Black Ghost

Black Ghost


Black Ghost (Apteronotus albifrons) comes from South America region and are carnivorous. Original habitat temperature 25-28 ° C; pH 6,5-7,0; and hardness 6-10 ° dH. Her form was like a sheet of leaves or a knife with a plain black color and swim vibrate or slide.

Fish is happy with the place was quite dark or dimly lit and will hide when there is a hole, especially in the afternoon. Therefore, in case maintenance is needed provided the hiding place of the roots of trees or paralon pieces. Between males and females difficult to distinguish. Back to the male line a little shorter than females. In addition, the tail fin is narrower in females than males.

Spawning can be done in pairs or mass. Mass spawning with male female ratio 1: 2. However, because the size of the parent can be more than 20 tail then the container should be large enough. Cement pond approximately 1.5 cm x 2.0 m usually be used to memijahkan 20 tails. While the aquarium size 100 cm x 40 cm x 40 cm good enough to accommodate around 5-8 tail stem.


Nest for spawning usually a sheet of fern stems (for orchids) which are stacked or arranged two. Fern stems are crushed stone or fastened so as not to move and sink in water. The eggs of these fish will usually be placed in the holes of the sheet sprayed by ferns.


Generally, spawning took place at night so the morning nest full of eggs can be taken to hatched. Decision nests and eggs should be as early as possible before sunrise. Carried eggs in the aquarium with gentle aeration. Try to place the penetasannya bit dark because the newly hatched larvae can not stand the light.

Laying nest should incline to the wall or the edge of the aquarium so that later the larvae can freely out of the nest.
Eggs will hatch in 2-3 days. The larvae will still be stuck in the nest. After three days, the larvae will swim and feed ready to be given a strained water fleas. The water started to be replaced. Although already able to swim, larvae are still happy to hide in the holes of the nest so the nest should be left until the larvae large enough.


For enlargement, the fish can be given feed silk worms, mosquito larvae and blood worms. Replacement of water must have done every day as much as a quarter of the volume of water when the container of aquarium. If the container in the form of ponds, water replacement is done every 2-3 days. In addition, to the rearing containers should be complemented with a hiding place like pieces stacked paralon to fish more comfortable. Size selling approximately 5 cm achieved at the age of 3 months.

source: Darti S.L and Iwan D. PenebarSwadaya, 2006