is an aquarium 8 feet long and 5 feet wide sufficient for 8 to 12 of some species of elepahnt fish (Mormyrids) ?
- Thread starter jake37
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In my local fish club is a guy who successfully keeps a group Gnathonemus petersii (more than 15 specimen if remember correctly) in 10 by 2 feet tank for many years.
That's a big tank for a bunch of fish that barely reach a foot in length.... kudos to that dedication!
Little fishes need space as much as big fishes 
Do you know how long he has had them and if they have ever attempted to breed.
that's ok this project is about 18 months out; also if would be good to know what he feeds them and if they have transition from live food. Part of the reason for these quesitons is around if their electrical field interference from home environment is causing issues.
I could talk to him. He has 20 wild caught specimen at the moment, which are in his care for 17 years now. But he had some more before and the oldest specimen was 28 years old when it passed. The tank is 220*80*60 cm.
He never managed to breed them on purpose (he did with other Mormyridae). A low conductivity, bigger water changes including a rain simulation and low pH etc were not enough to trigger spawning. They breed in swamps in nature. He suspects that they may need stagnant water with less oxygen in combination with low conductivity and low pH to spawn.
He also mentioned that they need crazy amounts of food compared to other fish of their size to not loose weight. They grow up to 30cm. He also mentioned that you can see the shape of the gonads through the skin in mature well nourished male specimen. Which is one way to sex them.
He never managed to breed them on purpose (he did with other Mormyridae). A low conductivity, bigger water changes including a rain simulation and low pH etc were not enough to trigger spawning. They breed in swamps in nature. He suspects that they may need stagnant water with less oxygen in combination with low conductivity and low pH to spawn.
He also mentioned that they need crazy amounts of food compared to other fish of their size to not loose weight. They grow up to 30cm. He also mentioned that you can see the shape of the gonads through the skin in mature well nourished male specimen. Which is one way to sex them.
I have these questions - what does he feed them ? Does adding additional rubber pads to reduce eltromagnetic field from heater/pumps help ? Do they need much current ? Hum. Do they use the extra aquarium height ? The tank i'm planning is wider and longer but shallower.
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The tank will be near blackwater condition so the ph over time should be quite decent - high 4's low 5's after a year or two. My general plans is a drip system of 10 gallon per hour on a tank that is approx 500 gallons.
A lot of frozen food like blood worms, mosquito larve etc, choped fish 2-3 times a day plus one extra meal consisting of pellets. No special setup of electric devices. I don't know if they use whole 60cm height, but I guess not.