# Clown Knife



## Sandrion (Dec 7, 2010)

I just purchased a clown knife for my 55g community, he seems content to swim around, hide in his log, eat his feeder guppies and leave everyone else alone. None of my other fish bother him. Just wondered if it was ok to have him with the rest of them if they dont bother him and he doesnt bother them. I know they can get fairly large, and I am planning and setting up my 20g again, and having him by hisself in the 55g, or maybe with two or three others.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Fairly large? heh,heh.. try 3 feet long

Anyway, your current arrangement will wok for a while, but eventually it will fail. As soon as the knife thinks it can eat it's tankmates, it will.


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

Sandrion said:


> I just purchased a clown knife for my 55g community, he seems content to swim around, hide in his log, eat his feeder guppies and leave everyone else alone. None of my other fish bother him. Just wondered if it was ok to have him with the rest of them if they dont bother him and he doesnt bother them. I know they can get fairly large, and I am planning and setting up my 20g again, and having him by hisself in the 55g, or maybe with two or three others.


I wouldn't put any Knife fish in a community tank since they truly belong with semi-aggressive fish. Anything that can fit into his mouth will be eaten, I can guarantee you that much. My main concern is that you're going to need about 150 gallon tank if you intend to keep him for life. Clown Knives have been known to reach 2'-3'.


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## Sandrion (Dec 7, 2010)

Most of my fish are semi's so they should be alright for now. He is pretty small at the moment. I hope to one day get a much larger tank (like a 150g), and hopefully I can. I have some mollies and cory cats, but everything else I have is semi-aggressive. I also moved my green-spotted puffer to a 10g, with his feeder fish. I didn't want him chewing on the Knife since he has soft skin and large fins.


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

Sandrion said:


> Most of my fish are semi's so they should be alright for now. He is pretty small at the moment. I hope to one day get a much larger tank (like a 150g), and hopefully I can. I have some mollies and cory cats, but everything else I have is semi-aggressive. I also moved my green-spotted puffer to a 10g, with his feeder fish. I didn't want him chewing on the Knife since he has soft skin and large fins.


I'd sure start keeping an eye on your local Craigslist over the next several months because Clown Knives grow fairly quickly. If you are feeding him the proper live or frozen food diet he'll grow about an inch every 1-2 months.


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## Blue Cray (Oct 19, 2007)

An inch every couple months? A clown knife can grow an inch a week kept in proper conditions. Buying a CK for a 55g is wrong period, I understand if you're new to the hobby, you didn't know. However this is a great oportunity to learn, chances are if you're new to the hobby, and judging by the fish you keep together you are, the CK will die before it outgrows your tank. I'm not saying you're a bad fish keeper but that's just the way it goes. Before you make a purchase on a fish do some research, ask some questions, get real opinions, these forums are great for that. The best advice I can give you is buy the tank, then the fish.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

There are two small lakes near Ft. Lauderdale which are full of Clowns. They got loose in them and started breeding, and are now popular sportfish, regularly taken on hook & line anglers. They grow very rapidly in these ponds and get huge.


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## Sandrion (Dec 7, 2010)

I just keep fish that I like, and all my fish are happy together, I guess I am wrong for mixing aggressives and non, sorry, but as long as my fish are happy together and not picking on each other I am happy. I keep fish because I like to watch them and I like all different kinds. I might not go by the all-mighty fish god rules, but what I have done for the past three years seems to be working for me, and thats all that really matters. They arent hurting for space, and the fact that I can buy a larger tank if I need to, sets my mind at ease. If worse comes to worse I can just take the Knife back to the local pet shop where I bought him and get store credit, and someone more "suited" to keeping him can buy him. All I can say about that is be glad it was me instead of Average Joe with a 10g and 15 tetras...


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

Sandrion said:


> I just keep fish that I like, and all my fish are happy together, I guess I am wrong for mixing aggressives and non, sorry, but as long as my fish are happy together and not picking on each other I am happy. I keep fish because I like to watch them and I like all different kinds. I might not go by the all-mighty fish god rules, but what I have done for the past three years seems to be working for me, and thats all that really matters. They arent hurting for space, and the fact that I can buy a larger tank if I need to, sets my mind at ease. If worse comes to worse I can just take the Knife back to the local pet shop where I bought him and get store credit, and someone more "suited" to keeping him can buy him. All I can say about that is be glad it was me instead of Average Joe with a 10g and 15 tetras...


If you start noticing missing fish at least you'll know why now.


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## Chard56 (Oct 10, 2010)

I think you are doing fine as you said you can take out who's not getting along or get a bigger tank for the knife. Some people just think of how big they get not how big they are. I have a 10 inch Oscar in a 45 hex by himself and a trio of Quetzal cichlids in a 30 that I wanted to put together in a 100 gallon. On another forum I got jumped all over telling me the tank was only big enough for the Oscar and wasn't big enough for the three Red heads. The Red headed Cichlids were about 2 & 1/2 inches at the time and the Oscar was a rescue at 8 inches in a 25 gallon. They don't stop to actually read the post they just see the part about three "potentially" big Cichlids with another Big one and think you have to have 100 gallons for a 10" fish. I had a 190 gal. plexiglas tank 35 years ago with a 2 & 1/2 Foot Clown Knife, an almost 3 foot Arowana, an 18 inch black Pacu with 8 or so big Oscar,Red Devil, Jack Dempsey type Cichlids. I had ug filters and two big outside filters one at each end and everyone got along fine. (watch I'll get jumped on for posting this) You'll know when you need to upgrade the Clown to a bigger tank. A couple weeks feeding him guppies and he will start looking at the Mollies as meals. Don't let them get to you . You know what to do. If you are unsure just google Clown Knife or ask a "carefully" phrased question on here so you don't get the third degree.


