Elephantnose fish question/discussion

[FF_Member146894]

I've owned (and still own) a good amount of oddball and sensitive fish, and I've decided that I want to start a new aquarium for elephantnose fish (Gnathonemus petersii). I've never kept these fish before and have done all my research on them. Most credible care guides say they need about 50 gallons of water for one fish and I still have one important question. I want to get some confirmation as to the tank size required for them. My question is - for people who have kept elephantnose fish before, what would be the required length, width, and height for an aquarium with a small school (4-5) of elephantnoses. I'm thinking that a 48x30x24 inch (150 gallon wide) tank will be enough for their entire lives. If this is too small or I need to change the dimensions, please tell me. Any tips from experience will be really appreciated.

 

[Wills]

Hi welcome to the forum

This sounds like a really awesome tank. Elephant fish are a fish you dont see kept really well that often so really looking forward to this set up.

They get to about 10 inches dont they? So giving them 30 inches front to back sounds really good. I'd be tempted to increase the length of the tank, I've not kept them before but in terms of big fish I usually like to do 6x length and 2x the width of adult size as a minimum.

Wills

 

[FF_Member146894]

They get to about 10 inches dont they?

yeah, and I'm also thinking about adding top-dwelling fish like the freshwater butterflyfish so the upper half isn't so empty.
I have a baby avocado puffer (Auriglobus ???) that lives in a 20-gallon long tank, and I recently added some smaller algae-eating fish to control algae. I thought this would only be temporary, as everywhere I've looked, this puffer has been listed as a highly aggressive fish-eater, but I've found this to be untrue so far. I've had him in with other fish for around 2 months now and he hasn't nipped a single fin, but he's not the most plant-safe fish and has completely decimated the java ferns that I planted. He is a literal lawnmower ?; he cut all the dwarf hair-grass down to substrate level. I think that this could be a temporary thing and that he might show signs of aggression or stop eating plants as he gets older, but if he doesn't show any signs of aggression as an adult I might add him to the elephantnose tank as a sort of center fish.

 

[FF_Member146894]

he hasn't nipped a single fin

This can't be stress, I check the water quality and parameters multiple times per week, and he's never puffed up. I must've just gotten lucky and have an unusually peaceful puffer by personality.

 

[Wills]

Thats cool I've heard really mixed things about Avacado Puffers some people have no problem with them but others have ones that end up living alone. A safer bet if you were interested could be Schoudenti Puffers? Not sure I'd trust them with Butterfly Fish, think the unique pectoral fins might be a bit too tempting...

Some Panchax would be cool for the surface, Golden Wonder are an amazing looking fish but might be a bit garish next to the elephant nose but there are other less neon Panchax too? Some Rainbow Fish might be a nice schooler too? Something like Parkinsons?

Need to see some pics of your other tanks too BTW

Wills

 

[FF_Member146894]

Thats cool I've heard really mixed things about Avacado Puffers some people have no problem with them but others have ones that end up living alone. A safer bet if you were interested could be Schoudenti Puffers? Not sure I'd trust them with Butterfly Fish, think the unique pectoral fins might be a bit too tempting...

Some Panchax would be cool for the surface, Golden Wonder are an amazing looking fish but might be a bit garish next to the elephant nose but there are other less neon Panchax too? Some Rainbow Fish might be a nice schooler too? Something like Parkinsons?

Need to see some pics of your other tanks too BTW

Wills

I might've forgotten about the long fins when I was thinking about adding butterflyfish with a puffer, but yeah I wouldn't trust my puffer with a very long-finned fish like that either. I'll probably end up adding a big group of hatchetfish instead.
For schooling fish, I'll get black neon or emperor tetras unless I find a better alternative. I think that the rainbowfish option would make the tank too vibrant, but I'll think about it, too.
Here's a picture of the puffer in his tank. I think this was taken a few months ago, a bit before adding the algae-eating fish.

