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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

Black Ghost Knife Fish

  • Didihno (Didihno)
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08 May 2007 15:03 #1 by Didihno (Didihno)
Black Ghost Knife Fish was created by Didihno (Didihno)
Bought a small one there yesterday in Swords pet store, €12.
Incredible creature, but what will it eat?

So far its not coming out to take flake or nibble pellets.
OK its only day two but should I be getting some different foods?

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08 May 2007 15:46 #2 by KenS (Ken Simpson)
Hi,

Saw them in there. They looked fantastic. Are you aware that they can grow up to 12 inches? What size tank do you have?

With regard to what they eat, I'll leave that to Anto. He has a beauty in with cichlids in his Rio 400.

Edit - just saw your tank sizes in your sig. Should be fine in your 400 or 240 if you keep the stock low.

Regards,

Ken.

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09 May 2007 01:18 #3 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re: Black Ghost Knife Fish
knifefish will feed on bloodworm, small garden worms and small fish.

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09 May 2007 04:54 #4 by ricko10 (jamie)
hi,
mine was fed on bloodworm. but beware as mine grew to 18" long.

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09 May 2007 05:22 #5 by Didihno (Didihno)
Replied by Didihno (Didihno) on topic Re: Black Ghost Knife Fish
OK I have the frozen bloodworm, when do I feed?
Also should I cut the frozen blocks into smaller cubes?

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09 May 2007 05:23 #6 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re: Black Ghost Knife Fish
Are you sure that you still have the 19 neons? Knife fish eat small tetras in the wild

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09 May 2007 06:50 #7 by ricko10 (jamie)
i cut my bloodworm into 4 as they make such a mess. when he is bigger you can put a whole cube in as mine would swallow it whole.

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  • Anthony (Anthony)
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09 May 2007 09:47 #8 by Anthony (Anthony)
Replied by Anthony (Anthony) on topic Re: Black Ghost Knife Fish
They will eat everything, even Spirolina. Mine ate Prima/flake/Krill/Prawns and jmc catfish pellets.
Because he is in a Tropheus tank now I juast feed him NLS/ Spirolina/Krill and Prawns.
As Holgar said they will eat Tetras but mine never did. They are almost blind and find their food in the sand by electric pulses.

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09 May 2007 11:19 #9 by Didihno (Didihno)
Replied by Didihno (Didihno) on topic Re: Black Ghost Knife Fish

Are you sure that you still have the 19 neons? Knife fish eat small tetras in the wild

Still have the neons alright, this knife fish is very small.
I did lose 3 neons last night though.
My ph is 8.0 in this tank, due to the sand I think.
Should I get ph down and adjust it?
(tap ph is 7.6ish)

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  • Anthony (Anthony)
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09 May 2007 16:09 #10 by Anthony (Anthony)
Replied by Anthony (Anthony) on topic Re: Black Ghost Knife Fish
Leave it alone.
When you mess with the water thats when you start having major trouble.

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10 May 2007 01:02 #11 by Didihno (Didihno)
Replied by Didihno (Didihno) on topic Re: Black Ghost Knife Fish
Yeah I suppose.
However I want to keep all the fish I've never really kept before in a community tank, like hatchets and all sorts of tetrae.
So should I rerally look at getting the coral sand out of the tank and replace with an inert sand?

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10 May 2007 01:21 #12 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re: Black Ghost Knife Fish
Coral sand is a no go with tetras. Get an inert substarte.

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10 May 2007 04:15 #13 by arabesque (Mick Veale)
jesus.. coral sand.. get it out of there.
your ph should be around 6 for the types of fish you want.
replace with regular sand / gravel and add a few bits of bogwood
to bring the ph down

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10 May 2007 05:32 #14 by Didihno (Didihno)
Replied by Didihno (Didihno) on topic Re: Black Ghost Knife Fish
Roger that!

I'll remove as much sand as possible and replace with inert stuff.

Next question is, where do I get inert stuff?

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10 May 2007 05:33 #15 by arabesque (Mick Veale)
any aquarium shop.
playsand also works aparently but a bit dirty sometimes.
gav in wackers
or drew in mountain view
or the lads in fintastic aquatics
all have a fairly big variety

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10 May 2007 05:38 #16 by Didihno (Didihno)
Replied by Didihno (Didihno) on topic Re: Black Ghost Knife Fish
Right on!

