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Featherfin Knifefish

Bronze Featherback, Asian Knifefish, Asiatic Knifefish

Family: Notopteridae Featherfin Knifefish (albino) Notopterus notopterusPhoto © 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

Habitat: Distribution / Background

   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.

• Scientific Name: Notopterus notopterus
• Social Grouping: Solitary
• IUCN Red List: NE - Not Evaluated or not listed

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.

• Maximum Size: 24.0 inches (60.96 cm) - 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).

Fish Keeping Difficulty

• Aquarium Hardiness: Moderately Difficult
• Aquarist Experience Level: Intermediate

Foods 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.

• Diet Type: Carnivore
• Flake Food: No
• Tablet Pellet: Yes
• Live foods (fishes, shrimps, worms): Some of Diet
• Meaty Food: All of Diet
• Feeding Frequency: Daily

Aquarium Care

Aquarium Setup

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

• Minimum Tank Size: 150 gal (568 L)
• Substrate Type: Any
• Lighting Needs: Low - subdued lighting
• Temperature: 75.0 - 82.0° F (23.9 - 27.8° C)
• Range ph: 6.0-6.5
• Hardness Range: 2 - 12 dGH
• Brackish: No
• Water Movement: Weak
• Water Region: Bottom - The Featherfin Knifefish will spend most of its time near the bottom of the tank.

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.

• Venomous: No
• Temperament: Semi-aggressive
• Compatible with:
  • Same species - conspecifics: Yes
  • Peaceful fish (): Monitor - While it is not necessarily aggressive, it will eat anything small enough to be considered a meal.
  • Semi-Aggressive: (): Threat
  • Shrimps, Crabs, Snails: Threat - is aggressive - In the wild, this fish hunts at night for worms, crustaceans, insects and snails.
  • Plants: Safe

Sex: Sexual differences

   Sexual differences are unknown.

Breeding / Reproduction

   They are commercially spawned in Thailand but the method being used is not known.

• Ease of Propagation: Difficult

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.

References

Animal-World References
Freshwater Fish and Plants Tropical Fish ~ Freshwater Fish ~ Aquatic Plants

Author: Ken Childs

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Lastest Comments on Featherfin Knifefish View all 7 comments on Featherfin Knifefish Add Your Comment

Saphira - 2011-11-29 I once saw a type of aquarium fish in a pet store, which I have never seen again. They looked like beautiful black feathers and they were almost vertical whilst swimming. I've tried to look them up everywhere but no luck so far. If anyone can satisfy my curiosity, I would be grateful. Reply

hasham - 2011-03-10 These fish are territorial with other of same kind and quite aggressive to other fish as well. So not peaceful at all. It would like to dig in substrate much like Cichlids. Mine would take sinking pellets and feeder fish. Reply

whiteaura - 2006-09-25 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. Click For Replies (1) Dan - 2011-01-08 This may sound crazy but a lot of fish actually do have personalities. However rare they may be - exceptions do exist. It can make fish either really entertaining , peaceful, or stressful to have and observe. I'm only speaking from my years of research and experience in fish in both marine and freshwater aquariums. Sometimes we take gambles - and sometimes things turn out alright ... other times .. not so much. This also applies to fish. (ex. Angelfish generally will eat tetras small enough to fit in their mouths [the chances are higher as the angels grow bigger], but I have seen both of them get along peacefully. That being pretty average sized angels. But I haven't seen this or heard of it very often at all - its a gamble) Reply

luke - 2010-04-18 I have two asian knife fish in a 500 litre tank, 1 is 13" long and the other is 14" long. I have had them for about 2 years now. They grew up alongside 2 red oscars, 4 apollo sharks, 1 tire track eel, 1 upside down giant asian catfish and half a dozen bronze corys and a black pleco. They all get on extremely well and the two knife fish swim around together in harmony as do the oscars.There had never been any problems and they have never tried to eat the smaller fish. I would recommend these to anyone. Reply

whiteaura - 2007-09-03 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. Reply

whiteaura - 2006-11-10 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. Reply

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