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photo courtesy of Aqualand pets plus

Overview:

Another monster of the hobby, the Clown knife should not be purchased by the casual hobbyist. Reaching huge sizes few people can properly house them and fewer can help them thrive.

Quick stats:

Listed tank sizes are the minimum
Size:	Up to 40" (100cm)
Tank:	48 inches (when small)
Strata:	Bottom, middle
PH:	5.5 to 7.0
Hardness:	Soft to medium. dH range: 2-10
Temperature:	75ºF to 82ºF (24-28°C)

Order:	Osteoglossiformes
Suborder:	Notopteroidei
Family:	Notopteridae
Genera:	Notopterus

Common name:

Clown knife fish, Featherback

Additional species photographs

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Asia, found in India, Thailand, Borneo, Malaysia and Sumatra.

Long knifelike bodies. There are two Nasel tentacles above the large, toothed mouth. Six or seven fin rays support the little flag-like Dorsal fin, which is usually located at the center of the body. The center ridge along the belly is distinctly serrated. The fish has no Ventral fins. They can reach a length of two feet

Generally silver, with a Brown tinge. The most striking feature are the circular markings along the middle area of the fish. These circles increase in size and number as the fish grows.

These fish range in various types of water in their home territories. When they are young they live, communally in large numbers among submerged roots and water plants. They prefer the more peaceful parts of rivers, and can be found in large areas of standing water. They are nocturnal in habit and do not come out until twilight. Adults are territorial and sedentary in habit.

The aquarium for the knife-fish should be large with a small grained substrate. It should be fairly densely planted with many floating plants. Driftwood is also recommended along with some sort of inert piping for the fish to hide in. The water should be soft, and kept at a temperature of between seventy-five and eighty-two degrees. The pH should be neutral to acid. They are predatory in nature and need to be feed live food ranging from guppies to goldfish. Quality frozen food can be eventually accepted. Although a large and predatory fish the Clown-knife is very timid and any tankmates must be of the same nature and large enough not to be eaten.

In general only juvenile specimens are suitable for the home aquarium.

Found in calm, large rivers and backwaters that are overgrown.

Because only young fish are kept and never reach maturity, as far as I can find out they have not been breed in captivity.

Your comments:

