I was just wondering if anyone has ever used a black light on their tank? Do they work as far as encouraging the night fish to come out during the day? The local zoo seems to have something like that in their night creature displays but I didn't know if it could be used in a home setting...or if the zoo had special lighting for those types of displays.

We have a Black Ghost Knife fish that hides all day long. It doesn't like the Ghost tube and hides behind the filter and uv tubes in the back corner. It was coming out when we fed it, but lately has taken to staying hidden till night then comes out to look for food. (that is it's natural hunting time).

It's a different kind of fish than I'm used to and would like to enjoy seeing it "in all it's glory".

Any one have any suggestions?

I dont know if a black light would work but you can get Lunar lights

Lunar lights

I dont know how well they work or anything but I guess you can give them a try

I use blue lunar lights(LED), they give a beautiful glow, especially when the lights in the room are off, and I don't get the impression that they keep the goldies from resting at night. You can see them, but not very well, I don't know if a black ghost knife would be too visible or more active.

Thank you, I may have to try those.

It's hard when you have an unusual (to me anyway) fish you can never see because it hides all the time. And when it finally comes out the tank light is off.

We do have dwarf Gourami's & cory cats in that tank too, that way the tank doesn't seem so barrin during the day. But it would be nice to see the knife fish with some sort of lighting.

My loach does that! He only swims around at night

Hmm...

How big is your ghost? They get really huge, and I think they'll eat your other fish when it gets big enough

Sorry, I've been away for a bit

I think it is about 4-5 or maybe 5-1/2" I can never get a tape to him to get him measured.

He's(for lack of gender identification ) currently in my 55g corner bow tank. (I finally gave in an let my son take over tank after I moved my goldies into their current tank. )

Kissy, I did hear they can get up to 2' long, but the lfs owner ( Yes, I know, I know) said his daughter has had one for 5 years and it's not that size yet. I also read that if they feel they were "picked on" while they were little, they will seek out and kill the fish that "picked on" them, but that sounds a bit far fetched to me that a fish would hold a grudge. The dwarf gourami's are not suppose to as aggressive as the regular ones and so far they leave the Black Ghost alone. If I notice that things start changing I will start moving fish. I have a couple other tanks that I could use. But for now, things are pretty peaceful...............So far!!!