African knife in my bichir tank?

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J

jschall

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 9, 2009
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Chico, California
Is an african knife (brown knife?) (african black knife?)
...
oh my god i hate common names so much they need to die in a fire forever. screw common names. no more common names in this thread.

Will a Xenomystus nigri get along with my delhezi (7") and senegalus (6") bichirs (i lied about the common names thing :nilly:), ropefish (12"), congo tetras (3.5") and african butterfly fish (3.5")? I don't know how big the knife will be, but if its too small I will grow it out before introducing it.
 
hey jschall..How big is the X n? i had an 8" African Knife with my 14" Silver Arowana.. The Knife is pretty aggressive though write ups on them say otherwise.. The feeders I had for the Arowana had major scale and fin damage, though he was fed very well and had his own enclosure. Then I noticed a lil fin damage on my Aro.. so I've moved the knife to a pond with bigger Pangasius.. depends on the fish really (he still bullies the Pangasius).. give it a couple of days but monitor closely.. cheers.. ( I have a black ghost knife with my Arowana now)
 
Just got the knife. He's approx. 4 inches. Much skinnier than a bichir, though. The 7" delhezi is a behemoth next to him.

He's swimming around mostly in the middle of the water column. The bichirs seem to be hunting him, which is scary.
I'm watching closely.


I think what I need is a hide for him that the bichirs won't be as inclined to go into. If he has to hide on the bottom he's going to be a snack. I was thinking about building something higher up.
 
Wow, I figured something so high-bodied would be safe. I have a clown knife in with 2 of my bichirs. One is the same length as he is and the other bichir is about 1" longer. the Knife chases the bichirs around, but doesn't try to eat them. African knives, I've always thought they'd make a good match but don't have any personal experience.
 
@jschall - ha ha.. my BGK is close to 8" and Silver Aro is 14".. I keep wondering if my Aro will go for him sometime.. i used to have tube for the X n to hide in cos they are totally nocturnal.. prob put in a couple of rocks and then a tube on top if you aren't really worried bout asthetics..
 
How is this mixture working out? I too want an African knife but after seeing an 8" delhizi eat a 7" inch peacock I fear putting certain things with them. I don't think a hide is going to do a whole lot. He is going to have to come out sometime.
 
holy crap, i'm a little curious about it too now, i plan on having both a peacock eel, and an african knife with a senegal
 
Actually it's working out great. The only issue is the knife has taken to biting me when my hands are in the tank.
It bites HARD.

My tank is pretty heavily decorated with rocks, driftwood, plants. There are lots of hiding places for various fish.
 
Good to hear they are doing good:thumbsup: I used to have a group of Congo Tetras, a ABK, a Sen, a Ctenopoma, and a Syno. They worked great.
 
I have a Ghost Knife living with a rope fish, 2 bichir, an a butterfly an the have never had a problem. in fact the rope an the knife live in the same hollow rock an will often lay on top of each other total odd couple i love them. As long as they are the same size they are great tank mates
 
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