What Should I Be Feeding .......

[Carina]

...my elephant nose and fire eel? i just want to make sure they are getting the food. i put blood worm in the tank, fish flakes and catfish pellets....oh and an algea wafer.

should they have anything different?

 

[nmonks]

Hello Carina --

Your fish need bloodworm, tubifex, earthworms and the like. Pellet/flake foods are of no use whatsover with these fish, so put them in the trash or use them with some other aquarium. Elephantnoses commonly starve to death in aquaria because they will only take live or frozen invertebrate foods. They are slow feeders and have small mouths. A spiny eel is thus a rather good choice for a tankmate, being another slow feeder.

Assuming you have two small (15-20 cm) specimens in your tank, they should be getting through about two frozen (not freeze-dried) bloodworm cubes per night, at least 5 nights a week. Any less is basically starving it to death.

Nice fish though. Good luck with them.

Neale

PS are you in Lincoln, UK, or Lincoln, NE?

 

[ringham]

bloodworms ar the main diet etc. for both of these fish.

Also, just as a tip I have found and heard that elephant nose fish can be very aggresive unless you have about 2. Bcoz i used to have one by itself ad it was very aggro.

 

[nmonks]

Interesting. It's often said that they're best kept along or in large groups, rather than 2s or 3s. I only kept specimens singly. They are certainly territorial in aquaria, but in the wild, schooling fish apparently. Odd.

Cheers,

Neale

Also, just as a tip I have found and heard that elephant nose fish can be very aggresive unless you have about 2. Bcoz i used to have one by itself ad it was very aggro.

 

[Carina]

Oh no! dont want to starve my babies to death!

Rightio guys, thanks for the help. ive been putting live bloodworm in my tank so first thing tomorrow im going to get some frozen bloodworm and those other things you mentioned.

now all i have to worry about it the other fish getting to the food first if the elephant nose and fire eel are slow eaters?

And im from Lincoln UK

 

[nmonks]

Under no circumstances should elephantnoses ever be kept with catfish or loaches. Effectively a death sentence, as these will eat any and all food left out for the elephantnose. Spiny eels are likewise better kept apart from fast-feeding tankmates, but they can at least be tamed. So far as I know, elephantnoses are not tameable. Provided you feed at night, day-active fish like cichlids and tetras won't be much competition for the elephantnose or spiny eel.

Cheers,

Neale

now all i have to worry about it the other fish getting to the food first if the elephant nose and fire eel are slow eaters?