My fishy wishy list!

[OSUJillyBean]

Just a bad-@ss fish: the ghost knife fish:

It grows to 16 inches long and is shaped like a big knife. Seriously cool-looking fish. Plus they sell them at Walmart.



Angelfish are so pretty but I've never had one before. Sadly, the above "BAMF" (thank you Dane Cook) would eat these things like popcorn so they'll have to be housed separately.



And finally: the Upside-Down Catfish! They swim around like that and feed off the underside of rock ledges, floating plants, etc. Aren't they cute? These can live with the angelfishes.

[Lady_MCSE]

Tip for you on the upside down kitties . . . you MUST get at least three of them, and you MUST make nooks and crannies for them to hang in. If they don't have both conditions, they will die after a few months, what seems inexplicably. I know this from first-hand experience of trying 1, then 1, then 1, then 1, etc. then finding this "buddy" tip on the 'net, and then had a group of 5 of them that were with me for several years.

Now I just have one upside down kitty, but he's a Synodontis Eupteris, who is about 5 inches long, and I've had since 1993. He's been fine by himself, but he's a little different breed from the typical upside down kitties you'd see at most stores (that genrally don't get over 2" in size).

[Saelym]

Cool fish! We have a clown knifefish -- they are really neat, and grow to be huge! I'll have to get a picture sometime.

[wildcat180]

I love black ghost knife fish! I have one in my 75 gallon tank and he's about 6 inches. (He'd get bigger if I could get the koi out of there.)

I'm a bit disappointed that Walmart sells them though. Walmart is notorious for poor quality fish...

What are you feeding the knife?

[OSUJillyBean]

Wildcat - I would buy it elsewhere if I could find it. Our walmart strangely has a more varied selection of fish (and they're in better health ) then the Petco fish. Both stores killed off the local petshop chain so those're my only two options unless I want to pay to have the knife shipped in.

It says to feed them live worms (which I've never done before) while they're small and things like feeder goldfish when they get big. Some people I've seen have moderate success feeding them flaked fish food but I'd rather feed him a better diet.

I have the option of a 10-gallon or 20-gallon (Hammie currently resides in the 20-gallon but can be moved elsewhere). Do you think the 20 gallon would be best for the knife and put the angels & (apparently 5) USD catfish in the 10? Or is 10 too small for either of them???


Lady_MSCE - I'd planned on getting four of them (I read somewhere that they only thrive in groups). How much volume of water do they need??

[OSUJillyBean]

Hermph - well apparently my local Petco sucks. They often have a section of tanks for "unusual species". In here you sometimes see things like knife fish, unusual snails, crawdads (), etc.

Today - guppies and platys. Uhm, sorry no. Those are like kindergarten fish. Those are beginner fish. You may as well stick goldfish in there.

So I went to Walmart to check their selection. The fish they were advertising as African knife were not actually black ghost knifefish. I thought about getting a pleco to begin cycling the new tank but could find no one to help me so I came home empty-handed.

*sigh*

Guess I'm either making a trip to Tulsa or OKC.

[wildcat180]

Jilly, if Hammie is a hamster, you have to be extremely careful about putting that tank into use for fish. It's really hard to de-pee (how's that for a word?) it to where it's safe. (Just using an ammonia based glass cleaner before using a tank can cause problems.)

If you're going to use the 20 for fish, here's what you should do. Clean the h*ll out of it. Soak, scrub, soak, scrub. Then let it dry completely, preferably for a couple of days. Once you're ready to try it with fish, get some danios and put them in it for a couple of months. (Takes about a month for the first cycle, but you want to be sure it'll be safe for other fish, so give it a couple of months.)

Try to stick within the one of fish per gallon rule, going by the fish's max size, especially when starting out. With a good filter and a little work, you can have a bit more, but you definitely do not want to overpopulate a tank that has semi or aggressive fish. (Angels are considered semi aggressive, if I remember correctly.)

