# Worried About New Black Ghost Knife



## Momo (Jul 28, 2009)

Evening all,
Yesterday I picked up my new small BGK from my LFS, and I'm not sure he's doing OK. When we went to get him, he was laying on his side (which I've read is pretty common). I put him in the tank (after acclimation, of course), and he went to a corner. It alternated from sitting upright, laying flat, and making a "C" sort of shape. Somehow it managed to dig in the sang to partially burrow under my Parrot's pot. It's still filtering and "waving" its fins and sometimes looks like its trying to get upright, but to me looks like every dying fish I've seen. I've also read they are nocturnal, and take a while to get used to their new tank. Right now, it has moved to a clear plastic tube that was used for some other fish I had long ago. Sometimes it randomly flips over and sits upside down. Essentially, my question is this: Is this normal and it's just terrified, or could something possibly be wrong? I'm thinking the guys at the LFS may have been in doubt, since they told me to "worry about paying later" Thanks!


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## Blue Cray (Oct 19, 2007)

It's fine but turn off the lights for the night, let him chillax.


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## Momo (Jul 28, 2009)

Blue Cray said:


> It's fine but turn off the lights for the night, let him chillax.


Good plan. I turned them off when I put him in, and only turned them on for feeding. They were on today, but I'm considering leaving them off tomorrow morning until I get home from school.


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

Momo said:


> Evening all,
> Yesterday I picked up my new small BGK from my LFS, and I'm not sure he's doing OK. When we went to get him, he was laying on his side (which I've read is pretty common). I put him in the tank (after acclimation, of course), and he went to a corner. It alternated from sitting upright, laying flat, and making a "C" sort of shape. Somehow it managed to dig in the sang to partially burrow under my Parrot's pot. It's still filtering and "waving" its fins and sometimes looks like its trying to get upright, but to me looks like every dying fish I've seen. I've also read they are nocturnal, and take a while to get used to their new tank. Right now, it has moved to a clear plastic tube that was used for some other fish I had long ago. Sometimes it randomly flips over and sits upside down. Essentially, my question is this: Is this normal and it's just terrified, or could something possibly be wrong? I'm thinking the guys at the LFS may have been in doubt, since they told me to "worry about paying later" Thanks!


This is actual rather normal behavior for them. They typically will lay on their side during the daylight hours and only occasionally straighten up and move around. After a few weeks you should try hand feeding him frozen bloodworms or beefheart. I have done this with mine since I bought him at 2" and now he's nearly 14" and still eating out of my hand.


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## Momo (Jul 28, 2009)

Thanks for the replies. I'll see how it's doing in the morning.


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## jpeterson (Dec 6, 2010)

The LFS water quality may have been poor too which might have cause this. Just let him settle in, make sure he eats and hopefully everything should be fine!


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

Momo said:


> Thanks for the replies. I'll see how it's doing in the morning.


Any updates?


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## Glimpze (Sep 10, 2010)

i also recently bough a bgk. mine has had no trouble swimming or doin anything erratic although i kno they have known to swim differently. so far mine has just made a nice lil home inside a rock and stays there for the most part


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## DTetras2 (Jan 20, 2010)

I've always wanted to know but never found out, are there any "small" gkf? I would like to know because I have a 55 gallon that I'm going to start soon and a gkf would be reeeeeally cool


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

DTetras2 said:


> I've always wanted to know but never found out, are there any "small" gkf? I would like to know because I have a 55 gallon that I'm going to start soon and a gkf would be reeeeeally cool


They are usually around 1.5"-3" when they are sold in the stores. If you get one of that size and feed it properly it will be fine in a 55 gallon tank for about a year or so before he would need something bigger. They generally max out at around 16-18" so a 75 gallon or larger can house them for their entire life.


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## cossie (Dec 19, 2010)

Any updated on the BGK current condition???


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## DTetras2 (Jan 20, 2010)

Darn, gkf are really cool, why can't they just stay 3"?!?!


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## Glimpze (Sep 10, 2010)

ive had mine for about 3 months now and so far there really hasnt been any growth


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