BG Knife + Puffer?

[Dukeskeeper36]

Hey everyone, just curious. i really love the Black Ghost knife. I have a 30gal tank with 1 figure eight and 4 yellow lab Ciclids. (they get along wonderfully) And what i really want to know is would a very young small knife be okay with a young puffer? my puffer is between an inch and inch and a half long. Same length as a young knife. I know they are both carnivores, but the knife would be a hiding type. My puffer likes to stay by the front and follow us around the room. My puffer is very non confrontational.

I do also realize that the knife would eventually outgrow the 30 gal, but please let me know what you think. Im not opposed to removing the Ciclids but my puffer comes first : ]

Thanks!

-Dukeskeeper

[pufferpuggirl]

Well my first thought would be that your Figure-8 should be in low-end brackish water, and I don't believe either the ghost knife or cichlids would tolerate that. So you might want to think about possibly getting another tank for the puffer. I used to keep my Figure-8's in freshwater, but I've finally had to admit that they do better in a brackish tank.

[Dukeskeeper36]

Ive had him in both, and he seems to not prefer one over the other. But i do understand what you're saying. He seems very happy with the freshie tank mates right now. Eventually i want to do a puffer only tank with F8, GSP, and neons. But for now i have only this main tank.

[bastallard]

Neons will not survive a brackish tank, they like soft water.

[Dukeskeeper36]

I dont have a brackish tank, and i meant neon puffers. idk what they are really called, but thats what my LFS says.

[Brandon8521]

Some cichlids actually do well in very very low end brackish because they liek the alkilinity. But dont think that would work well with the fig 8 as a tank mate.

[Pufferpunk]

Some cichlids do well in tanks with cichlid lake salt, not marine salt, which is what is used to make BW. Neon puffers are "dwarf puffers" & are strictly FW fish. GSPs require a much higher SG than F8s & grow up to be way too aggressive to be kept together.

[soggydrysuit]

What about Orange or Green Chromides - Etroplus sp.? Those are low end brackish

Still get shredded at by the F8's though...

[Pufferpunk]

I have 2 F8s with a dragon goby & 2 chromides.

[soggydrysuit]

Very cool - Chromides are occasionally available here. Didn't think you'd risk them with F8 puffers though!

[Dukeskeeper36]

my F8 is really gentle. He doesnt touch them. But this still doesnt help my original question. Will a F8 and a BG knife be okay? they are both carnivores, and semi agressive but in different ways....


oh and the "neon" puffers at my LFS are definatly not dwarfs. they also carry dwarf or pea puffers. These neons are young and are a bit larger than the F8s and green spots in the same tank of the same age. Idk what they are, they dont look like anything in the pufferpedia. ill try to get some pics.

[Brandon8521]

I wouldnt do it they may get along and may not but with the bgknife being fw and the fig8 being low end brackish it wouldnt be fare to the fish. Keep them in the water they need and deserve and look for tank mates from there..

PP The cichlid salts IMO are a waste of money. Those lakes used to be part of the ocean b4 they were land locked along time ago. The salt in them is the remaining marine salt that hasnt been taken out naturally. The cichlids enhabiting them evolved from 1 or 2 ocean dwelling species that got caught in the lake. As long as its raised no more then 1.002-3 this does the trick wonderfully.

[soggydrysuit]

+1 ?

Could a BG survive low end brackish? I thought these (black ghost) were african or south american - softwater ?!
I could very well be wrong - I'll have a look...........Edit: did look - they seem to live with the discus, literally....

(3 years late beacuse I kept one for about a year with a silver aro, then it snuffed it suddenly, hmmm). TPF knows what happened with my Aro and the red tailed cat...

Just an idea, Dukeskeeper, but do you like Uaru cichlids? Or Discus?

In something like a four or five by two by two foot tank, they'd do well with a black ghost knife fish (one or the other from Discus or Uarus), some chemically inert honey sand, loads of twisty black bogwood and some silk (yuk) plants because the Uarus love to eat plants but I think they are nicer than Oscars, which is saying something for me.

If not, maybe try 'Festivum' cichlids - these are seriously underrated. Very peaceful and as graceful as angels but still look a little like a 'big' Cichlid. Maybe get to four to six inches... And you can keep them with plants like crypts and amazon swords in not that much light.

Why not add some 'Altum angels'? and Vallis - they'd all go well.

All of this you could do in a tank big enough for the black ghost. A four footer at least to start, then...

Shoot me down, please...?!

Me, I'd chuck 'em in a twelve by six foot wide tropical pond at 28C in very soft water with discus and clown loaches and would hold on the RTC's (red tail potential five foot monster catfish) just becuase it was BIG.

Ask me this question two years ago and it would have been RTC/TSN or Hydrocyanus all the way. Now? NO.

Why not have a puffer tank!

The above need loads of space: an F8 needs 20g and proportionately less expense, I'm not saying more care but not less...

[Pufferpunk]

Yes, BGK prefer softer water--the exact opposite of BW.

[Dukeskeeper36]

No i agree. as for right now, my F8 is in fresh, only beacuse very soon i will be going to Japan, and my parents are barely going to be able feed and do the occasional water change... let alone figure brackish out. Ive got a super easy to use test kits, chems, and food for them. Also i have a webcam set up so i can check on them whenever i want to : ]. I was just curious if a knife could live in there temporarily until i come home. If i add anything it would be a second F8. idk though.

Thanks for all the advice guys. Im such a noob with fish, but im tryin to do this right. : ]