Sorry your stores don't have ghost knives. They really are cool to have in a tank! You'll get one, don't worry!

[OSUJillyBean]

Originally Posted by wildcat180

Jilly, if Hammie is a hamster, you have to be extremely careful about putting that tank into use for fish. It's really hard to de-pee (how's that for a word?) it to where it's safe. (Just using an ammonia based glass cleaner before using a tank can cause problems.)

If you're going to use the 20 for fish, here's what you should do. Clean the h*ll out of it. Soak, scrub, soak, scrub. Then let it dry completely, preferably for a couple of days. Once you're ready to try it with fish, get some danios and put them in it for a couple of months. (Takes about a month for the first cycle, but you want to be sure it'll be safe for other fish, so give it a couple of months.)

Try to stick within the one of fish per gallon rule, going by the fish's max size, especially when starting out. With a good filter and a little work, you can have a bit more, but you definitely do not want to overpopulate a tank that has semi or aggressive fish. (Angels are considered semi aggressive, if I remember correctly.)

Sorry your stores don't have ghost knives. They really are cool to have in a tank! You'll get one, don't worry!

I know you can't mix ammonia and bleach but can I use a diluted bleach solution to clean the hammie tank? I realize it'll take some work but hey, I've got nothing else to do for the next few days.

[wildcat180]

If you're going to use bleach, you have to be just as careful. Bleach and ammonia are two chemicals that can wreak havoc on a fish tank. I would say to try cleaning with the bleach initially. Wash it out really good with hot water first, then do a soak with some bleach. However many times you clean it, for the final drying, if you can, set the tank in the sun for a few hours. (Sunlight dissipates chlorine pretty thoroughly.)

Still, I'd run the tank with some test fish for a while afterwards, just to be safe. No sense in putting out money for fish like ghost knives if they're going to die, right?

It should be fine though. Happy cleaning!

[OSUJillyBean]

Originally Posted by wildcat180

If you're going to use bleach, you have to be just as careful. Bleach and ammonia are two chemicals that can wreak havoc on a fish tank. I would say to try cleaning with the bleach initially. Wash it out really good with hot water first, then do a soak with some bleach. However many times you clean it, for the final drying, if you can, set the tank in the sun for a few hours. (Sunlight dissipates chlorine pretty thoroughly.)

Still, I'd run the tank with some test fish for a while afterwards, just to be safe. No sense in putting out money for fish like ghost knives if they're going to die, right?

It should be fine though. Happy cleaning!

I was going to buy a good-sized Pleco (4 - 6") to start cycling the tank. Will the Knife & Pleco get along if I put them both in the same tank??

[wildcat180]

Don't start out with a pleco. They can get big and use up a good deal of space in your tank, for one, and for two, there's nothing in the tank for it to eat because it's not growing algae. Plecos can also eat other fish.

Seriously, the most successful way to cycle a tank and have it be a good cycle is to get a few Danios. (I've never had a customer complain about their tanks...ever when doing this approach. Quite the opposite, I was always thanked and my Petsmart manager made it the store "protocol".) For a 20 gallon tank, I'd get 5 danios. Feed them every other day and do nothing else. Don't test the water. (You can before you put fish in it, but I always recommend NOT testing during the initial cycle because it will drive you crazy. It has to go through the nitrogen cycle and for that to happen, levels have to rise before the bacteria that takes care of them develop.) After a month, you can test the water and see where you stand, but even then, the tank may not be finished cycling. Whatever you do, you don't want to introduce a bunch of fish in an uncycled tank. You'll lose fish, maybe not all, but you will lose some. Once the tank is finished cycling, it's safe for other fish.

Danios are cheap, small, and hardy. They'll do the job you need them to. There are long finned varieties that are pretty. If you decide to keep them, they're even friendly and won't cause any problems in the tank.

[OSUJillyBean]

And what do I do if I don't want to keep them??