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From: Erick Date:10/2/2007 I've had a Clown Knife for a little over 4 years, he is 28" and in a 240g tank he is almost about to out grow it but so far so good, I have not had luck keeping peaceful tank mates with him. A year ago I had a 15" Silver Arowana with him but he jumped out. I feed him 50 feeder goldfish a week along with some Crayfish and Prawns, try to stay away from live food as much as possible because once he is on it he will not stop. Overall Great fish, not for the poor great personality they also recognize there owner. Soon to upgrade him to a 525g tank. From: Britt Canese Date:8/11/2007 I have owned and loved a clown knife for 15 years..he is over 21 inches and I have him in a 110 gallon tank. I bought him at about 4 inches and had him in a 55 galloon until he over grew it. I feed him 30 to 40 goldfish/guppies every 3 to 4 weeks...water change a third of the tank once every 4 to 6 weeks only adding a good water conditioner. His tank has 2 300 filters on it . I change out the foam/carbon once every 3 to 6 months. I have a thermometer on it to keep him between 75 and 80 degrees...Herb is the coolest pet I have ever owned...although I have tried giving him some company over the years he has eaten them all. He is graceful,beautiful and if you can regulate,loving,feeding and cleaning a tank of this size he is soooo worth it. I have photos if I could post them somewhere I would. Enjoy your clowns! From: Tim Date:05/31/2007 I have had 2 clown knifes for the last 2 years. I got them when they were about 2-4 inches. I heard they don't get a long very well with each other as they get older but mine have been the best of buds. They're both roughly around 19" in a 125 gallon fish tank. I learned to raise fishes with these guys and they've been threw the extremes with me. They've have survive overtime I messed up. I'm very happy with my knifes since I learned so much from them. I'm getting a 300 gallon fish tank for them this week and I was trying to make it look perfect for them. They love to hide during the day but at night, anything smaller then 3 inches will be eaten. Its a big responsibility but in the end its worth having these beasts in the house. From: John Date:1/27/2007 I got my clown knife at 4" long. Its been two years and he is now 18 - 20" long. He is a bad ass. I feel bad though because he's in a 75gal and clearly needs more room. I've put ads around town at pet stores trying to sell or possibly even donate him to someone with a larger tank. He is happy though. He feeds eagerly and is a high level predator with size to his credit. He is housed with a 6" green terror, a 5" jack dempsey and a rhino pleco. Its a good tank and the fish are all perfectly happy and healthy but that clown knife is only getting bigger and will need to go soon. So just a warning to all of you that wander in to the local fish store, look at a small clown knife and say "ooh he's cool, I gotta have him". These fish are monsters. Be prepared. From: Brandon Date:1/03/2007 I recently bought a juvenile Clown knife on impulse. I really thought it was a beauty. Once I put it in the tank it began its stalker/hunting mode. I asked at the store and they said it would be fine in a community tank so after that night, nearly all of my fish we missing or missing fins *(most of my fish were glow-light and neon tetras). another thing is I had some feeder fish already, and tried to feed it to him after I realized his carnivorous nature. They tend to like smaller feeder guppies, minnows, goldfish or just frozen brine shrimp or blood worms. He is a feed at night fish and enjoys when the light is out but the nearby lamp is on (creates a dusk-like atmosphere). Watch them with your plecos too. Mine tried to attack mine, but since my two plecos had learned to hide a little better. Hope this is useful... From: walkingcrow Date:9/28/2006 In my experience with clown knife fish, they are very territorial. Their mouths are very large and they grow at a very fast rate. I don't recommend feeding live foods because you never know what diseases that they are harboring. I always use frozen silverbacks or other type of minnow that is safe for aquarium fish. I use a set of wire tongs to feed them with. I have also fed them pellet foods with no problems. This fish gets very large and can only be housed in a 55g. tank until they are about 12 inches in length. As with any fish, keeping them is to small of a tank will stunt their growth, not just on the outside but even their internal organs will have stunted. Therefore, shortening their lifespans altogether. That is why they say that juvenile specimens usually don't live to maturity, which is about 30 inches in length. The two I have are not shy at all, they are not nocturnal either, they are very active throughout the day and night. Dither fish, such a giant danios may be okay to help keep the fish from feeling to shy, but eventually even the danios will be eaten. A good tank mate choice would be Silver dollars, or pacu, but housed in a tank no less than 100gallons. Any fish that is smaller than they are and they will become dinner. Snails will be dinner as well or any other catfish. A very large pleco could be okay, but even then water changes are still important due to the fact that plecos do not really eat all waste. By feeding Clown knives live foods it is causing more waste produced in the tank, and a weekly water change should be done to ensure that ammonia levels do not rise to poison or any dramatic ph or nitrate levels. I would recommend only experienced and knowledgeable fishkeepers to house this fish. From: -luc Date:9/08/2006 Oh boy, what did my fiancé and I get ourselves into? Our clown knife is about 6 inches long. We went to the store to get pet supplies, he saw the fish and just had to have it... So of course we ended up getting it. It now sits in our 55 gallon tank. We found out after a couple days of having him that he likes guppies. We bought 2 dozen feeders and only 7 remain after one night. Our knife is housed with a pictus catfish, an iridescent shark, a bumble bee catfish, a spotted green puffer fish, a large comet, a 2ft. pleco, a long finned rosy barb and a dwarf gourami. They get along fine. The knife and the puffer seem to be "friends" and always following each other around. The knife is semi active during the day and very active at night. While we were doing a water change he would be right there near our hands. It was pretty cool. He is awesome to watch hunt. I didn't realize how big his mouth was. I'm hoping that he wont outgrow our 55 gallon anytime soon, although it sounds like we need to put our other fish into another tank in a couple of months. From: Dave Date:8/03/2006 I have two clown knifes for about a year now they have grown from 3" to 14+ I used to feed my clown knifes feeders but that became way to expensive so did fish food so I turned to other foods. I have 4 cats and they love to watch the fish more then I do. This idea came to me when I ran outta of fish food and had no money and tons of dry cat and dog food. I now feed my main tank cat food or dog food. I have 2 clown knifes in the main tank along with 3 Colombian sharks and 3 oscars that are 5 years old. My all eat the cat food like crazy. The Colombian sharks or white tipped catfish prefer the dog food over the cat food for some reason. I advise you give it a try. From: Marco Date:7/27/2006 I've had my clown knife for about 7 mo.s now. He's grown about 10 inches in this time. I have him in a 55 gal. for now. Soon I will transfer him into a 135 gallon,when I feel he can handle my oscars(which are all over a foot long.) The clown knife is a voracious predator that eats any fish he can fit into his cavernous mouth! I have to be careful not to overfeed him. He doesn't stop hunting until every goldfih is gone! CLICK HERE FOR MORE COMMENTS

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