Re: elephant nose -- fishlover forum

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Date Posted: 16:55:50 03/01/02 Fri
Author: mike
Subject: Re: elephant nose
In reply to: Brenda G. 's message, "Re: elephant nose" on 18:25:11 01/23/02 Wed

we got a elephantnose fish about 2weeks ago.he didnt want to eat for about 4days. we got some frozen brine shrimp,and now he seems to be eating. but he is really shy and with drawn.we have about 15 fish in a45 gallon aquarium.he just sits on the bottom and seems lonely. i dont know if we should get him a mate or not.i can almost feel his lonelyness just by watching him. wediddnt get him from walmart! it was agood pet store, but im afraid he will die. i just have that feeling. i feel sorry for him. i dont want to lose this beauitful mysterious fish.any suggestions?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> > I think my elephant nose starved to death. I was
>>> told
>>> > to feet it frozen blood worm and frozen brine
>>> shrimp.
>>> > It got weak and could not keep upright in the
>>tank.
>>> > Do they not eat frozen food? What should I have
>>been
>>> > feeding.
>>>
>>> Elephant nose (Gnathonemus petersi) are very
>>difficult
>>> fish to obtain healthy. Mine does fine on a diet of
>>> frozen blood worms and brine shrimp. It does not
>eat
>>> plants as an earlier post claimed. My aquarium is
>>> 55gal. and heavily planted and I have never seen the
>>> elephant nose eat any plants. (or the zuchini,
>>carrot,
>>> ect. that I feed to my vegatable loving fish) In
>>> order to find one that will live in your care it is
>>> important to scope it in the pet store for a week or
>>> two and ask to see it eat. If it is off its food in
>>> the store it will most likely die in your care.
>>NOTE:
>>> these fish are jumpers. It WILL jump out of your
>>tank
>>> if it is not covered. An earlier post also claimed
>>> that these fish will get lonely without their kind.
>>> This is absolutly not true. As adults they are very
>>> aggresive to their own kind. I have seen juveniles
>>> school but when I tried to introduce a new EN to my
>>> aquarium my adult EN beat it without mercy. These
>>> fish also have an organ that enables them to deliver
>>> electric shock and may enable them to navigate or
>>find
>>> food in the dark as they are nocturnal. They should
>>> never be kept with other electric fishes. What I
>>> would most like to impress on anyone wishing to own
>>> one of these fish is its curiosity and intelegence.
>>> This is a very smart animal as evidenced by its
>large
>>> brain to body oxygen use. (almost triple the ratio
>of
>>> humans and ten times that of other fish) It is , I
>>> belive, one of the most abused of all fish. Most
>>sold
>>> are doomed to starvation by the uninformed owner who
>>> tries to feed flake or pellet food or die on the pet
>>> store floors when they envariably jump. Also these
>>> fish are "scaleless" meaning their scales are very
>>> small. They are suseptible to parasites namley
>ich.
>>> Unfortunatly they cannot be treated with the usual
>>> malachite green. There are medications but they are
>>> expensive and hard to find. A large heavily planted
>>> aquarium is highly suggested for these fish. If
>they
>>> will not eat when you first get one try feeding
>>> tubifex that have been rinsed three times daily for
>a
>>> few days. (this hopefully removes the parasites and
>>> feces from the digestive tract) If you do not have
>>> plants get some drift wood or PVC pipe for the fish
>>to
>>> hide in during the day. There is an abundance of
>>> information on the web. For anyone interested try a
>>> search under the scientific name. "Gnathonemus
>>> petersii". Feel free to email me with any questions
>>> or comments.
>Etienne, you sound extremely knowledgeable. I really
>appreciate the information. I had 3 EN in a 55 gallon
>tank with about 40 - 50 other fish. This is an
>established tank and I haven't lost any fish in a long
>time. Two of my ENs died within a week of each other.
>Eating wasn't a problem, they were fed live brine
>shrimp and I watched them eat. They had lived in my
>tank for 3 weeks prior to their deaths. The third one
>seemed healthy but I wasn't willing to take any
>chances so I placed him in a 10 gallon tank by
>himself, after I'd taken every precaution with the
>tank set up. I would like to add 1 or 2 fish. What do
>you recommend?

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