# African knife fish compatibility ?'s



## deman3 (Feb 17, 2011)

I am curious if any of you have these. They are listed as aggressive in nature. Since they are from Africa I was curious if they would do ok with Cichlids, and more specifically my aggressive Kenyi. When they arrive today or tommorrow I will have a total of 15 kenyi, 1 out-of-place Oto, 1 BN plec, and 1 Larger rather sedate High-fin Syn. Everything I can find list the African Knife as only getting to approx 4in in the aquarium environment. I would love to have a "different" fish swimming around with my school of rather aggressive not-wanting-tankmates Kenyi's. 

BTW I know the oto doesnt belong but apparently he transplanted himself from my presumed empty 29 gallon when I swapped some rock decor into the 55. I don't see him for days if not weeks and then one day he will be attached to the glas on the side of the tank. Apparently he is a resilient bugger.


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## OddballFishCoveter (Aug 18, 2011)

African Knife Fish are actually very timid, and not really aggressive to other fish similar to their own size. On the other hand, they are extremely aggressive to other knife fish, even outside their own specific species, and any 'weaker' knife fish will most likely die at the hand of the stronger.

They can develop quite interesting personalities though, and if kept in a dimly lit and well planted aquarium, they will come out during the day. Otherwise, they prefer to hide until their aquarium light is turned off for the night.

Also, an African Knife can get up to a foot long, and isn't recommended to be kept with aggressive fish.


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## deman3 (Feb 17, 2011)

Thanks, not the fish that i need in a rocky malawi setup. No plants =)


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## Christople (Sep 7, 2010)

I had the same thing happen with one of my otos. I emptied the tank... but there where little pools of water. I moved houses and then started setting it back up... I found 3 otis living is a little puddle


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