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

 

[nmonks]

There's not much chance this plan will work in the long term. I cannot stress too strongly how important that elephantnoses [and other mormyrids] be kept with no other bottom feeders. While I have seen the odd specimen feed so aggressively it takes flake in midwater, most do not. The vast majority of specimens starve to death. Consequently it is absolutely critical that they are the only fish feed at night and from the bottom of the tank.

They don't usually eat flake or pellets, which means you need to offer them wet-frozen bloodworms and other invertebrates. Since they feed by "tasting" the substrate, you must have a smooth sand -- not gravel -- substrate. Another peculiarity of mormyrids is their sensitivity to copper, formalin and malachite green. They should either be the last fish added to a stable system, or else any other fish added to the tank are quarantined elsewhere for 4-6 weeks [by which I mean at home, not at the retailer].

The best tankmates for mormyrids are midwater and surface water fish, including gouramis, tetras, angelfish, glass catfish and so on.

Cheers, Neale

 

[mike_980]

Thanks for the reply, I havnt heard about it being importan their the only bottom dweller so thanks! Is my tank of a sufficant size do you think if I got rid of the plec and CAE do you think? I would add some tiger barbs maybe then the ENF after about 6 weeks? Shame they won't mix with corys though as I was really fancying some panda corys as well!

 

[nmonks]

Tiger barbs would be possible I suppose, but they're so nippy I'd be loathe to try it. Better off with a definitely non-nippy barb species, like Puntius pentazona.

A single elephantnose will need about 180 litres; do remember they have the potential to get quite big, and are territorial to boot.

Almost all Corydoras require lower water temperatures than elephantnoses, so even putting aside the feeding aspect, they'd be bad tankmates. Ancistrus and small Panaque like Panaque maccus could be okay because these largely herbivorous loricariids wouldn't compete too strongly. Bigger loricariids, and especially the omnivorous and carnivorous species, would be poor companions.

Cheers, Neale

Thanks for the reply, I havnt heard about it being importan their the only bottom dweller so thanks! Is my tank of a sufficant size do you think if I got rid of the plec and CAE do you think? I would add some tiger barbs maybe then the ENF after about 6 weeks? Shame they won't mix with corys though as I was really fancying some panda corys as well!

 

[mike_980]

Tiger barbs would be possible I suppose, but they're so nippy I'd be loathe to try it. Better off with a definitely non-nippy barb species, like Puntius pentazona.

A single elephantnose will need about 180 litres; do remember they have the potential to get quite big, and are territorial to boot.

Almost all Corydoras require lower water temperatures than elephantnoses, so even putting aside the feeding aspect, they'd be bad tankmates. Ancistrus and small Panaque like Panaque maccus could be okay because these largely herbivorous loricariids wouldn't compete too strongly. Bigger loricariids, and especially the omnivorous and carnivorous species, would be poor companions.

Cheers, Neale

Thanks for the reply, I havnt heard about it being importan their the only bottom dweller so thanks! Is my tank of a sufficant size do you think if I got rid of the plec and CAE do you think? I would add some tiger barbs maybe then the ENF after about 6 weeks? Shame they won't mix with corys though as I was really fancying some panda corys as well!

ok i'll check those fish out, so my tank deffinatly isnt big enough for a fully grown elephant nose then and he will need a bigger tank eventually, if i got a fairly young one then how many years (or months ) do you think it would take to out grow my tank? i have no idea on the growth speed of these fish to be honest, its something i cant get the answer to anywhere lol