Multiple mormyrids?

Has anyone kept multiple mormyrids together long term, successfully? If so can you please share what species, how long you have had them, how big the tank, temp and feeding?

I had heard they do well in larger groups, so last summer I got a group of 9 Elephantnose. I quarantined them in a 75g to get them eating, fed the black worms (live) and bloodworms (frozen) and for a couple moths they were fine. Then I lost a couple to parasites (I didn't treat them right away when I got them because I wasn't sure which medicines they were sensitive to - MISTAKE)and after I got down to 6 or 7 the weakest one kept getting skinnier and skinnier and being chased a lot by the others before finally dying. They had all been eating fine, and by that time they were in a 150g so on paper this should have worked, but did not.

Did I get too small of a group? The only tank I have seen on YouTube with a group of Mormyrids has many more than I had.

I am down to the dominant EN and am trying to decided whether to try again with a bigger group, or just stick with the one I have. The group was much more interesting than the singleton...

No one keeps groups of Mormyrids on MFK?

Monstrous said:

Not recommended to, unless you have a large enough tank and caves or spots for every single mormyrid to retreat to. Minimum fish per school would have been 6-8 provided every fish have sufficient food too. If not best to keep 1. There is a video on youtube with schools of mormyrid kept together

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Yes, I know. That is why I got my group I got 9. I didn't go higher because I had read you should get no more than one EN per 20g, but now I wish I had gotten maybe 10-15, because after a couple died from parasites the weakest one started dying one by one from being the lowest int he pecking order. So I'd say you need maybe even like 10+ for a school to be successful.

I have seen those videos, in fact that is what I want to try to recreate as much as possible, but since I have no way to contact the owner, I am wondering if anyone on here has ever done something similar. Here is the most recent video: [video=youtube;_68lsiu74OQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_68lsiu74OQ[/video]

It was posted only 2 weeks ago, and the owner of this tank has been posting videos for four years of this tank, so it must be successful. Wish I could pick that persons brain and get advice for how to recreate that tank (on a slightly less insane scale!) That tank is only 4ft too, which means it is most likely only a 75g or 90g, but those are some of the healthiest Mormyrids I have seen on Youtube!

I want to have that tank!

Yeah, that is probably the key. This latest video there actually was a caption explaining a little about the tank, and the owner seemed to be saying the two keys were frequent feeding because they have a high metabolism, and very heavy filtration (and I would assume lots of WCs). I want to try this is my 5ft 120g tank, but maybe with just a school of baby whales, a school of ENs, and one dolphin mormyrid (since unlike baby whales and ENs they don't school in nature). I'd have a few ropefish and my African knife in there too, plus a few livebearers for some live food. I think it would be pretty sweet.

shipmonkey said:

Don't add the dolphin. They can be mean. I had one murder a group of baby whales I had in a 240 gallon tank. Dolphins appear to be too territorial to keep with other mormyrids.

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How many baby whales did you have before they were killed? How long had you had them? I'm interested in hearing from people who have kept groups. Do you think the person's tank in the video works because s/he has multiple dolphins so they mess with each other rather than the other Mormyrids? How did your dolphin do at competing for food? Was it as slow as ENs?