The camera focused on the wood, but I can get some better pictures tomorrow.
I had to pull out a lot of stuff from his tank because he started uprooting some of the looser plants, and I can probably fix that soon. The cover in this aquarium was meant to be in the form of dense areas of plants, but now that the puffer's destroyed that I'm going to have to add a lot more rocks in. This isn't a huge problem yet because none of the fish are visibly stressed from not having enough cover - the small fish can just fit behind the moss holder in the back, even if the puffer wanted to go after the other fish, he wouldn't be able to since he is too fat to get inside smaller spaces.

 

[Fishmanic]

@Elephant nose 4 is our Elephant nose expert. She was online a few days ago. Maybe she’ll give some input here.
She won FOTM a year ago. . Check out her elephantnose here

Elephant nose 4 June 2019 Fishforums Fish of the Month WINNER!

We have a winner in Fishforums.net June 2019 Fish of the Month Contest We had 5 interesting FISH entered in the FOTM contest but only one could win... And the winner is..:band: :hooray: Elephant nose 4 Here is her winning and very unique fish and the description :drinks: Let's all...

www.fishforums.net

 

[Elephant nose 4]

hi, I keep elephant noses I have 4 my oldest is 9years.
I would definitely get a big tank to start out with saves the hassle when they grow. I've moved my big guy already, then added more so I'm now looking for a bigger tank again. 150gallon plus is what I'm going for finding one here is difficult! They are seriously great fish to have but hard work, definitely worth it if you want them. Lots of caves will help them feel safe, I have a king tiger pleco in with mine and they leave her alone. I did have an angel a few years ago but my oldest elephant would swim up underneath her and nip her tail.
Good luck with them.

 

[Fishmanic]

@Elephant nose 4
Thanks for responding so quickly. Your video on FOTM was great.. they are very active fish and super interesting to watch. Wish I had the ambition to set up and maintain a large tank. Where did you buy your Elephantnose fish and how expensive were they?
You should enter your King Tiger pleco in our FOTM catfish competition which will run sometime in the next few months.

 

[Elephant nose 4]

No problem ?
I bought my first one at Maidenhead aquatics he was £20, my other 3 was from Heathall aquatics and I got the 3 for £50 ,they are very personable they enjoy cleaning day!
I'll try to get a good picture of my pleco and enter her in.
Thank you

 

[FF_Member146894]

I'm now looking for a bigger tank again. 150gallon plus is what I'm going for

hello, so, from what I understood, elephantnoses are pretty slow-growing and a 150-gallon tank is what you're going for as a final tank? If I got that right, then I should be fine with the 150 for at least most of their lives, thanks for clarifying that for me.

are seriously great fish to have but hard work

I wouldn't say that this is the hardest fish to keep for me, and I'm positive that I can handle the work that comes with owning another tank this large.
Apart from elephantnoses, I found what looks to be a smallmouth electric catfish for sale online -

this is another one of the fishes I've always wanted to keep but I have to hold off on for obvious reasons such as size. I should probably post this on a separate thread, but just for curiosity, how many people on this forum, or anywhere online, have ever successfully kept a fish that can produce high voltages of electricity? I imagine that this would be a great challenge even for experts and most don't survive over a year in captivity.

 

[Fishmanic]

@Elephant nose 4
What do they prefer eating? Do they have any difficulty eating certain foods? How much do you feed them? How often?

 

[FF_Member146894]

@Elephant nose 4
Also, can you recommend a substrate that will be good for plants and at the same time isn't too rough for elephantnoses? Which substrate do you use for your tank?

 

[Elephant nose 4]

@Elephant nose 4
What do they prefer eating? Do they have any difficulty eating certain foods? How much do you feed them? How often?

Hi I feed either frozen or live bloodworm when their light are out at night. For frozen cubes they eat 7 between them, live food is 3 I think 100mls bags. Morning I feed frozen brine shrimp, frozen tubifex, frozen prawns or frozen mixed tropical cube I get up everymorningat 6am to feed them in the dark and they are alwayswaiting. I don't have any issues with them eating they are always hungry!

 

[Elephant nose 4]

@Elephant nose 4
Also, can you recommend a substrate that will be good for plants and at the same time isn't too rough for elephantnoses? Which substrate do you use for your tank?

I have aquarium fine sand and also have plant's that do fine. I don't use fertiliser in with them as I was unsure it would be safe.