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Featherfin Knifefish

Bronze Featherback ~ Asian Knifefish ~ Asiatic Knifefish Family: Notopteridae

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Featherfin Knifefish (albino) Notopterus notopterus Photo © Animal-World: Courtesy Ken Childs

  The Featherfin Knifefish gets its name from the small dorsal fin on its back. It sways back and forth just like a feather in the wind!

   Although not particularly colorful, the Featherfin Knifefish is still very interesting and is well worth keeping as a pet. The Featherfin Knifefish, also known as the Bronze Featherback or Asiatic Knifefish, are generally peaceful. They will do well with other fish that are not particularly aggressive and that are too large to fit into the knives mouth.

   The Featherfin Knifefish can grow to be relatively large in the wild, but tank raised fish over 12 inches are rare so you shouldn’t have to worry about eventually dealing with a 2 foot long fish. However, there can be exceptions so you will want to keep their potential size in mind. The recent availability of a farm produced albino version (pictured above) is an exciting development.

For more Information on keeping freshwater fish see:
Guide to a Happy, Healthy Freshwater Aquarium

Dream Aquarium Build your own aquarium The Coolest and Funnest Screensaver in the World.

Distribution:
   The Featherfin Knifefish, also called the Bronze Featherback or Asiatic Knifefish, was described by Pallas in 1769. The are found in southern India, Myanmar and in most coastal river basins of Thailand, Malaysia, Sumatra and Java. It inhabits many waterways; moving, sluggish, or standing water that can be either fresh or brackish.

Status:
   The species is not listed on the IUCN Red List.

Description:
   The body of the Featherfin Knifefish is flat and elongated with an arched back. It has a continuous fin along the underside formed by a joining of the caudal and anal fin, and has a very small dorsal fin. Adults are a plain brown while juveniles will have dark bars along the entire length of the body. The Featherfin Knifefish pictured above is an albino colorform.

Size - Weight:
   These fish can get up to Up to 24 inches (60 cm) in the wild, but most tank raise specimens won't grow much larger than 12 inches (30 cm).

Care and feeding:
   The Featherfin Knifefish are carnivores. Their diet in the wild consists of insects, fish and crustaceans. In the aquarium they can be fed small fish, worms or small shrimp. Some can be trained to eat freeze dried foods or high quality flake food.
   You will need a minimum sized tank of around 40 gallons, especially if you plan on keeping other fish with them. You will need to get a larger aquarium as it grows.

Water Region: Top, Middle, Bottom:
   The Featherfin Knifefish will spend most of its time near the bottom of the tank.

Acceptable Water Conditions:
   Temp: 75 - 82° F (24 - 28°C)
   pH 6 to 6.5

Social Behaviors:
   Although they are usually relatively peaceful, individual specimens can become aggressive. They probably won’t kill anything that’s too large to be able to fit into their mouths, but they may damage the fins on fish that are slow or that have long fins.

Sexual Differences:
   Sexual differences are unknown.

Breeding/Reproduction:
   They are commercially spawned in Thailand but the method being used is not known.

Availability:
   The wild color version of the Featherfin Knifefish is commonly available. The albino version is quite a bit rarer but since they are now being bred in captivity, they should become more commonly available in the near future.

Author: Ken Childs

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Latest Comments
Another update to my beautiful albino knife fish. My albino knife is now 7 inches! Its tank mates have grown too: Gold clown knife is 10 inches and the Silver clown knife is almost 9 inches. After one year experience under my belt I want to log my observations in regards to its fiestyness. I have owned many various African and South American Cichlids in the past. My albino knife has the personality of a slightly aggressive cichlid -- it reminds me of an Auratus. Its personality is very distinguished from the other knives. The albino knife is much more territorial and wanders other teritories to test their courage. It is very pushy even though it is outsized. The albino knife senses fear and plays power head games. It senses fear from the Silver clown and therefore initiates skirmishes and engages in blind cheap shot (body) attacks often. It does not bother the Gold clown because the Gold knows how to defend itself. The albino knife is an INSECURE personality. It will test the courage of stronger fish(to determine its strength). It will peck and push around weaker fish(8" shovelnose cat, 8" bichir). Climbing the tank "pecking order" seems to be important to it. The albino is active and energetic with personality. They seem to be a "thinking" fish. It LOVES anytype of blood worms. It has fantastic sniffing abilities as it scours the gravel for blood worms. My 7" Black ghost knife is much more manuverable and quicker and therefore he tends to leave it alone but hates its motion. whiteaura 2007-09-03
I own several tanks. I have a 135 gallon and 170 gallon empty, as I'm just waiting for them to grow. I even have access to a 1200 gallon tank! I think waiting until they grow up would be more prudent before moving them, eh? Update: my albino asiatic has calmed down considerably. Apparently, it could not select a spot to call home. After it selected one, it loves to stay inside of the big cave in seclusion. My conclusion: its original extra aggression was due to no hiding place to call home (wandering around without a home made it aggressive). I STILL would not call it peaceful. Out of the five knife fishes, this is the only one that snaps with its mouth when someone enters its cave. *SPACE* advise: surely, cramped quarters is always a reason fish gets surly and uncomfortable. whiteaura 2006-11-10
Before I would blame the fish for being aggressive, why don't you look at how many soon-to-be-large fish you have in that tank. First of all, the albino knife and the african brown knife both grow to ~12 inches. Those two alone (if that, and assuming you had enough caves, plants etc to break line of sight) would be enough in the 55 gallon. Both of those clown knives grow to over 2 feet long. Just in case you didn't realize it, the 55 gallon is FAR too small for even one of those to even turn around in without having trouble. The ghost knife gets to about 18 inches. So why don't you re-evaluate your tank. Your fish are far far far too over crowded in there. They may be smaller now, but if you're planning on keeping them, I would suggest something much larger. Or something in the area of putting the royal clowns in a 75-100 gallon tank, and the others in the 55. At least that would be better. If you crowd too many fish into a tank, of course they will be aggressive. Especially fish that are listed as semi-aggressive. They all need territory of their own. I have a Featherfin knifefish in a 55 gallon (the ONLY knife in there) with various other tankmates. In my experience, it has been very tolerant of other tank mates (because he has SPACE). If you are looking into one of these, just make sure you have it in at LEAST a 55 gallon tank, with caves big enough for it. Colin 2006-10-08
I just purchased an albino asiatic knifefish. It is 4" long. I put him in a 55 gallon tank that has a 3.5" blackghost knife; a 3.5" royal clown knife, a 3.5" silver clown knife, 4" african brown knife. The albino is absolutely not the shy type. It moves about the tank perpetually only occasionally stopping. It goes thru all the hiding places and chases out any knife fish it sees. All of the other knife fishes are a bit shy and like generally will stay in its hiding spot. The albino appears to be a little pushy and likes to assert itself. The only knifefish that can handle it is the african brown. The african brown has the most agility of movement when being chased by the albino. The albino tends to get a little aggravated when the african brown can easily dodge and put itself behind the albino. I'm not sure what to do with the albino. It is a bit more aggressive than the others and its perpetual motion reminds me of a giant danio. I'm a little disappointed that many internet sites claim that they are peaceful. My albino is very pushy with its tank mates. whiteaura 2006-09-25

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