feed mine organic turkey hearts, large earthworms, whole shrimp and a range of other foods. They are true preditors and a major food fish in asia. Try to get some vegetable matter into the fish as well. About 25% vegetable matter would be great. Put items in the outflow of the filter at dusk or dawn and you may be able to train the clown knife to eat some vegetable matter. Mine took pellets and other items as well. Whatever you do please stop feeding it cichlids and start saving money for a larger aquarium..

Answer 2

If you have knife fish in your tank, then you do not by any means have an African cichlid tank. The two do not go together. knife fish will try to eat small african cichlids, big african cichlids kill knife fish.

The cichlids you're trying to keep are from a completely opposite biotope as knife fish and should be kept with their own. Check out how they do best and you'll really appreciate them.

check out www.cichlid-forum.com - it's a pretty reliable site and a link to good sources.

Answer 3

It's what they do,you should know this before you buy a knife fish. They are predators,eating fish is just the natural thing to do for them.

Answer 4

Yeah. It's him.
CK's are notorious predators. They have a deceptivly large mouth. My 15'' can easily eat 6'' fish.