Has anyone kept elephant nose fish, if you did, how did it go? were you able to get them to eat pellets or flakes? what tank mates did you have with them? Did it work, if not, why? feeler to share any experiences you had with this fish, good or bad.
Elephant nose fish
- Thread starter Mattpersico98
- Start date
I had one for some time before I sold it..
What they'll eat depends on the fish itself..I have a BGK now that eats flakes but I've had BGKs before and they never ate anything other than tubifex ,bloodworms , Plankton Krill and cut up fish..My elephant nose never ate flakes..
I've kept them with Severums , Discus , Juvenile Oscars , Juvenile Arowanas , Juvenile Green Terrors , Clown Loaches , Firemouth Cichlids , Small Datnoids and many more.. I didn't have any aggression issues..but for this to work you'll need a somewhat large tank.. at least 90 gallons..
Care is more or less similar to Black Ghost Knifefish...
What they'll eat depends on the fish itself..I have a BGK now that eats flakes but I've had BGKs before and they never ate anything other than tubifex ,bloodworms , Plankton Krill and cut up fish..My elephant nose never ate flakes..
I've kept them with Severums , Discus , Juvenile Oscars , Juvenile Arowanas , Juvenile Green Terrors , Clown Loaches , Firemouth Cichlids , Small Datnoids and many more.. I didn't have any aggression issues..but for this to work you'll need a somewhat large tank.. at least 90 gallons..
Care is more or less similar to Black Ghost Knifefish...
I kept one many years ago. It is a quirky fish. I kept it with a rope fish and when the rope fish swam by it, the elephant nose loved to pick it up with its "trunk" and twirl it around. I could never figure out if this was aggression or play. If i remember correctly it only ate blood worms. But for the most part they are shy and retiring - So i would think a tank with hiding places and plants would serve it well. I think they also use electricity to find their prey, if I recall correctly. I would doubt it very much if they are a fish that could be kept with aggressive or even semi-aggressive tank mates.
Kept a few years ago. Species only tank. Did have a few non aggressive tetras with them after a few months. No problems with peaceful tank mates. Did well with blood worms in the beginning. I did crush up other foods as they kept sifting thru the sand. Cool weird fish.
Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
I had a group of nine of them... I lost a couple to parasites after a couple months and once I got to 6-7 in numbers the least dominant ones started dying off one by one, from stress I assume. So at least in my experience you need a large group to make the group work. Against all I have read though I am now down to two which seem to get along. I am torn as to whether I will try getting more and doing a big group again, or whether I'll just stick with these two. I fear I will eventually be down to one. They were also much more active and bold when I had a group. Now they mainly hide except when there is food. They will not learn to eat flake, in fact I find they even really need live food supplementing frozen food. They are very interesting IMO, I love mine and watching my group die off was heartbreaking.
As far as fish they can be with the main thing I'd avoid are any really aggressive fish, but most importantly any aggressive nocturnal feeders, like loaches or catfish. They will out compete the ENs for food. Other more aggressive fish will to, but if you feed right before you turn all the lights out in the room the ENs will be able to find and fish such as cichlids won't. I think eels and ropefish would be fine, though even my eel looks like and aggressive eater compared to my ENs.
As far as fish they can be with the main thing I'd avoid are any really aggressive fish, but most importantly any aggressive nocturnal feeders, like loaches or catfish. They will out compete the ENs for food. Other more aggressive fish will to, but if you feed right before you turn all the lights out in the room the ENs will be able to find and fish such as cichlids won't. I think eels and ropefish would be fine, though even my eel looks like and aggressive eater compared to my ENs.
Also it is very important to quarantine them alone until they are eating well. I'd suggest live food to get them eating. Treat them for parasites right away because I think most come in with them since they are WC. I waited a couple months (til some were looking very skinny) to treat mine because I had heard they were sensitive to medicine, but if I had known what I know now I'd of treated as soon as I got them. Mine were fine with Prazi and Levamisole.