elephant nose & african knife fish

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dbcb314

Hates the Overstocking Police
Apr 12, 2003
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i have an elepant nose im my 50gal tank, and i used to have african knifefish in there with it, but the heater malfunction(dang cheap heaters) and it couldnt take the fluctuating temperatures. so it died. i wanted to get another one, but i read somewhere that elephant noses like the be in 3's or pairs. is this true? and if so, can i still get an african knife fish with a pair of elepant noses?

also, the elephant nose has be just hanging around in the middle of the tank. is this wierd? it just started doin this. luckly, nothing really bothers it, but i wanted to make sure somethin wasnt wrong with it.

thanks in advance peace
 
Okay, in answer to your stocking question--I don't think that three elephantnoses would be comfortable in a 50 gallon.

I also don't think that mixing electrical fish species in such a small tank is a good idea, so I would hold off on getting the African Knives (and I would probably just put them in a different tank). If you upgraded to a 90, perhaps 3 elephant-noses would be appropriate in that tank. Remember that you need to have pretty much the cleanest water possible for elephant-noses, so, the larger the tank, and the lower the stocking levels, the better!
 
They like to be in groups, but, as I said before, elephantnoses and knives shouldn't be kept together unless you have a large tank!
 
I just did some research on Elephant Nose fish the other day for my own aquarium and what I found said to keep them either singly or in groups of 3-4 or more. They are aggressive towards their own species, but in larger groups the aggression is dispersed. If you just have two, the weaker one will be picked on quite a bit and possibly die.

Since your tank is not large enough to keep a large group of them, I'd suggest sticking with the one Elephant Nose. As far as keeping him with an African Knife Fish, I've seen these two fish listed as compatible tank mates on several websites.
 
Hey,

we had a BIG discussion on Elephantnoses a few months ago... do a search of this forum.

Some facts.

you should only have 1 elephant nose in a tank less than 60 gallons.
They do not mix with fish that have electrical fields.
They are the smartest fish known to date.
They were used as a symbol for an ancient egyptian God.
They do JUMP, so keep a cover on all times
They are nocturnal, but will come out into the light once they get used to their tank.

If you have a LARGE tank, keep more then 5. anything less will not work.

They are very long lived. My dads elephant nose lived over 25 years!

They LOVE brine shrimp and bloodworms.
Some might be aggressive, but most are fine with other fish

Do a search on this forum and you will find countless facts on these guys...
 
aiight i'll look

mine is used to the light already. he eats flakes, and he like brine shrimp. i havent gave bloodworms to him yet, i use those for my red devil.
 
You got yours to eat Flakes? Thats highly unusual... good for you. Have you actually seen him/her eat the flakes?
 
yeah, i actually saw him eat the flakes just last week, because he isnt afraid when i come to the glass anymore. i assumed he ate them earlier, because ive had him for like a month, and i fed the tank nothin but flakes (didnt have any shrimp or anythin) and he lived the whole time so i assumed he ate flakes. but now i know for sure.
 
If you really want to have a tank mate that will get along with your elephant nose, I would reccomend a dragon fish. Though they're not particularly pretty, they seem to get along quite nicely. Again, do some hardcore research first.
Also, though I have not researched their combatibility, I did see that the store I purchased my elephant fish from housed them with rope fish (though I am still bitter at that store becuase both of my rope fish, though housed in different tanks, died. Allow the anger to presume...). Now personally, I love rope fish because I am in LOVE with snakes. However, you may think differently.
Those are some possible options. Email me if you would like for me to do some research for you, regaurdless on what species, I'd love an excuse.
 
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