Myths about the Elephant Nose

[JamisonBWolsh]

I was reading the usenet and found many incorrect statements. IN my expeirence, I will break these "myths"

1.) Aggressive: These guys CANNOT hurt another fish. They may "go after" a few fish such as bottom dwellers, but they would only chase them a few seconds and thats that. No damage done.

2.) Water quality: As long as the tank is done cycling, you will be fine. I actually have HIGH NITRATES, and nothing is wrong..yet. He is a year old.

3.) Hard to feed: Some say they only come out during the night to eat. WRONG! As soon as you feed the tank, these guys will devour the food fed. Mine even drives away some of the other fish away from the place BEFORE I feed them. REMEMBER: Brine shrimp or blood worms.. this fish will NOT acept flakes. I was at a petco recently and noticed they had a skinny elephant nose. I asked what they were feeding him. They said FLAKES! WRONG!!!!!

4.) YOU will never see this fish: WRONG!!! They do like to have a DARK hiding place ( not a rock leaning against the glass). They will come out during the day to eat or just swim around.

5.) SALT- Granted, adding salt can be tolerated by alot of fish, but the elephant nose WILL NOT TOLERATE ANY SALT!!!
Someone did say they had an elephant nose,die at 5 years old, They also said they added salt...so that might be the problem.

6.) Electrical FIELD- They use this as communication and navigating ONLY. They do not "shock" other fish. IF you witness the elephant nose "go after" another fish with its nose, its NOT shocking them. Their electical organ is near its TAIL.


Cool Facts
Long lifespan- My dad had one live 25 or 26 years!!!

water quality- you can listen to their electrical pulses to determine if your water is good or bad... No more test kits!!! Save $$$

Breeding- VERY RARELY bred in a tank- I think only one guy has succesfully bred them. ALL the elephant noses at the store are WILD CAUGHT.

Starvation- some of the elephant noses that come to the stores, mostly the petco's and LFS that DONT know how to feed them , are so starved that NO MATTER what you feed them, they will REFUSE TO EAT and die.

When BUYING- Ask the seller to feed the elephant nose's in the tank and see if they eat. If they eat..BUY IT, if not...dont. Also, look at their stomachs, if they are sunken..do NOT buy them.

These guys are NO WIMPS. they can "stick up" for themselves, but dont put them in a tank full of Parihanas


Thats about it. If you have a question please feel free to ask away. I had mine for a year and I lived most of my life (30 years) with one in my dads tank.

[slipknottin]

Originally posted by JamisonBWolsh

5.) SALT- Granted, adding salt can be tolerated by alot of fish, but the elephant nose WILL NOT TOLERATE ANY SALT!!!
Someone did say they had an elephant nose,die at 5 years old, They also said they added salt...so that might be the problem.



do you use RO and distilled water for their tank?

[wetmanNY]

Did you know that some mormyrids were sacred to the Egyptians and were taboo as a food? Thousands of mummified mormyrids have been found, especially in the nome of Oxyrhyncus. This is the fish that swallowed the wizzer of Osiris when he was bobbited and it was thrown in the Nile...

Check it yourself. Check it yourself. I don't make stuff up.

I don't have to.

[JamisonBWolsh]

here is some more info on the history:


"The fish was sacred: the Egyptians adored the Fish-God Mormyrus (cult centre -> Per-medjed); the Greek settlers after Alexander's conquest adopted the sacred animal alongside their own gods. Thus the Fish-God survived until the Arabian conquest."

[JamisonBWolsh]

these 2 pictures show that they were Idolized by the egyptions who made Carvings of this fish.


definition from www.dictionary.com
Sacred fish (Zo["o]l.), any one of numerous species of fresh-water African fishes of the family Mormyrid[ae]. Several large species inhabit the Nile and were considered sacred by the ancient Egyptians; especially Mormyrus oxyrhynchus.

[JamisonBWolsh]

Just IMAGINE having a fish in your aquarium that was once worshiped in the past. I Guess now I have to build a temple for him/her :)

[Anton Wernher]

I have a cat does that count:)...

Interesting history these fish have eh

[wetmanNY]

"Thus the Fish-God survived until the Arabian conquest." The writer of this is leaving out some very important centuries, when Alexandria was a center of Christianity, and a more sophisticated center of Christian thought than Rome was at that time. And during this period, before the Cross was worshiped, the fish was a widespread icon for the Christ.

So the old was enfolded in the new for centuries before Muslims arrived in the seventh century and swept it all away and burned the Library.

[undertow]

Bow down before the Fish you serve!:)

[Mattimeo]

I've had various mormyrids and they ate flakes...

[JamisonBWolsh]

It is possible for them to eat flakes. Its not unheard of. They will not accept it immediatly and it may take them a LONG time, if ever to accept it. I never seen my elephant nose, nor my dads, eat flakes. I just want to make it clear to people interested in elephant noses as pets, not to expect them to eat flakes.




