black ghost knife fish?

Question

after a severe loss of stock because bad information through a certain franchise pet store in Glasgow i lost about £120 worth of my precious fish and that was only about twenty fish now i have about 8 left and one of those is my favourite the bgk is there any way of breeding this fish and sexing it
as i am really fond of it and would change my complete set up for it when i got it it was 1 1/2 inches long and i have took pride in it growing twice its size in a fortnight also what food and how much should i be feeding it daily so far ive done alright on flake which i dont think it eats and pellets from a shop i have came to trust and bought the pellets from but my only concern now is the well being of the bgk
it is my pride and joy

also what other fish are friendly and are most likely to live in the same habitat

Answer 1

Forty inches is a bit extreme - these typically get to around 20 inches, but that still requires a fairly large tank. What Soop said about the electrical field these give off is true - these use these mostly for navigation and to find food. Having more than one electrical fish (of any type, this isn't limited to only another BGK, but elephant nose and other electrical fish) in a tank isn't a good idea. Other than that, just keep them with other mild-mannered fish. It may eat fry and other extremely small fish, so I wouldn't house it with neons or Endlers livebearers either. These also tend to be sensitive to light, so keep some plants (real or fake) as a place for it to hide and to provide it some shade from your tank lighting. Otherwise, it might spend most of it's time under your filter hiding.

Although it's been bred in large aquaria (and this isn't on the order of what you'd be able to buy, but what commercial breeders would use), this isn't something you'd be likely to accomplish in a home tank. The genders are identical, so you'd need to have several to even ensure you'd have a pair.

Answer 2

Black Ghost Knifes emit an electrical current that they use to hunt food (to find where it is, not to shock it). This electricity is rarely harmful to other fish; the only problem is mixing two electrical fish. For this reason, BGKs are VERY difficult to breed, and in a fish tank (which has restricted space), it can be VERY dangerous for the fish. If you want your BGK to live, don't try to breed it... With that said, most fish are fine with BGKs... Just avoid fish that might be seen as food (anything small enough to fit in its mouth) and anything that would be aggressive enough to bully it (Convict Cichlids would be bad tankmates). Most fish more than 2-3 inches long are off the menu, so large Tetras like Congo Tetras are great as well as Catfish like Plecostomus, Farlowella Cats, and Banjo Cats. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Soop Nazi

Answer 3

BLCK/GHST/KFE fish:
EGG-scatterers&eaters(i put marbles@tank bottom,they cant get easily.Once laid eggs r clear&whit if they'r bad eggs.After laid,4-7days till hatching,once hatched it's ok to put with parents in same tank.Fry grow very slowly.SEXING is very difficult.Best way to tell:Male is described as having a head shaped more like that of a horses head(yep,its true)&eyes more towards the top of his head.Whilst f/male has a slender head&eyes lower,towards the front of her head/closer to mouth.
Average water temp best for breeding27c(mimic wet rainy,dank even putrid conditions)
When both are ready to mate,both will have a red flashing on their tails.Males will be prominent while f/males will only be slight.Whenf/male lays eggs,it looks like shes feeding off the rocks(bottom) as the eggs come out from just under her head.As she takes a break,the male will come along&fertalise them.Afterwards he may look dead,laying on the bottom motionless(hes just shagged from his session)She'll come back&lay more,he'll fertalise&so the cycle repeats till done.
As eggs mature they will slowly grow a tail&form the their natural body shape@this stage they're brown&will go black as they mature.
REMOVE fry@2-3wks as this is when they will start to venture out&will be mistaken as food by parents.
FRY love protein pellets&blood worms.Grind up the pellets(pesel&morta=good)high protein should have them growing well.For some reason there is a high mortality rate(even4these pros),with10out of100fry being excellant from most accounts.(study environment well,first)
CORRECT TANK MATES:
gourami
loaches
bristlenose/suckernose catfish
platy swordtail,guppy
alot of info,i compacted to basics for you(ofcourse there's much,i left out)so do a thorough back ground check..hope it helps&best of luck(i'd like a baby,if u succeed)

Answer 4

Do you have a huge tank ?
That thing is like 40 inches long as their max size. I can't really think of breeding it in a tank unless you had a pond size or something.