The Elephant Nose Fish, Without The Nose

[Fella]

Recently saw one of these labelled as a "dusky whale". It looks like it's from the same family as elephant noses, seemed quite shy and wasn't very fast moving or active.

Easiest way to describe it is it lookd like it had a very round face, and the body of an elephant fish. Any clues?

I think this is the guy -

Anyone know much about them?

 

[SirMinion]

A couple of common names are 'Baby Whale' and 'Dolphin'

These fish and elephant-noses are all from a group called 'Morymids' and apart from knowing that all of them are very delicate fish that are often difficult to keep, that's the limit of my knowledge on them.

Anyone else?

 

[Dragonscales]

They are an electric fish (like black ghost knifes, elephant noses, etc), shy and delicate. They are mostly a bottom dweller and grow to around 3 inches or so.

A diet of worms and other soft, meaty foods is usually prefered as they are often hard to wean onto flakes, etc. Make sure they are a suitable size for the fish's mouth.

Ample cover should be provided in the form of caves and plants.

They are pretty peaceful fish generally, even when housed with smaller fish.

They do best with a ph between 6.5 - 7.5 and a temp between 23°c - 27°c as well as a fine grained, smooth substrate.

I think that should cover most of your questions, if there are any more though just yell out

 

[nmonks]

Hello --

That fish looks like Marcusenius senegalensis or Marcusenius stanleyanus to me.

http/filaman.ifm-geomar.de/Summary/speci...is+senegalensis

http/filaman.ifm-geomar.de/Summary/speci...ame=stanleyanus

Dragonscales gives advice I'd agree with. We used to work with Marcusenius spp. at university and they're not especially hard to keep alive for a while, but I'd consider them much more tricky if you want them to thrive for a long and natural life. Best avoided unless you can set aside a tank specifically for them. Not to say they can't be kept in a community, they can, but you need to create the tank to suit these fish, and then add tankmates.

If you can track down "Jurassic Fishes", a big TFH book, this is a superb resource for anyone interested in these fishes and their relatives. I have a copy, and it's one of my favourite aquarium books.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[SirMinion]

If you can track down "Jurassic Fishes", a big TFH book, this is a superb resource for anyone interested in these fishes and their relatives. I have a copy, and it's one of my favourite aquarium books.

Jurassic fishes is available in the UK from here
Like all TFH books the price is rather steep but it sounds like a facinating book.
*adds to wishlist*

 

[nmonks]

It's an outstanding book. Lots of colour photos, a big (bigger than A4) format, and tonnes of text, from phylogeny and fossils through to feeding and breeding. The species range from butterflyfish to garpike to stingrays to bichirs. Basically, anyone into oddballs, particularly the "primitive" ones, owes it to themselves to get a copy.

It's been out of print for years. In the US, they sell on Amazon from 75 dollars to over 250 dollars!

http/www.amazon.com/gp/product/079380086...glance&n=283155

If you can get it in the UK for 26 quid, as seems to be the case on Amazon.co.uk, then I'd recommend snapping it up. Did you notice one seller offering a copy for £485.50!!!!!!

http/www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/det...5639585-1427668

TFH books can be pricey, but the print quality is often very high. Strangely, their best books are, in my opinion, often their translations of German and Japanese authors rather than English/American writers. He says that despite being an English TFH book author...

http/www.amazon.com/gp/product/079380564...glance&n=283155

Cheers,

Neale

Fella: one other thing about mormyrids, they react badly to some medicines. Always check something is mormyrid friendly before use. I think it is copper compounds they don't like (e.g. methylene blue, malachite green), which are widely used in things like anti-fungus and anti-whitespot.