I noticed on Petco.com that I can order fish and have them shipped to me. Maybe I should just order a knife fish, have them deliver it to the store (our local postmen would just leave it on the sidewalk!), and then go pick it up from there.

I've never had danios before.

Don't suppose I could just get a few of the cheapy 25-cent feeder fish to start cycling the tank? Or a betta, which would later be transferred to his own bowl. Hehehe, sorry I'm being cheap here.

[GoinToTell]

I dont have much to add. But that upside down catfish is pretty awesome. I have a 30 gallon tank right now. I have one Shubunkin (sp), one Pelco, 2 giant gourmies, some of the cory catfish, and whatever sailfins surrive they stay. I have had danios before, they are a peaceful fish. They are small but they weren't bad. I think the Pelco and the Shubunkin need a different tank...they have grown to be pretty good sized. I think I would get rid of the sailfins and just keep the 2 gourmies, the pelco, the shubunkin and the catfish. The sailfins annoy me. They are prolific reproducers. Good luck. I enjoy my tank...most of the time

[OSUJillyBean]

So p!ssed off right now! Went to petco to buy some starter fish. Got told my 20-gallon tank is not big enough and I was a bad fishmommy unless I had a $500 75-gallon tank. To house three $1 fish ...


Anyone else see a problem with this?

[wildcat180]

What were they, goldfish?

[APHANutmeg]

Sounds like the Petco people were trying to make a sale off you! That is crazy!
Also, I would not recommend using a take that a hamster was in. Their urine is full of ammonia that can leach into the silicone(what holds the glass together). This can then leach into your water and cause future problems. Also hamsters are chewers and will chew that lovely silicone off the tank walls. Thus causing a weak point in the tank for a future leak. So make sure that silicone is sound and secure before adding fishes or you may find a puddle on the floor.
Finding a tank is easy. You can try the local want adds or even Craig's list. There are always some for sale.
I think a 30 gallon tank is a great starter and would suit the fish you want very well. That's what I started out with and now have a 55 gallon tank with an 6 inch oscar, a clown loach, a pleco, 4 congo tetras(they were there before the oscar and are her friends), and an African lace cat(same family as your USD cats).

[wildcat180]

Actually, it's not about making a sale. (If it was, she'd have the fish.) Their company policies aren't much different from Petsmart. If you have a tank that's too small for the fish you're buying, they do not have to sell it to you. Period. (They use the same rule of thumb I mentioned earlier, except for goldfish when that rule is two gallons per inch of fish at its max size.)

The sales people don't get paid by commission, and there are no bonuses for selling high ticket items...They get paid slightly better than minimum wage whether you spend $5 or $500.

[OSUJillyBean]

Yeah - it was a one-inch goldfish. The sales guy told me it would grow to be about 18 inches long, 14 inches tall in six months and that unless I planned on keeping it in my bath tub I could not have it.


Guess I just won't ever buy fish again until I have a real job and can afford a 55gallon tank, stand, rocks, etc.

[wildcat180]

No, it's OK, Jilly.

Why not just buy the little Danios I suggested? Get five of those and if the sales guy gives you a hard time, just get three. You'll have more than enough room in the tank, so they can't argue with you there.

Goldfish do get big, and as much as I like you Jilly, I wouldn't have sold you three. One, yeah. Three? No, not for pets. I've refused to sell fish to numerous people who had tanks that were large enough.

[OSUJillyBean]

They didn't have danios. They had like twelve tanks of mollies and guppies and platys, some oscars, and the goldfish. Everything else was saltwater or koi. I've already owned gups, platys, and mollies before so I wanted something different.

If the guy had just reasonably explained to me that my tank was not big enough it would've been one thing but he was just rude about it, almost laughing at me. He wouldn't even sell me one fish.

Since you guys feel my hammie cage cannot be "de-hammied" it looks like I'm in the market for a new fish tank. Saw some 55-gallon ones on craigslist for about $200-250 with stand. Maybe then I can actually buy a d@mn fish.

Sorry - I just hate rude people.