Elephant nose fish

[Skifflexie]

Hi guys,

I work at a Petsmart and we recently just got in some elephant noses (only 3) and we are only selling them to highly experienced aquarist.... We have started researching in depth more about them, but I wanted some one on one info from people who have kept them before, I even thought about buying one, but I wanted to do a lot more research.

We don't know how long we are gonna be getting these guys in for, since they are a specialty item, but they are so cool, just hard to find responsible owners for.

I know the basics about how they eat fresh/frozen brine shrimp and blood worms and that they can be finicky and very hard to keep. They do have fairly large brains and many say that they like to be hand fed and even petted. Also I read that they use electrical impulses to help locate things in their surroundings. One of my coworkers bought one (she's had fish her life) and it died the first night because it found a very small hole in her lid and jumped out. :/ all of her readings and research hadn't mentioned that they are jumpers. It's info like that I'm looking for and any tips and hints to making them happy and healthy.

Thanks in advance.

 

[shellyx]

Hi, i have an elephant nose had him for nearly two years.
When I bought mine i fed him nothing but live bait, he has his own pvc pipe. I had no issues when I bought him.
These fish really need a tank for themselves mine bullied and nipped my other fish that were with him resulting in them being rehomed. He enjoys being hand fed and played with lol
He's nearly 8 inches and growing! He now eats live bait four nights a week, the other three frozen, morning's he has frozen brine with garlic, omega three, spirulina or just plain brine.
He let's you know if he's unhappy with something in the tank so i don't change anything.
Hope this helps, if you want anymore info feel free to ask
And I've had three at one point but my guy didn't take too well to them.

 

[Skifflexie]

Hi, i have an elephant nose had him for nearly two years. When I bought mine i fed him nothing but live bait, he has his own pvc pipe. I had no issues when I bought him. These fish really need a tank for themselves mine bullied and nipped my other fish that were with him resulting in them being rehomed. He enjoys being hand fed and played with lol He's nearly 8 inches and growing! He now eats live bait four nights a week, the other three frozen, morning's he has frozen brine with garlic, omega three, spirulina or just plain brine. He let's you know if he's unhappy with something in the tank so i don't change anything. Hope this helps, if you want anymore info feel free to ask And I've had three at one point but my guy didn't take too well to them.

What kind of live feeders do you feed? And how well do you think one would do in a semi aggressive community tank, with tiger barbs, African leaf fish, gourami, angels, and ghost cats (who aren't aggressive at all really but do just fine in the semi ag.) my tigers aren't mean either, they chase themselves and havnt nipped on anyone. **knocks on wood** lol also my other question is how much did you pay, we have them priced at 12.99 and that just seems cheap for how cool of a fish they really are.... It sucks though cuz I have to constantly explain why I'm not going to sell one to a boy with a 10g tank that has gold fish/ Molly's, or to people who think they know everything about fish but really don't, I wish we had them priced higher because I think it would keep people who aren't experienced or willing to pay $ for a good/cool fish, from trying to buy them. . :/ that's just my opinion lol.

 

[shellyx]

What kind of live feeders do you feed? And how well do you think one would do in a semi aggressive community tank, with tiger barbs, African leaf fish, gourami, angels, and ghost cats (who aren't aggressive at all really but do just fine in the semi ag.) my tigers aren't mean either, they chase themselves and havnt nipped on anyone. **knocks on wood** lol also my other question is how much did you pay, we have them priced at 12.99 and that just seems cheap for how cool of a fish they really are.... It sucks though cuz I have to constantly explain why I'm not going to sell one to a boy with a 10g tank that has gold fish/ Molly's, or to people who think they know everything about fish but really don't, I wish we had them priced higher because I think it would keep people who aren't experienced or willing to pay $ for a good/cool fish, from trying to buy them. . :/ that's just my opinion lol.

Hi, i feed live bloodworm and brine shrimp he hates anything else lol my guy was housed with an pearl gourami, angel, glass cats, sailfin molly and cories and he harassed them constantly. He bite all the fins off my beautiful cobalt blue angel so i re homed her, then eventually did the same to my other fish. He just tolerates my kuhli loach but hates my snail's! Every fish is different but mine is definitely a bully.
I paid £25 for him but my other two were a lot cheaper. I think it's brilliant that you don't sell them to anyone a lot of other lfs should be just the same

 

[Skifflexie]

Hi, i feed live bloodworm and brine shrimp he hates anything else lol my guy was housed with an pearl gourami, angel, glass cats, sailfin molly and cories and he harassed them constantly. He bite all the fins off my beautiful cobalt blue angel so i re homed her, then eventually did the same to my other fish. He just tolerates my kuhli loach but hates my snail's! Every fish is different but mine is definitely a bully. I paid £25 for him but my other two were a lot cheaper. I think it's brilliant that you don't sell them to anyone a lot of other lfs should be just the same

Thanks for all the info.
Sorry to keep bugging you lol. How fast did you notice the aggression? I would have 14 days to return him if things didn't work out, because I don't have an empty tank at the moment if he decided to be mean. I've been reading and some say they have good luck with them in cichlid tanks, some say semi aggressive, some even say community tanks, and then some say house alone.... So I'm guessing they are kinda like Betas they can range in aggression and personality quite a lit. I had seen people mention them every now and then on this forum, but I didn't quite realize just how cool they really were until I saw them in person. Now I really want one, cuz it's unlikely that we will be selling them, since we are so scared of them not being taken care of rightly. The three we had are gone, 2 of my coworkers bought them lol.

 

[shellyx]

Thanks for all the info.
Sorry to keep bugging you lol. How fast did you notice the aggression? I would have 14 days to return him if things didn't work out, because I don't have an empty tank at the moment if he decided to be mean. I've been reading and some say they have good luck with them in cichlid tanks, some say semi aggressive, some even say community tanks, and then some say house alone.... So I'm guessing they are kinda like Betas they can range in aggression and personality quite a lit. I had seen people mention them every now and then on this forum, but I didn't quite realize just how cool they really were until I saw them in person. Now I really want one, cuz it's unlikely that we will be selling them, since we are so scared of them not being taken care of rightly. The three we had are gone, 2 of my coworkers bought them lol.

Hi, mine started showing aggression when I had him for 3 months really when he settled in. If it was me i would say species only but I'm not going to tell you not to buy one it's up to you just make sure the tank is large enough and has sand substrate. And don't worry your not bugging me, if you need any more help just let me know. Lesley