Matt: Im not sure which kinds you have. I am familiar with the common elephant nose. In your profile, it said your a student. So you must be younger then 25 (college or high school?) anyways, My point to you is, you said you HAD them? what happened? these guys live upwards to 20 years...

Oh..if you have any pictures of them, I would be interested in seeing what they look like. I seen a few different varieties, but they dont seem as "pretty" as the common elephant nose.

[Mattimeo]

THey were boring as hell... got rid of them to make room for a pair of wild satanoperca jurupari...

I had baby whales as well... they ate flakes, all 3 of them. I was kinda in and out of tropical fish and was getting into predators more and more. I'd sell some tropicals and get more predatory types, then I'd reconsider, set up anotehr tank for community, etc.

and BTW, if you're taking specialized medical courses, you can be over 25...

[pinballqueen]

As far as added salt, no, they can't handle it. They also can't handle most chemical medications (it causes their skin to peel. spoken from experience...). This is what makes this breed of fish tough to keep, since you have to rely on other options to treat ich, fungus, etc. I've never seen a mormyrid accept flake food, but I'm not convinced that they won't. Then again, that would be like training an arrowana that grew up on feeders to eat flakes. Wild-caught insectivores/carnivores have a hard time adjusting to things like that.

[JamisonBWolsh]

Pinball queen: At one point when I was just introducing new fish for my tank, one of them brought in ICH. only spread to 1 or 2 other fish, but I had to treat the tank with a special ICH medication for SCALELESS fish. This type of medication cost about 3 times as much as your normal Ich medication.... BUT you gotta do what you gotta do right???

Hey queen, want to start this religion up again and WORSHIP our elephant nose? Hehe

[Wippit Guud]

Originally posted by wetmanNY
[B]And during this period, before the Cross was worshiped, the fish was a widespread icon for the Christ.


Must.... resist.... upbringing....

The icon has nothing to do with smart fish, it's the whole "become a fisher of men" thing that Jesus told the apostles to be... cause half of them were fishermen...


*shudder* Catholic school flashback, I'll try to keep it under control...

[JamisonBWolsh]

I think the time they were worshiped were when the Egyptians were in power. I am not sure if the religion survived during the roman period and by the time chistianity came along, this particular religion sect disapeared. So...if it wasnt for chistianity, would we still be worshipping the elephant nose?

[Wippit Guud]

That's like saying, "If it wasn't for a big rock, would we all be scale-less donisaurs instead of hairless apes?"

Some things are best left unthought-about :)

[JamisonBWolsh]

I just wonder where would we be if the elephant nose was still worshipped? would we still be able to have them as pets?

[wetmanNY]

Religions go underground when a new religion is imposed. The icons get a new "official" designation, and then they survive. Look at Santeria and other amalgams of Christian superstructure on top of African-AmerIndian practices.

Before the Romans inherited Egypt from Cleopatra VII, the Macedonian Ptolemies ruled. They were very smart to have themselves portrayed as Pharaohs, installed in the temples, careful to perform every traditional rite. The Romans were a little more casual, but there are interesting egyptianized portraits of Roman emperors and governors.

So the fish symbol of the Christ, as a "fisher of men" had an extra resonance in Christianized Egypt.

Back into the Middle Kingdom and maybe before, Egyptian temples and the walled compounds of the governing class had rectangular pools in courtyards, with papyrus reeds, lotus, ducks, Tilapia (for food perhaps) and mormyrid fish. They are represented in tipped-on-edge perspective in tomb paintings: one of the amenities you were going to need in the afterlife. One of the big museums has a painted clay model of such a courtyard fishpool. Curators like to emphasize the practical aspects-- Tilapia is a food fish-- but the mormyrid fish shown suggest to me that the squared pools were a formalized representation of the whole sacred ecology of the Nile (without hippos and crocs, both of which also represented gods, BTW).

[Lila]

Originally posted by Mattimeo
THey were boring as hell... got rid of them to make room for a pair of wild satanoperca jurupari.

How long have you had your juruparis? I have two. Do you know how to sex them? I have had a hard time trying to find GOOD info on them. I think what their name means is interesting too.

[JamisonBWolsh]

Lilo: keep in mind, thats only his POINT OF VIEW. he is interested in PREDATOR FISH, so, for him, the elephant nose is boring. However, I dont see anying boring about their behavior. Perhaps he just likes to watch the predator fish eat the prey and watch their hunting talents... Of course ROMANS watched poeple killing other people and thought that was fun. IN our times, they would think our entertainment is boring. Its his POV.

[Sumatra]

While I agree with most of what JamisonBWolsh has writen about elephantnoses (mormyrids), I disagree with his statement that they can't tolerate salt. I add 1 tablespoon of Doc Wellfish's aquarium salt to each five gallons of water without incident. In my hands at least, I have also found that Coppersafe is a safe medication to use in a tank with elephantnoses. My collection of mormyrids includes 1 Gnathonemus petersi, 8 individuals of 5 different species from the genus Campylomormyrus, and a baby whale from the genus Brienomyrus.