Thanks all.

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10 May 2007 12:22 #17 by zale (Mark carroll)
I had 2 small BKGF in with around 30 neons & as they searched for food at night any fish that was in their way got nipped & nipped badly, after a week i had to bring them back to LFS cause 9 of the neons were missing eyes :roll:

I can only imagine what they'd do if 30 - 50cm long. :shock:


Mark

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  • Didihno (Didihno)
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10 May 2007 13:43 #18 by Didihno (Didihno)
Replied by Didihno (Didihno) on topic Re: Black Ghost Knife Fish
I have removed the neons anyway till I et the sand out of the tank to drop the ph.

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  • russell (russell)
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10 May 2007 13:50 #19 by russell (russell)
Replied by russell (russell) on topic Knife fish
One note if concern : It pays to do your research first before you buy. I can't see the urgency for buying a fish before you know it;s requirements.
This seems to go against the grain, just my opinion!!!!!!!!!!

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10 May 2007 14:13 #20 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re: Black Ghost Knife Fish
Come on Russell, we all did an odd impulse buy when it comes to fish at some stage. I'd be the last to cast the first stone. :oops:
Even though you are right

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10 May 2007 14:44 #21 by zale (Mark carroll)
Not all the blame can be laid on the individual, before I had the Internet I took what my LFS said as gospel and if he said Black Ghost Knife Fish go with tetras God dammit man they go with tetras :roll:

Now I have seen the light that is ITFS

I think he now preaches in church on Sundays cause he knows f*** all about fish keeping :lol:


Mark

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  • russell (russell)
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10 May 2007 15:21 #22 by russell (russell)
Replied by russell (russell) on topic Knifefish
I'm not having a go, just a word of caution. We have all impulsed buyed but paid the price!!!!!!!!!!!!! You pay your money you make your choice

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11 May 2007 03:50 #23 by Didihno (Didihno)
Replied by Didihno (Didihno) on topic Re: Black Ghost Knife Fish
To answer a few points there.

I did my research on the BGKF, have this webpage saved to my favourites:

badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile66.html

Of course I'm aware that the neons will most likely be fish food in a few weeks, however it is my intention to keep this guy in with the cichlids.
Not really an impulse buy as such as I always wanted one of these, just that when I saw it for €12 I had to pounce.
Anyway he's going into the cichlid tank soon as I get the sand sorted.

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11 May 2007 03:59 #24 by russell (russell)
Replied by russell (russell) on topic Arow
Hi
Never meant any offence & hope all goes well

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11 May 2007 05:52 #25 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re: Black Ghost Knife Fish
with your Pseudotropheus lombardoi? they will rip your knifefish to bits, serious aggression issues

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11 May 2007 06:15 #26 by Didihno (Didihno)
Replied by Didihno (Didihno) on topic Re: Black Ghost Knife Fish

with your Pseudotropheus lombardoi? they will rip your knifefish to bits, serious aggression issues


Don't worry Holger, I have been observing the Lombardoi for the last couple of days for aggression. They have some new tank mates as per my sig (Thanks Anthony!!!).

They are getting quite territorial and have claimed the two opposite ends of the tank as their own. So far aggression is limited to chasing off anything that gets too close. No actual harm done yet.
I'm probably getting rid all the same.

Russell, no offence taken!!!
I am learning new stuff every day and I knew I was taking a gamble with the BGKF. Still, its only a baby (2") and will be a few weeks before it starts to get to a size safe to go in with the cichlids and the big cats.
I think.

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  • Anthony (Anthony)
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11 May 2007 12:09 #27 by Anthony (Anthony)
Replied by Anthony (Anthony) on topic Re: Black Ghost Knife Fish
If you don`t want him I`ll take him off you.
ps. The fish won`t eat the floating wafers. :lol: :lol: I think they are for large Goldfish or Carp.

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11 May 2007 13:26 #28 by Didihno (Didihno)
Replied by Didihno (Didihno) on topic Re: Black Ghost Knife Fish

If you don`t want him I`ll take him off you.
ps. The fish won`t eat the floating wafers. :lol: :lol: I think they are for large Goldfish or Carp.

I meant getting rid of the Lombardoi!!!

I don't believe those wafers.
The bottom dwellers did eat the one I managed to get to sink.
I screwed a very small (aluminium) screw into it.

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