The Exotic Looking Black Knifefish
Black Knifefish and the other varieties of Knife Fish, swim using a unique method of rolling their fin underneath their bodies. In the family of Knifefish, the Black Knifefish variety is a great fish for aquarium living. They aren’t as aggressive as the Carapo Knife Fish, or as delicate as the Transparent Knife, and they are smaller than the Clown Knife Fish- meaning you don’t need a huge tank to keep them in as they grow. The African Black Knife Fish is more aggressive than the others, and will eat fish that are small enough for them to swallow.Knife fish are a little nocturnal in nature. They will typically be found hiding inside caves or other aquarium objects during the day, and come out at night in search of food. You may want to feed them at night for this reason!
As Knifefish prefer to hide during the day, you’ll want to equip your aquarium with a piece of pipe, aquarium rock or cave for each Black Knife fish that you put in your tank. Just make sure that the items you put in for the fish are not going to contaminate the aquarium’s water in any way. The tank should hold at least 29 gallons of heated water, at a temperature somewhere between 78 and 82 degrees Fahrenheit. Try to keep the gravel to about ¼ inch thickness.
Black Knife Fish eat other fish, so you’ll need to be careful what types of fish you keep in the tank with them. To feed them, you’ll want to give them Ghost Shrimp or live Black Worms. To ensure the compatibility of your aquarium, you’ll only want to couple your Black Knifefish with fish like Elephant Noses, Synodontis Catfish and Baby Whales. Sometimes people like to keep Clown Loaches, Tinfoil Barbs, Plecostomus Catfish, Large Gouramis and Giant Danios in tanks with the Knifefish and they seem to be compatible as well.
In an aquarium, the Black Knifefish typically reaches about 8” long, although in it’s natural habitat they’ve been found to reach 10” long. Their average life span is about 10 years.