BABY WHALE
- Thread starter managuense-fury
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Do you have a pic, there are over 100 mormyrids and about 12 are often sold as baby whales. in general they are all peaceful, shy, and mainly nocturnal. they range as adults, depending on species, from 3"- around 15", all are mildiy "electric". all are fond of small worms and lots of plant matter like spirolina, boiled spinach, and hair algae. Even your guppies should be safe with these. The most commonly sold few types all top out around 8"s. Except for a few uncommon ones they like ph and hardness level suitable for a standard community tank but like the temp. a little warmer, between 78-90 degrees F., they are susceptable to ich and if wounded, fungus at lower temps.
thank you for all of the info!
there are a couple at my lfs for
5.99 is this a good deal?
it has a long nose
there are a couple at my lfs for
5.99 is this a good deal?
it has a long nose
That is not a bad price for any of them but with a long nose they are usually called elephant nose, there are at least a dozen species commonly sold by that name, all of the above is still true but they need a higher protien diet, worms and brine shrimp and do well in the low to mid 80s temp wise. does it have white markings on a dark gray or brown or black background? That would bring it down to about 1/2 dozen of the more common ones. They tend to be bigger then the beakless ones reaching in the 10-14" range as adults.
Oops, did not mean to make that pic so big,
the big pic is the most commonly sold elephant nose (Gnathonemus petersi and gets at least 10" long, as you can see the beak is only the lower jaw, The best brice I have seen in the last couple years was about $8 for a 4" one.
The second one is probably a Campylomormyus sp. and the cheapest I have seen was last year at about $25 for a 6"er.
The last one is a Sapiense moronis and you can't give the away but they make good feeders if you have very large carnivorous fish.
I can't help it, wierd stuff shows up during image searches
Oops, did not mean to make that pic so big,
the big pic is the most commonly sold elephant nose (Gnathonemus petersi and gets at least 10" long, as you can see the beak is only the lower jaw, The best brice I have seen in the last couple years was about $8 for a 4" one.
The second one is probably a Campylomormyus sp. and the cheapest I have seen was last year at about $25 for a 6"er.
The last one is a Sapiense moronis and you can't give the away but they make good feeders if you have very large carnivorous fish.
I can't help it, wierd stuff shows up during image searches
"The last one is a Sapiense moronis and you can't give the away but they make good feeders if you have very large carnivorous fish.
I can't help it, wierd stuff shows up during image searches " Guppy
HA
Well here is one tid bit, dont put them in a tank that has a robky gravel bottom, or any other hard subtrate. They can injure their "noses" from hard gravel from rubbing into it all the time. I saw this in a petstore once and I went up and complained to the guy that he had the elephant nose fish in with rocky gravel. He said ya ya...I don't think he did anything but I stuck up for the fishies
Here is some info that Im gettin from Aquarium Fish Magazine: Macrh 2004
The tanks should atleast be 40 gallons or bigger for any of the species you want. They are usually aggressive to other elephant noses, so one per tank should be the rule. Dont keep them with other eletrically enowed fish, such as knife fish. SUpply round soft subtrate. The trunk i svery delicate and can be injured and infected easily. Provide hiding spots or have the tank well planted to allow him to hide out during the day. Water may be better a little on the Acidic side, experts advise filtering with peat. Rooted plants may get dug up by they elephant nose so put rocks around the base of the plant. Tropical water temp. 74-82 degreed Farenheit. Farily gentle filter. Feeds primarily on live foods such as bloodworms, blacksworms, other tubificids, brine shrimp, glassworms, mosquito larvae...It can be trained to take frozen food, but live food should always be available. You should feed them at night, they are slow eaters and play with their food so be patient. Breeding is nearly imposible in a home tank.
Good Luck buddy!!
I can't help it, wierd stuff shows up during image searches " Guppy
HA
Well here is one tid bit, dont put them in a tank that has a robky gravel bottom, or any other hard subtrate. They can injure their "noses" from hard gravel from rubbing into it all the time. I saw this in a petstore once and I went up and complained to the guy that he had the elephant nose fish in with rocky gravel. He said ya ya...I don't think he did anything but I stuck up for the fishies
Here is some info that Im gettin from Aquarium Fish Magazine: Macrh 2004
The tanks should atleast be 40 gallons or bigger for any of the species you want. They are usually aggressive to other elephant noses, so one per tank should be the rule. Dont keep them with other eletrically enowed fish, such as knife fish. SUpply round soft subtrate. The trunk i svery delicate and can be injured and infected easily. Provide hiding spots or have the tank well planted to allow him to hide out during the day. Water may be better a little on the Acidic side, experts advise filtering with peat. Rooted plants may get dug up by they elephant nose so put rocks around the base of the plant. Tropical water temp. 74-82 degreed Farenheit. Farily gentle filter. Feeds primarily on live foods such as bloodworms, blacksworms, other tubificids, brine shrimp, glassworms, mosquito larvae...It can be trained to take frozen food, but live food should always be available. You should feed them at night, they are slow eaters and play with their food so be patient. Breeding is nearly imposible in a home tank.
Good Luck buddy!!
I did not know that they did not do well with other elephant nose, I have only kept a couple dusky whales, one of the beakless kind, one died of ich and the other I traded off when I went to more aggessive fish, these were at different times so I never found out if they are also agressive against their own species.
guppy said:
Yeah, the main reason why breeding is imposible in a hometank is because of their aggresion towards one another.