# Black Ghost Knife Fish Tankmates



## broujos

Can i put a betta with my black ghost knife?? Also can someone tell me the most suitable tankmates of a black ghost kinfe!?? Thanks!!:-D


----------



## bigehugedome

I would say no. Like we said In previous posts, a BGK will grow, much bigger than the betta, and the Betta will not stand a chance. It may be fine now since your BGK is small, but why add the betta and stress it then have to move it later, if it even makes it that long.

Also, I believe you said you have a 50 Gallon. Most here will agree that a tank that size is not big enough for the BGK alone, let alone with other fish, especially since tank mates need to be larger than the BGK's mouth.


----------



## broujos

bigehugedome said:


> I would say no. Like we said In previous posts, a BGK will grow, much bigger than the betta, and the Betta will not stand a chance. It may be fine now since your BGK is small, but why add the betta and stress it then have to move it later, if it even makes it that long.
> 
> Also, I believe you said you have a 50 Gallon. Most here will agree that a tank that size is not big enough for the BGK alone, let alone with other fish, especially since tank mates need to be larger than the BGK's mouth.


thanks, my bgk is only 2,5 inches now... when it grows and its still OK i will do something about it! Also im not planning to add many fishes with it... i have only a pleco now! im going to add two or three more fishes! i have read that angelfish gourami and discus are suitable with it! but u didnt anwser my main question about suitable tankmates of this fish!! can u do it please?? :-?


----------



## bigehugedome

I don't know exactly what is compatible with A BFK, hopefully someone who has kept one can help you there. However, I can tell you that, even if the angels are compatible, they require a ~50 gallon tank and a group of at least 4 to be at their very best, and discus are very sensitive and should also be in a group (unless you just want a breeding pair). So I don't think they will be good choices.

Once again, once the BGK grows, most gourami may become dinner.


----------



## TwinDad

The angel fish would likely been seen as a target to the BGK. They are also slow moving and sedate fish. The dwarf Gourami are much the same.

If you plan to upgrade your tank, you could get away with a few more fish that are small, but frankly if that is a common pleco it will get to be about 24 inches long and need a seriously big tank.

If your plan is to get a few small fish to keep in the same tank with the BGK, you can do it, but as it grows it starts to see food not tank mates.


----------



## broujos

thanks guys, but i write on google black ghost knife fish care, and the first page writes that suitable tankmates for it are big peacefull fish such us discus gouramis and angelfish... probably is it wrong?!? Black Ghost Knife Fish, Apteronotus albifrons Profile, with care, maintenance requirements and breeding information for your tropical fish 

well,do u guys mean that bgk dont have any suitable tankmate??


----------



## moomoofish

senegal bichir is a good tankmate


----------



## broujos

thank you!


----------



## TwinDad

Don't mean that there isn't a suitable tank mate, just that aggressive fish need to have tank mates that are compatible. 

The BGK is a nocturnal fish, so is your pleco. The BGK needs places to hide, so if you get another fish that likes places to hide they might fight, so a surface or mid levels fish is a better choice then a substrate fish.


----------



## bigehugedome

Agree with twin dad. And exactly why a senegal bichir Is a bad idea since it's also bottom dwelling. 

Your going to get two different answers to this question; one with suitable tankmates for a BKG( senegal bichir and maybe angel fish or gourami) and one with suitable tank mates for your BKG and your pleco for your size tank. 

I wish I could help you with the first one, but Im not sure of any. as for the second part, you can google something and it may or may not work the same for you. We are just giving you worst case scenarios. 

Good luck to you. Send some pics our way when you get a chance.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## LasColinasCichlids