[pinballqueen]

It is possible that different breeds of this species are more tolerant than others of harsh water conditions. My mother's dolphin can't stand any meds in the water or salt, it causes severe peeling, like a sunburn. Even the ones for scaleless breeds will do this if given full strength.

BTW, Sumatra, welcome to AC. Wow, how big is your tank? Those fish all get massive! You must have a lot of space....the particular breed my mother has requires at least 50 gallons and he's not fully grown yet....

[JamisonBWolsh]

I agree Sumatra. Your tank must be nice! Love to see some of your pics of your tank? How do you have it decorated? I was looking at some of the different elephant noses, and I must say I like the common one the best (peterisi..I believe). They actually have a gold color variety (not albino) looks nice! Black with a gold tint :) NIce... anyway...welcome to our club and PLEASE POST some pics

[Lila]

Originally posted by JamisonBWolsh
Lilo: keep in mind, thats only his POINT OF VIEW. he is interested in PREDATOR FISH, so, for him, the elephant nose is boring.

Wolsh...don't get me wrong. I think elephant noses are very interesting. I'm sorry, it seems I was about to hijack your thread. I was just asking his experiences with the juripari. Sorry, not intended to hijack.

Personally, I think elephant noses are cool. Would like to get one or two someday.

[Serrateeth_2002]

I thought there is only one Gnathonemus in the world?

JamisonBWolsh-you almost sound fanatical about this fish,they can tolerate salt,they hide until they get used to the surroundings,would you want it to live in high nitrates,better safe than sorry,feeding them bloodworms on a daily basis use alot of money,its electrical field will interupt other electrical fish electric field so it is shocking to some fish,you said your dad's lived for 25 or 26 years,then you said it lived for 30 years.

There are many scaless fish treated or lived in water with salt in it,why would an elephantnose be an exception?I've notice their behavior,they don't swim much.

[JamisonBWolsh]

That didnt make much sense? Anyway..my dads elephant nose lived 25 or 26 years. THEY DO NOT TOLERATE ANY ADDED SALT!

here is a pic of the gold kind:

http://www.hippocampus-bildarchiv.de/html/en/zierfische/elefantenfische/elefantenfische/a34101.html

I NEVER fed mine bloodworms (they like it though). I feed mine frozen brine shrimp which he/she devours like its going out of style!

Ps.. They dont shock fish!

Check the gold tint on them..WOW!!!

Am I fanatical? YES..they are a fish that was once WORSHIPPED!
They are intelligent.
They live LONG LIVES.

[pinballqueen]

Not necessarily just because they are scaleless....they seem to have pretty sensitive skin, even for a scaleless. Treatments that a catfish would just shrug off can kill a mormyrid. Also, their personality takes a while to develop; they take their time before they come "out of their shell". Plus, they are nocturnal, so most of their movement occurs when you're not looking....

As far as fanatacism goes, the same can be said about a lot of people who keep cichlids, piranah, guppies, pit bulls, persian cats, macaws...the list is endless. I think he has a great love for the breed is all.

[JamisonBWolsh]

Pinball queen (or anyone else): what do you think of the Gold tint?

[Serrateeth_2002]

Nice gold ones,are those breed rare?

[JamisonBWolsh]

I dont know? What I do know is that they dont breed them. Which means that they catch them in the wild. I never seen one in the store, as well as the Albino elephant nose. So the odds must be REALLY hard to find one. And if it is caught...well, Im sure they cost Lots of $$$? Anyone else know?

[pinballqueen]

Eh, either way...I think I like the black ones better, personally.

[wulfin]

Regarding the aggression..We have these at uni and use them to look at electroreception. If you put two adult males in the same tank they will start to emit electric waves like mad.this is the build up to the fight. In the wild(or a large tank) the weaker males will then retreat but if not given enough room it will not be able to retreat and the stronger male will often kill it. This is not hearsay, it's fact. This could be why people have said that they're aggressive.

[jiggerpolebill]

i'd just like to know what they taste like with a side of hush puppies and an ice cold beer.

[pinballqueen]

lol....

From what I've read, they're pretty tasty....several breeds are used for food, from what I understand. Just the larger ones, though.

[JamisonBWolsh]

If you eat elephant noses, Wont you go to H*LL? I mean, they are a god according to the egyptians.
Some poeple tend to also think if you put more then 5 in a tank then the aggression is spread out between them, then its ok (alot of hiding spaces is needed). They are aggressive to themselves and to any other ELECTRIC fish. They tend to ignore most of the other fish (once in a while, they will play).

[JamisonBWolsh]

In the previous thread, we debated and came to an understanding that this fish is a SACRED symbol of the Gods. They werent worshipped themselves. They were just the SYMBOL for their God.

[pinballqueen]

Geez, Jamison, do you want this thread locked too? Let it go, man....

[JamisonBWolsh]

OK..its over...no more... :) I had to say something because throughout this thread I mentioned they were worshipped, while in fact, They were just Sacred.

[slipknottin]

you said that in the other thread. :rolleyes:

[TnCgal]

SALUD !

(Slams mug down again) NEXT !