Elephant Nose Fish Questions

[mike_980]

Hi everyone im quite new to this forum so hope im posting in the correct place!

Ive just been to buy myself a new tank and have transferred all of my stock over, at the moment i have mollys, a plec (likely to be going soon), CAE, red finned black shark and several tetra's

my new tank i think i thought the shop said was 140 liter but after googling my tank (juwel 800 i think its called) it looks like 110 liters but not to worry i got it cheap as chips!

i use a sand substrate and understand the elephant noses special eating and medication requirements and water quality is good with ammonia and nitrites reading 0 and nitrates reading approx 20 or just over, my PH is somewhere between 6 and 7 at the moment

i dont have a measure to hand but based on this websites dimensions would a ENF be suitable for my tank?
http/www.seapets.co.uk/products/aquarium-supplies/aquariums/juwel/juwel-rekord-aquariums/juwel-rekord-800-aquarium.html

although i think mine is bigger than that because the RRP of mine was £281 or something with cabinet though....

also if an ENF is not suitable could someone suggest another type of unusual fish i could have instead? "wills" already mentioned a butterfly fish to me so something very different like one of those would be good

i dont mind having a change around with the fish as long as it isnt my beloved shark!

might be worth mentioning that my shark and CAE are not aggresive at all and the shark doesnt swim fast, only the speed of the tetra's they only move fast when tank is being cleaned or something to try and hide from you!

thanks in advance

mike

 

[The Tropical Tank]

Hi everyone im quite new to this forum so hope im posting in the correct place!

Ive just been to buy myself a new tank and have transferred all of my stock over, at the moment i have mollys, a plec (likely to be going soon), CAE, red finned black shark and several tetra's

my new tank i think i thought the shop said was 140 liter but after googling my tank (juwel 800 i think its called) it looks like 110 liters but not to worry i got it cheap as chips!

i use a sand substrate and understand the elephant noses special eating and medication requirements and water quality is good with ammonia and nitrites reading 0 and nitrates reading approx 20 or just over, my PH is somewhere between 6 and 7 at the moment

i dont have a measure to hand but based on this websites dimensions would a ENF be suitable for my tank?
http/www.seapets.co.uk/products/aquarium-supplies/aquariums/juwel/juwel-rekord-aquariums/juwel-rekord-800-aquarium.html

although i think mine is bigger than that because the RRP of mine was £281 or something with cabinet though....

also if an ENF is not suitable could someone suggest another type of unusual fish i could have instead? "wills" already mentioned a butterfly fish to me so something very different like one of those would be good

i dont mind having a change around with the fish as long as it isnt my beloved shark!

might be worth mentioning that my shark and CAE are not aggresive at all and the shark doesnt swim fast, only the speed of the tetra's they only move fast when tank is being cleaned or something to try and hide from you!

thanks in advance

mike

Well, Elephant Noses can grow to 14inch so using the one inch per gallon rule thats 14 gallons, however this fish needs more space than that to swim, which is does around the bottom/middle of the tank, so needs at least 20 gallons for 1 by itself. Your tank is 110L which is 29Gallons, so yh u cud

 

[Wills]

Hi everyone im quite new to this forum so hope im posting in the correct place!

Ive just been to buy myself a new tank and have transferred all of my stock over, at the moment i have mollys, a plec (likely to be going soon), CAE, red finned black shark and several tetra's

my new tank i think i thought the shop said was 140 liter but after googling my tank (juwel 800 i think its called) it looks like 110 liters but not to worry i got it cheap as chips!

i use a sand substrate and understand the elephant noses special eating and medication requirements and water quality is good with ammonia and nitrites reading 0 and nitrates reading approx 20 or just over, my PH is somewhere between 6 and 7 at the moment

i dont have a measure to hand but based on this websites dimensions would a ENF be suitable for my tank?
http/www.seapets.co.uk/products/aquarium-supplies/aquariums/juwel/juwel-rekord-aquariums/juwel-rekord-800-aquarium.html

although i think mine is bigger than that because the RRP of mine was £281 or something with cabinet though....

also if an ENF is not suitable could someone suggest another type of unusual fish i could have instead? "wills" already mentioned a butterfly fish to me so something very different like one of those would be good

i dont mind having a change around with the fish as long as it isnt my beloved shark!

might be worth mentioning that my shark and CAE are not aggresive at all and the shark doesnt swim fast, only the speed of the tetra's they only move fast when tank is being cleaned or something to try and hide from you!

thanks in advance

mike

Well, Elephant Noses can grow to 14inch so using the one inch per gallon rule thats 14 gallons, however this fish needs more space than that to swim, which is does around the bottom/middle of the tank, so needs at least 20 gallons for 1 by itself. Your tank is 110L which is 29Gallons, so yh u cud

No I am sorry that is quite literally the biggest load of balls I have ever read, do you really think a 14 inch fish is going to be okay in a 3 foot tank??? That is just mad

It will need at least a 5 foot tank with a good 20 inch width preferably 24 inches (or 2 foot) which will mean the volume of water will be over 100 gallons. They are best kept either singularly or in groups of 5-6 to spread the aggression out.

Wills

 

[nmonks]

Elephantnose fish are not easy to keep. If you're new at this, I'd wait until you'd been keeping fish for at least a year.

In terms of compatibility, I can't see mollies working in the long run. Mollies need, at minimum, hard, basic water and they are usually easier to keep in slightly saline conditions. Elephantnoses tolerate short-term exposure to salt as a medication just fine, but long term, they need very different conditions to mollies. Better companions are day-active, surface-swimming things like danios and halfbeaks. Fish that aren't going to eat food that drops down the water column. Tetras and barbs are a mixed bag, and will depend on how aggressively they feed from the substrate.

Maximum size in captivity seems to be around the 20 cm/8 inch mark. On the other hand, they are acutely sensitive to water quality issues. I wouldn't keep one in an aquarium smaller than 180 litres.

Elephantnose fish are territorial and they do annoy other fish, perhaps because of their electric field. Competition for caves will be a factor if you keep them with shark-minnows. So depending on the availability of caves these different fish like, they may or may not get along. Feeding is the prime issue, and I wouldn't keep any other nighttime feeders with them. What you want to make sure is that any bloodworms and earthworms dumped in the tank at night end up in the elephantnose, not a catfish or loach.

Once settled, elephantnoses will feed during the day and from midwater, happily taking things like daphnia and brine shrimp. I've seen specimens eat flake, too. But those specimens had been settled in across months and had learned to take food from their keeper. Do not expect that to happen from day one!

Cheers, Neale