Elephant Nose

[pinkdolphin_113]

i currently have 2 clown loaches in a tank and i know these fish will out grow the tank soon enough so i was thinking about trading them for an elephant nose.
how big would an elephant nose get?
is it aggressive?
does it need any special requirement?

thanks

 

[Rex740]

It isnt aggressive, its a tropical community fish also. I think they might get aggressive to their own species though, im not not sure.

 

[The-Wolf]

all depends on which species of elephantnose you get.
Scientific Names where genus equals Gnathonemus

all will require a substrate of sand as gravel often scratches their proboscus and leads to infections that most often kills.

 

[pinkdolphin_113]

i do have sand so it should be fine.
how will i know which kind of elephant nose is in the tanks at the lfs?

 

[The-Wolf]

i do have sand so it should be fine.
how will i know which kind of elephant nose is in the tanks at the lfs?

that is the point, unless it is stated you won't many look like each other
and several species are often imported under the same scientific name.
I've even had batches of 'long nosed elephants' that contained at least half as 'short nosed elephants'

 

[Lateral Line]

Most of the species reach a good size in the wild, 300mm+ and are caught for food. In aquaria, they rarely live long enough to attain anything like that. They are fussy nocturnal feeders, preferring live food, worms etc., which they grub around for with their "nose". Most starve after a fairly short time. They are a specialist fish.