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You are here: Experts > Animals/Pets > Pet Fish > Fish > Black ghost knife (BGK)
Expert: Amber Worman
Date: 10/5/2007
Subject: Black ghost knife (BGK)
Question
Hi there,
I saw your wonderful contributions on other fish and I was hoping you could help me too!
I bought the bgk from a pet store on the pretence that it could live happily in a 10litre fish bowl, with no extras except for one ornament.
I have since learned that is not possible.... Anger and frustration (directed at the person who sold it to me) aside, I have since bought a tank which is 36cm x 50cm x 124cm (approx 223 litres or approx 60 gallons) and want to construct the best environment for my bgk (which I’ve named ‘Black Beauty’ because of his personality and white diamond mark on this forehead).
For example, the best ph level is between 6-8 apparently, but I need to know everything else. I have done research but it varies a lot between sites and wanted to get some advice from people who actually own and successfully keep bgk’s.
Advice on plants, soil, ornaments, lights, food, water temp and ph levels and other things (specific to bgk’s) I need to know would be great.
Also, fish that will live in the bgk’s environment... Yes, the little freshwater world will revolve around him and no other, so I’d prefer to find him friends that will play nice and live happily in his environment.
If interested here are details of my current equipment, which I plan to use for little Black Beauty as soon as I know how to set it up properly.
- Tank -36cm x 50cm x 124cm (approx 223 litres or approx 60 gallons)
- 'Auquavital AVC 1200 Canister filter'
- 'Auquavital AVP 6500 air pump'
- 10 kg gravel – natural off-white/grey stones
- Under-gravel airstone (120cm)
- Tank sits on stand and is covered with a hood
- 2 x hollow ornaments for hiding places (each H35cm, W15cm, D11cm)
- Glass cleaning magnet
- Gravel vacuum
- Water temp thermometer
- Jebo ‘Digi-therm’ heater 2010 (200watt)
- Twin uv light tubes (1 x tri-power light, 1 x super light)
- Sera ‘Vipagran’ granulated fish food
- Test kits (1 xWardley Senior deluxe pH test kit for freshwater, 3 x 15ml Sera Amonia ,NH4 and NH3 test kit)
- Chemicals (1 x 100ml Sera ‘aqutan’ water conditioner, 1 x 237ml API ‘Ammolock’ ammonia detoxifier – breaks ammonia down for bio filter, 1 x 500ml Aqua master water ager tap water conditioner, 1 x 250ml Seachem Stability stabilising system, 1 x 300ml Seachem ‘prime’ removes chlorine, chlormine, ammonia and provides slim coat)
If I haven’t listed it, you can assume I don’t have it. If you I don’t have something you think is important, please tell me... Along with details etc.
I have books that tell me how to set up a freshwater system, but I need info specifically for bgk’s.
If you have knowledge on how to do this or know of any sites that provide info you would use for your bgk please tell me :)
Thanks so much for any help :)
Answer
Hello Scarlet-
First off, I want to thank you for caring so much about Black Beauty - you are a wonderful fish "mommy" and it would be a great world if everyone paid as much attention to their fish as you are willing to do.
I don't really know what to start with first, so I guess I will talk about the tank set-up.
1.) The gravel sounds fine - be sure to rinse it thoroughly with hot water (no soap) to remove as much dust as possible before adding it to the tank. Also, it helps to have small rocks rather than large rocks (so Black Beauty, BB, doesn't bury in it and get trapped.)
2.) The tank itself should be fine, along with the heater, filter, air pump, and air stone. BB will have plenty of room when he grows nice and big! One thing to check is if your heater is glass or not - some glass heaters can break with extreme temperature changes, so the "tougher" it is, the better, even if your water remains mostly uniform in temperature.
3.) The lights may be a little bright...BB will be very shy and bright lights might scare him into hiding a lot (BGK's are nocturnal in the wild and don't often see much direct sunlight.) Using dimmer lights or floating plants can help to lessen the brightness.
4.) Test kits are GREAT - Use them often. Some of the chemicals you have might be doing the same thing to the tap water (usually only one type of water clarifier is needed) but you can't really overdose, so experiment with the chemicals you have to see what works best/fastest. If there are tiny bubbles in the water or it looks "milky" after adding the clarifier, you might want to use a stronger brand or increase the dosage.
5.) I've heard the best food to feed is and mix of live Tubifex brine shrimp and meaty frozen food (like beef heart.) Some BGK's will eat out of your hand! :)
6.) Other fish to put in his tank would be: large gouramis, large angelfish, and possible glass catfish. Anything too big for him to eat will work, as long as it is not aggressive. :)
7.) Java ferns are good plants to use, but I am not very experienced in live plant use so I can't offer much more help. :(
8.) BGK's don't produce much waste at all, so you won't have much trouble keeping the water clean. A 25% change every other week should keep him in tip top shape.
I'm running out of space for my answer, so I will refer you here for more info: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/bgkfaqs.htm
These guys are GREAT and give lots of help.
Good luck with Black Beauty,
Amber Worman
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