Elephant Nose Fish Help (not eating!)

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Rifea

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A few days ago I got a small elephant nose fish(~2-3 inches) from my lfs, and thus far, he has not yet eaten. He's currently in a 20 gallon long tank(I am aware he'll outgrow it, but for now he's too small to go into the 55gal) and currently has no tank mates. aka no competition for food whatsoever!

The 20 gal is planted with lots of places for him to hide with driftwood, rocks, etc. I've tried both jumbo and normal frozen bloodworms, as the lfs had been feeding their elephant noses the same thing for the few weeks they'd been there. It isn't an issue of him being too shy to come out, he's practically exploring every inch of the tank whenever I turn the lights off, and a couple times I saw him eat the bloodworms then spit them out. I've tried during the day, at night, with and without the lights on.

Ammonia is at 0, Nitrates/Nitrites are at 0, this tank has been up and running for a very long time. pH is around 7.6-7.8, though that's just how the tap water is in my area. The pH was the same at the lfs, and while it is a little high, I don't think that's the issue since they thrived in the same pH water at the store.

I have a fire eel too, and when I first got him, he didn't eat for around two weeks. Would this be a similar sort of hunger strike while he gets used to the tank? My fire eel had little to no interest in food whatsoever though, and with the elephant nose, it seems like he gets excited after he spits out the bloodworms, and swims around as if he's looking for food.

Any ideas? ;; I'm worried that he's getting a little too skinny and I really don't want him to pass due to starvation.
 
do you have sand? They need sand. When I had mine they would only eat live food. But its more than likely it is lonely they are extremely social fish and should be kept in a group.
 
do you have sand? They need sand. When I had mine they would only eat live food. But its more than likely it is lonely they are extremely social fish and should be kept in a group.

Yes I do, it's a very fine sand that should be fine for him to poke around in. I can try look around for live food, but a lot of online places won't ship to hawaii;;

Are groups for these fish mandatory? I've seen a lot of cases where they're kept alone in community tanks. I can't handle getting four elephant nose fish, but I can get maybe a school of tetras or something smaller. Would that help at all? Thanks for the quick reply btw!!
 
Yes I do, it's a very fine sand that should be fine for him to poke around in. I can try look around for live food, but a lot of online places won't ship to hawaii;;

Are groups for these fish mandatory? I've seen a lot of cases where they're kept alone in community tanks. I can't handle getting four elephant nose fish, but I can get maybe a school of tetras or something smaller. Would that help at all? Thanks for the quick reply btw!!
A few days ago I got a small elephant nose fish(~2-3 inches) from my lfs, and thus far, he has not yet eaten. He's currently in a 20 gallon long tank(I am aware he'll outgrow it, but for now he's too small to go into the 55gal) and currently has no tank mates. aka no competition for food whatsoever!

The 20 gal is planted with lots of places for him to hide with driftwood, rocks, etc. I've tried both jumbo and normal frozen bloodworms, as the lfs had been feeding their elephant noses the same thing for the few weeks they'd been there. It isn't an issue of him being too shy to come out, he's practically exploring every inch of the tank whenever I turn the lights off, and a couple times I saw him eat the bloodworms then spit them out. I've tried during the day, at night, with and without the lights on.

Ammonia is at 0, Nitrates/Nitrites are at 0, this tank has been up and running for a very long time. pH is around 7.6-7.8, though that's just how the tap water is in my area. The pH was the same at the lfs, and while it is a little high, I don't think that's the issue since they thrived in the same pH water at the store.

I have a fire eel too, and when I first got him, he didn't eat for around two weeks. Would this be a similar sort of hunger strike while he gets used to the tank? My fire eel had little to no interest in food whatsoever though, and with the elephant nose, it seems like he gets excited after he spits out the bloodworms, and swims around as if he's looking for food.

Any ideas? ;; I'm worried that he's getting a little too skinny and I really don't want him to pass due to starvation.
I used to have the same problem with a single elephant nose fish; it wouldn't eat for the first week or so, and I had to quarantine him to give him his required meds due to him being so ill. I found the best way (even though you said you couldn't) was to buy some more elephant fish, I'm afraid you just have to be willing to splash the cash, I would recommend getting a group of 5 or more as in pairs they pick on eachother, and the runt is usually killed, so in a bigger group the aggressiveness is spread out. Bare in mind it takes an extremely long time for them to grow up to almost 50cm! So you should hopefully have some time to sort out a bigger tank. In a group environment they simply feel more comfortable, and I found they go mental for the bloodworms I give them. Hope this helps.
 

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