Black ghost knifefish

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Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Gymnotiformes
Family:	Apteronotidae
Genus:	Apteronotus
Species:	A. albifrons

Binomial name

Apteronotus albifrons
(Linnaeus, 1766)

The black ghost knifefish, Apteronotus albifrons, is a tropical fish belonging to the ghost knifefish family (Apteronotidae). They originate in South America in the Amazon Basin in Peru and from Venezuela through Paraguay in the Paraná Rivers. They are becoming popular in aquaria. The fish is all black except for two white rings on its tail, and a white blaze on its nose, which can occasionally extend into a stripe down its back. It moves mainly by undulating a long fin on its underside. It will grow to a maximum length of 25 inches (60 centimeters).

The black ghost knifefish natively lives in fast moving, sandy bottom creeks in a tropical climate. They prefer water with a 6.0 - 8.0 pH, a water hardness of 5.0 - 19.0 dGH, and a temperature range of 73-82 F (23-28 C). They are nocturnal, but they are weakly electric fish and use an electric organ and receptors distributed over the length of their body in order to find insect larvae.

These fish require a minimum tank size of 75 US gallons (280 litres) due to their large size. They should not be kept with neon tetras and other very small fish because the black ghost knifefish will eat the small fish. In the aquarium black ghost knifefish will eat carnivore pellets, bloodworms and feeder fish. They will also eat peas, earthworms and frozen community fish foods.

Due to their weak electric discharge, a close, contained group of knife fish (as in an aquarium) will line up side by side^{[citation needed]}.

South American natives believe that the ghosts of the departed take up residence in these fish. ^[1] hence the name.