Help - New BGK & Elephant Nose

[Vivienne]

Picked up a young BGK yesterday (about 3" long) and an elephant nose that's about 4-5" long. The BGK is very active whenever the tank lights are out and even comes out a reasonable amount during the day, moving between different caves.

The elephant nose spends most of its time tucked in next to a piece of bogwood under the plant that's growing on top of it. It seems very inactive and I think it looks very slim. I added about half a cube of frozen bloodworm to the tank yesterday afternoon and again today. I've seen everything else in the tank eating but not these two. Even when food is right next to the elephant's snout it seems to sniff around it - I think the odd piece might vanish, but then I think it was wishfull thinking on my part. Where is the elephant noses mouth ?

All the bloodworm added yesterday had gone by this morning, but I don't know which fish ate it.

How best do you feed these fish ? How can you tell if they're eating OK ? How much should I be feeding them and when's the best time ? Is it normall for fish to be off their food for a couple of days after being introduced to a new tank ?

I've read as much as I can about these species - but most sites just give a list of the foods they eat. All help and advice very gratefully received !!

 

[PeterM]

WEll, my knowledgeis limited for this species but Ill share what I know.

I know that they feed at night. I keep Banjo Catfish which are also principally nocturnal hunters, and perhaps the best advice is to give the fish the old "the bloodworms are still alive, look theyre moving!" setup dupe.

With your tank filter, if you can, turn it upside down so that the majority of the current and flow of the tank is circulating around the bottom without disturbing the substrate. This way any frozen food will find it diffiuclt to settle, and dupe fish into thinking it still alive. If youre using high quality frozen foods (ie any frozen food that has been thawed only once, and thats to feed the fish) then, in my experience, fish can seldom tell the difference. This is a great way to get picky eater fish to accept frozen foods, and eventually you will see the fish learn that its ok to eat things that arent alive.

There may also be a problem with the water levels in your tank. Elephant Nose catfish require very high quality water with no Nitrate or Nitrite. If your tank is also not properly cycled or going through a mini-cycle, this might also cause a little stress, and therefore result in the fish not eating.

Forgive me if youre an experienced aquarist with a perfect setup! Im assuming worst case scenarios so I can give the best advice I can Also, as far as im aware, the elephant nose of the catfish is actually an extended mouth, but I could be drastically wrong about that.

edit: ive referred to the elephant nose as a catfish because thats the forum I had just been reading Its not actually a catfish.

 

[Vivienne]

Thanks Peter

I am a novice fishkeeper and all advice is much appreciated. I cycled the tank fishlessly and am checking for Ammonia and Nitrite twice a day just now. So far so good, although I'll probably start doing 10% water changes every couple of days tomorrow just to be cautious.

The bloodworm is vanishing from near the elephant nose and I have read that they're slow eaters. The elephant nose spends most of its time quite near the front glass and try as I might I can't see an opening in the end of the "snout" although that's where I thought I saw a couple of bloodworm vanish. It just seems like so little food I'm putting in, but I don't want to overfeed because I know that causes problems.

I though perhaps I might send my youngest son worm hunting in the garden this evening ? If I put small worms in live though, they might bury themselves in the substrate !! I guess I can cut them up a little (yeach !). It should be easier to see if that's getting eaten and by which fish !

I'll try your tip with the filter head though - thanks.

 

[PeterM]

Careful with the garden found foods, this is the quickest way to introduce parasites into your tank unwillingly. Even live foods bought from fish stores are not guaranteed against parasites.

The small water changes are a very good idea. My girlfriend also mentioned that Elephant Noses use electrical signals to sense for food, so even using the low current trick, the Elephant Nose may not bee fooled if the food is clearly dead already. Even so, they will still more than likely take "recently dead" (ie thawed) bloodowrms with little trouble.

I dont think youll have much to worry about. Once the fish is used to its new home, feeding ought not be much of a problem.

 

[Kajuki18]

Vivienne the problem might be the elctrical currents BGK and Elephant Noses's use to find food. Unless you have a really big tank your not supposed to keep them together. Please read this article about them. Also jw what size tank you have?
Elephant Nose

 

[Vivienne]

Thanks everyone,

I tried a worm. That was positively the most disgusting thing I have ever done and all the fish were completely disinterested in it. Despite the fact that it was a small one and I cut it in three, I think it was still too big. (That was sooo gross!!!) Bloodworm are definitely easier and hopefully no risk of parasites.

(I changed the angle of the filter input so it'll be interesting to see what happens.)

I have read really conflicting reports about tank mates for elephant fish. A number of sources have recommended the BGK/Elephant nose combination and others have said more than one "electric" fish shouldn't go in the same tank. Some sources have said never keep them singly (at least two or three) and many others say have one, or at least 6.

In the tank at the moment they have staked out their own territories and completely ignore one another. I'm pretty certain the elephant nose can find the blood worm, and I think it is eating a little but not much. Trouble is, I don't know what's normal.

Should I just put some bloodworm in this evening before I turn in for the night ? - tank lights will have been out for about 2.5hrs by then. How much should I add ?
Then I guess I just have to wait to see if I can see any left by morning, although because it disperses it's hard to tell.

 

[Kajuki18]

I need to know tank size. Black Ghost Knifes and Elephant Noses can be kept together but they need a huge tank. Black Ghost Knifes alone need a 90 gallon just so they can turn around when they are older. Unless you have like 150 gallon tank you should probably get rid of one of them.

 

[Vivienne]

Current tank is 3ft x 1ft x 1.5ft. Way too small in the long run I know, but the BGK is pretty small now (3") so I have time (and plenty space) to sort out something much bigger. My lfs makes tanks to order at very reasonable prices too.

I put in about 1tsp of bloodworm after all the lights were out and both the elephant nose and the BGK went crazy for a while shooting all over the tank, darting about and in the elephant nose's case nosing about all over the gravel floor. I can only guess they were both eating, since it was too dark to see them clearly. With any light source, either the blue moonlight tube, or any light on in the room, the elephant nose hid. Hopefully he'll get more confident when he settles.

I'm surprised though that he hasn't chosen to hide out in one of the caves, since it's darker in there, but he seems to prefer sitting up close to a piece of bogwood, shaded by leaves.

I'll wait and see if there's much food left in the morning.

 

[PeterM]

I know ive linked this site like three times already today (my first day too ) but its pretty helpful:

Tank Tools

These tools are available with no useage restriction for anyone with a website! Theyre also really useful and I wish more aquarists websites had a feature like this... such a good source of fast and reliable information. The volume calculator makes recommendations on what fish can be kept in a tank of a certain size... your tank Vivienne can house approximately 34 Neon Tetras... or 22 Zebra Danios... or perhaps 17 black mollies (inch per gallon rule)

Also, if im causing problems for anyone by linking this, then I can upload them to a free site somewhere and link from there

 

[Vivienne]

I'll need to explore that site more thoroughly - it's not one I'd seen before. Thank You.

 

[andywg]

shame that site thinks Nitrate of 20ppm is slightly high...