Thanks for this tip! I think it'll work well for frozen prawns. They tend to develop a sort of pellicle when I freeze it as is.

That's exactly right. I enjoy conversing with people who enjoy the same oddball, predatory type of fish I like & keep in my tanks... especially when the fishkeeper is a smart one...

Thanks 😊

Thank you for the questions, Zeke. I have read through the limited pdfs online regarding aba knifefish sexing. I do believe it is a female based on the rotundness of its structure. Though I am not fully sure if the fish is rotund due to proper feeding. In the past videos when it was solely on live catfish feeder, you'd notice that the aba has more girth to it. It has now slimmed down ever since I moved it onto a market fish diet. To answer your second question, I bought this fish on the 20th of July 2010. I have a lot of photos of it in archive because I remember thinking at that time, that this fish will outlive me. And also because there isn't much information of this species online, I decided to dedicate this KZfaq Channel for the aba aba knifefish. It was 15 cm at time of purchase. I had bought 5 aba abas in total. I had pre-orded them and it took a fortnight to arrive. I figured if one died, I would have 4 back up fishes. ALL OF THEM SURVIVED. And they grew very very quickly. They started out in a 50 cm tank. They were on live mosquito fish feeder, and live foods really speed up their growth. They were then separated into 2 & 3 feet tanks. This fella grew the fastest and was bullying the rest, so I moved it into its own 3 foot tank. I sold off the rest due to space constraints. Then in 2012, I moved it into an 8 foot tank. And in Dec 2019, I moved it into this 9 footer. The larger the space, the faster it grows. Also, you don't have to start off with a really large tank, because ensuring that it eats well would be a challenge. You can grow it out in a smaller tank (with a lot of water changes done), then progressively move it to a larger tank. I hope this helps

I am curious about them being housed together... so, they weren't all fighting each other constantly in the tank? If not, did they school loosely or set up a territory and kind of guard the perimeter? I have heard that they will put up with each other until they reach a certain size, but other than when young I'm pretty sure that they are not going to put up with ANY tankmates... PERIOD!!! How old of an age in your opinion do the Aba Aba Knifefish generally live to be if well cared for? My guess is probably at least 30 to more like probably 50+ years old, just like some of the other primitive fish ... like the Alligator & Cuban Gar, Sturgeon, and the American Paddlefish, just to name a few I had thought of first. Any way for me to email you and possibly send a picture of my fish somehow?

What influenced you or made you decide to go with Gymnarchus niloticus to begin with? Do you recall thinking it might be possible to have a small shoal, school, or group of them... like as in 2 to 5 individuals housed together or was the group buying of the 5 of them just 100% completely for the fragility of the fry when so small? I'm guessing both things I mentioned probably and then there's the fact of you thinking ahead far enough on your part and about you having 5 of them to choose from when they decided to fight a bit when larger and being able to take your "pick of the litter" if and when that time came later. Do you remember what you got them started eating on when you 1st got them and how long took for them to start accepting food and what variety were you able to get them to accept as well as did they all eat the same or did some pick and cheese what they wanted to eat that was different from the others in the group of 5 when housed together? This is my 2nd Aba Aba Knifefish... the first one jumped out of my aquarium when I was gone to watch a College Football game about 100 miles away in (good ol' rocky top, rocky top Tennessee! Lol...) Knoxville,Tennessee and a big line of severe thunderstorms with lots of lightning came through and out of the tank he or she went... D.O.A. upon my return...

Hahaha, no, not at all. It was actually an impulse order. 😅 I remember seeing this species for the very first time in this aquarium shop's main display tank. It must have been a good 40 cm, and it was housed with a lot of malawi cichlids (and a lot of dead coral decor). The way its undulating fin moved was so mesmerizing. And this fish had a smile. I remember standing there staring at it for a long time till the shopkeeper came out. I asked her if it is for sale. And she said that fish is worth thousands, and walked off. That made me want it even more. The shopkeeper had no idea what it was, so the information I started off with was actually wrong. I was told that it was a dolphin fish that came from the Amazon, that it could only grow to a maximum size of 1 foot, and that it's pretty friendly (the shopkeeper referred to her main display tank). And she said she can order one for me, but it will be much smaller. So I said yes. I didn't even know how much it would cost. I didn't have to pay a deposit for it, and she said she'll call me when the fish arrives. In the meantime, I was searching all over the internet for what this "Dolphin fish from the Amazon" could be. My search came up empty. The little aba knives arrived. I wanted to take just 2 initially, but since the price was a lot cheaper than I had anticipated (Thousands O_O. ), I decided to just buy all of them. They went for RM 18 a tail back then. They were already on live feeders, so feeding them was a no issue. I still did not know what they were. I had a few friends over one day, and one of them remarked "This fish looks like a clown knife, but it's upside down." Only then, did it register to me that it was a knifefish. 😆 And then I found out what type of knife it was. And how large it would get. And thus, began the scramble to get larger tanks to house them. So, it wasn't that I had planned out anything for it, or thought about what would happen when it grew. It was more of a single-mindedness to make sure this fish goes the distance and lives out its full life.

When they were smaller, they'd just nip at each other, even when they have been fed, and their bellies look like they'd burst. They will stay close to each other in a shoal if there is no decor. But with decor, they get very very territorial. They became aggressive when they were about 20 cm in size. They had a much stronger bite, and one aba bit off the tail of another. I'll make a video of this aba's life. It'll be easier to explain in it with the pictures. For their lifespan, online information says 15 - 40 years. Mine is at 11 now. Space is still a constraint for me, otherwise I'd love to get it a much much larger tank. You can find me on instagram. Search using the hashtag #theabaabaknifefish Its baby photos are there too.

Thank you for the feedback! I'll keep in mind the contrast of the lettering for future videos

Once a week. The diet plan is in the video

@@AidaMay so from when it was a baby did you start this or when it reached a particular size?

It was on a different diet when it was a baby.