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## Sandrion (Dec 7, 2010)

Thank you much Chard, sometimes people need to do as you did and step back and actually take in everything that is said. At the moment, this Knife cannot even fit a very small feeder goldfish in his mouth, so I am not too worried right now about him going after my Mollies. Later on when he is a tad bigger I might start, but I am actively searching for a bigger tank everyday on CL, just to find a good deal and get the tank now, so when the time comes, I can setup and put my Knife in.


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## redpaulhus (Jan 18, 2005)

> I hope to one day get a much larger tank (like a 150g), and hopefully I can.


hopefully isn't something you want to hear from the person responsible for your health and well being.
I hope to one day be a millionaire, should I start running up the credit card bills now and then _hope _I can pay them off later ?

Don't ever buy a pet you are not immediately prepared to care for, for the full extent of its natural life. 
To do otherwise is immature and selfish. A fish like that will probably need a bigger tank in 6-9 months -- and the new tank should probably be a mature tank that has been running for, say, 6 months.

I run into this problem all the time at my LFS -- people buy fish planning to put them in a bigger tank "later" -- but by the time the fish needs the new tank, its too late. the fish is already sick from being in too small of a tank, and the new tank is an un-cycled mess - leading to large sick fishes in large tanks, which require huge amounts of medication.

It's not that we don't step back and take in everything that is said -- it's that we've heard it 100's of times and in 99.99% of the cases the fish dies from maltreatment. Some of us have been helping people in this hobby for decades.

I have a standard answer I give people when they ask me to order CK's and other "tankbusters" --


> "Do you have $1000 to $5000 to setup a proper home for this fish right now ? if not, don't waste my time and this fish's life".


I lose some $10-50 sales this way (and the $100's they would end up spending on medication over the next year or so) but I gain customers who realize I'm looking out for them and for the health and well being of the fish over the next 10-20 years.f

(my wife volunteers in an animal shelter and we are currently personally providing foster care to a large number of wonderful animals who's owners "hoped" they could provide homes without first researching the animal's true needs - so this is a personal pet peeve)


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

redpaulhus said:


> hopefully isn't something you want to hear from the person responsible for your health and well being.
> I hope to one day be a millionaire, should i start running up the credit card bills now and then _hope _i can pay them off later ?
> 
> Don't ever buy a pet you are not immediately prepared to care for, for the full extent of its natural life.
> ...


+1


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## Blue Cray (Oct 19, 2007)

redpaulhus said:


> hopefully isn't something you want to hear from the person responsible for your health and well being.
> I hope to one day be a millionaire, should I start running up the credit card bills now and then _hope _I can pay them off later ?
> 
> Don't ever buy a pet you are not immediately prepared to care for, for the full extent of its natural life.
> ...



Atleast there are a few people on this forum who actually have a diverse enough knowledge of the hobby and respect the animals we care for. Just watch how many people will flame you for this post. I try to inform people, I try to help people on here, but all I get is BS remarks and name calling. Just this morning I was told I'm ignorant by some uneducated old man because he doesn't take the time to research and ask questions and just does what he thinks is right. Of course we can't stop these kinds of people from doing what they do, but we can sure let them know how to properly care for their pets.

Sandrion atleast can learn from this experience, I hope he/she does, but for people who have done this for years and just never gave a damn about their pets there is no hope for those fish, their owners will never pull their heads out of certain places and realize what they are doing.

I must say that we can't flame Sandrion for this, he/she is new and still learning, who among us haven't been guilty of something like this when we were first starting out in the hobby?


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## Blue Cray (Oct 19, 2007)

Chard56 said:


> I think you are doing fine as you said you can take out who's not getting along or get a bigger tank for the knife. Some people just think of how big they get not how big they are. I have a 10 inch Oscar in a 45 hex by himself and a trio of Quetzal cichlids in a 30 that I wanted to put together in a 100 gallon. On another forum I got jumped all over telling me the tank was only big enough for the Oscar and wasn't big enough for the three Red heads. The Red headed Cichlids were about 2 & 1/2 inches at the time and the Oscar was a rescue at 8 inches in a 25 gallon. They don't stop to actually read the post they just see the part about three "potentially" big Cichlids with another Big one and think you have to have 100 gallons for a 10" fish. I had a 190 gal. plexiglas tank 35 years ago with a 2 & 1/2 Foot Clown Knife, an almost 3 foot Arowana, an 18 inch black Pacu with 8 or so big Oscar,Red Devil, Jack Dempsey type Cichlids. I had ug filters and two big outside filters one at each end and everyone got along fine. (watch I'll get jumped on for posting this) You'll know when you need to upgrade the Clown to a bigger tank. A couple weeks feeding him guppies and he will start looking at the Mollies as meals. Don't let them get to you . You know what to do. If you are unsure just google Clown Knife or ask a "carefully" phrased question on here so you don't get the third degree.


I don't blame them for jumping on this kind of post, especially when you "claim" to have kept an almost 3ft arowana in 190 gallons of water.


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