Knife fishes occur in Africa, Asia, and South America. However, the knife fishes from the Old World and the knife fishes of the New World are not closely related to each other. From an aquarists point of view all knife fishes are very beautiful to look at. They are elegant swimmers. The extraordinary swimming style - they rather glide through the water, forward and backward, than ordinary swim - led to the popular name "ghost" for some of the species.

 

Currently we have some very rarely imported species of knife fish in stock. Brachyhypopomus brevirostris is one of these species. It becomes 20-40 cm long but is maximum as thick as a thumb. The species belongs to the family Hypopomidae. B. brevirostris has a wide distribution in South America. Our specimens originate from Peru. Male and females can be best distinguished by the shape of the head. Males also become larger than the females and in intact males there is also a small caudal fin that always lacks in females. However, obviously a great number of predatory fish in South America is specialized in biting off parts of the tail of knife fish. This led to the unique ability of South American knife fish to regenerate the tail inclusive the backbone.

 

Against conspecifics, Brachyhypopomus brevirostis are quite peaceful. They feed on small invertebrates and take readily all types of usual live and frozen food for ornamental fish. Like all South American knife fishes B. brevirostris has a weak electric organ that is used by the fish like the ultrasonic of bats. It enables the knife fish to swim even in absolute darkness and never bump to anything.

For our customers: the animals have code 210805 on our stock list. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.

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Text & photos: Frank Schäfer