I use to own a BGK. 
In my experience, once they reach about 6-8 inches long, it is time to house it by itself. Yes, there are possible tankmates, who must be non-aggressive and much larger than the BGK's mouth, but your tank size to support this combination would need to be very large, I'd say a minimum of 125 gallons. 
BGK are usually pretty slow growers. It takes on average of about a year to reach 6-8 inches, and another year after that to reach it's expected minimum size of a foot/12 inches. So for the first year, any docile non-threatening fish can be kept with them, and if the BGK is kept fed with proper nutrition through frozen foods like bloodworms and brine shrimp and the like, the less likely the BGK will eat other fish too soon. Its usually during that second year of growth that the eating of tankmates can happen, but as I said, a well fed BGK is less likely to eat his tankmates, especially if the tankmates arent tiny things like guppies and neons. 
BGK arent aggressive with other fish, just predatory by nature. So they should not be kept with any other fish that can be aggressive. I have seen BGK babies successfully kept with female bettas while in their first growth year without issues. 
I personally do not recommend ANY bottom dwellers with the BGK. BGK are easily trained to come to the top of the tank to feed from your hands. When young they love to sleep upside down like an arrow inside of plants, and they always need appropriate hiding spots with no sharp edges since they are scaleless. Any meds or plant ferts used in the tank should be used extremely carefully as BGK are super sensitive to these things, comparable to the sensitivity of loaches being scaleless as well. And never put BGK with any other knife species or eel or any species that uses any electrical/sonar to find food and see. 
With BGK it is wise to keep the tank set up the same, they dont tend to take well to too much change. Some will refuse to eat or come out of hiding when there are tankmates that stress them, which when young can be a shoal of danios or tiger barbs. 
BGK have poor eyesight, close to blind, they use their sonar to locate food and locations of hiding spots and threats and targets. 
These guys not only get long, but they get thick around, so they cant easily turn in small tanks like more snake-like fish that looks similar, so a wide tank is important when the start to size up. 
A BGK without tankmates when grown, should be in a 75+ gallon tank, the larger the better.


----------



## moomoofish

I disagree with the bichir part, i have my bgk which is not about 7 inches with a bichir and some angels and all the fish get along fine.


----------



## broujos

LasColinasCichlids said:


> I use to own a BGK.
> In my experience, once they reach about 6-8 inches long, it is time to house it by itself. Yes, there are possible tankmates, who must be non-aggressive and much larger than the BGK's mouth, but your tank size to support this combination would need to be very large, I'd say a minimum of 125 gallons.
> BGK are usually pretty slow growers. It takes on average of about a year to reach 6-8 inches, and another year after that to reach it's expected minimum size of a foot/12 inches. So for the first year, any docile non-threatening fish can be kept with them, and if the BGK is kept fed with proper nutrition through frozen foods like bloodworms and brine shrimp and the like, the less likely the BGK will eat other fish too soon. Its usually during that second year of growth that the eating of tankmates can happen, but as I said, a well fed BGK is less likely to eat his tankmates, especially if the tankmates arent tiny things like guppies and neons.
> BGK arent aggressive with other fish, just predatory by nature. So they should not be kept with any other fish that can be aggressive. I have seen BGK babies successfully kept with female bettas while in their first growth year without issues.
> I personally do not recommend ANY bottom dwellers with the BGK. BGK are easily trained to come to the top of the tank to feed from your hands. When young they love to sleep upside down like an arrow inside of plants, and they always need appropriate hiding spots with no sharp edges since they are scaleless. Any meds or plant ferts used in the tank should be used extremely carefully as BGK are super sensitive to these things, comparable to the sensitivity of loaches being scaleless as well. And never put BGK with any other knife species or eel or any species that uses any electrical/sonar to find food and see.
> With BGK it is wise to keep the tank set up the same, they dont tend to take well to too much change. Some will refuse to eat or come out of hiding when there are tankmates that stress them, which when young can be a shoal of danios or tiger barbs.
> BGK have poor eyesight, close to blind, they use their sonar to locate food and locations of hiding spots and threats and targets.
> These guys not only get long, but they get thick around, so they cant easily turn in small tanks like more snake-like fish that looks similar, so a wide tank is important when the start to size up.
> A BGK without tankmates when grown, should be in a 75+ gallon tank, the larger the better.


oh thank you so much!!! i will try to use all this information you gave me properly!! but i didnt understand the part with tiger barbs and danios!! thanks!


----------



## broujos

Thank you very much guys!! and i will upload photos as fast as i can!! thanks


----------



## LasColinasCichlids

broujos said:


> oh thank you so much!!! i will try to use all this information you gave me properly!! but i didnt understand the part with tiger barbs and danios!! thanks!


I just used tiger barbs and danios as an example that young BGK can be easily intimidated by other seemingly non-threatening fish.


----------

