New BGK missing

mimodok

My old black ghost knife recently died. I restocked my fish tank 3 or 4 days ago, which included a tiny new black ghost knife. He found a spot to hide and wouldn't leave it on the first and second day. I haven't laid eyes on him since. It's been two days. All of the other fish are accounted for. I'm worried he went off and died somewhere. There are a lot of places he could be hiding and I just can't see him. Should I start taking the tank apart looking for him? Or just keep leaving food and hope he's alive somewhere?

iamntbatman

I would really scour the tank and make sure he's not dead in there somewhere, as a dead fish can result in a huge ammonia spike. As I'm sure you know by know, BGK's are capable of holding still in some pretty awkward positions so he could be behind the heater or filter intake tube, up against the top back edge of the tank, or somewhere like that.

mimodok

I still haven't seen him. I'm going to search the tank for him today. I'm pretty sure he's dead somewhere...
Thanks for the tip on the ammonia. I didn't know that. I'll be sure to check the ammonia levels today also.

mimodok

Well I found him under a rock. I don't know how he got there in the first place. Maybe he got stuck and died that way. I was able to get my money back from the pet store. I'm in the process of ordering a 3-4" BGK from someone on aquabid. Hopefully I'll have better luck this time.

iamntbatman

Sorry to hear that he died

Are you planning on getting a bigger tank as the BGK grows? They can get very large.

mimodok

I've been considering that. It would be fun to start a larger tank, like a 55-gallon. But I've also wanted to try saltwater one day and if I were to get a tank that big I might want to use it for a saltwater aquarium. Plus I'm not sure where I would set the thing up.

I really enjoyed keeping a BGK but maybe I should consider a different kind of "main fish" for my current aquarium. I have a bunch of frozen blood worms and beef heart that I'd like to use up. I've considered angelfish. I like the unique and interesting species of fish though, like knife fish or bichir. What would you suggest for my current tank size?

mimodok

What about Discus? My tank is more taller than long so I think they'd be comfortable. Plus they can eat the frozen food I have. What fish can you put with Discus? I know they need a lower PH and higher temperature.

iamntbatman

That's correct about the water parameters. Discus really need to be in groups and as they get to about 8" or so across as adults I don't know if your tank is big enough for a group of them.

For starters, I would increase the school sizes for the fish you already have. The danios and cats are schooling fish so they'd be more comfortable in larger groups. The cats are also notoriously nervous fish that don't do well with anything too boisterous. In that case, I might consider some sort of non-rowdy cichlid as a centerpiece fish. Maybe a Bolivian Ram, keyhole or festivum? Or, if you really like knife fish, you could get an African brown knife. They aren't quite as cool looking as the BGK but it would likely only reach eight, maybe ten inches while the BGK can get to 16" or more.

mimodok

Well darn. Everything that I want to do requires a larger aquarium. I have the money to upgrade (even though it would be terribly expensive -_- ) but I just don't have the space.

I want to make my tank a planted tank. I've already agreed to buy some star moss, fertilized subsrate, and a piece of driftwood from aquabid.com. I planned on also getting Anubias nana, making a carpet out of dwarf subulata, Brazilian Pennywort, Java Fern, bronze wendtii, and jungle vallisneria. Those would all grow in higher temperatures. I figured I'd slowly work on getting the aquarium salt out of my aquarium and remove the carbon from my filter. I already have and use Leaf Zone. I've considered getting a CO2 pump. Once that was all off to a good start I was going to get some Discus.

I could find homes for the fish I have now, I could possibly even return them to Petsmart. So suppose all I have is an empty tank that will soon be heavily planted with just a piece of driftwood. I still want to use up that frozen beef heart and blood worms. What fish would you stock the tank with?

Thanks for all of the good advice by the way!

iamntbatman

No problem! I'll use your other thread about general stocking ideas for the tank.