Elephant Nose Knifefish Care

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Natural Born Chaos

Natural Born Chaos

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 26, 2012
92
2
8
Canada, Alberta
I went to an aquarium store the other day to pick up a few bichirs, and I noticed they had a few elephant nose knifefish (sternarchorhnchus oxyrhynchus). I was interested in getting one a few months ago, but never could find a place that carried them or any information on them.. I'd like to get one, but I know nothing about them. I saw somewhere that they get 12-18", anyone know if that's correct? Any other information would be great; It would most likely be for my 350 gallon with an oscar, 2 severums, 2 bichirs, 2 firemouths, 1 JD, 4 rope fish, 1 fire eel, 1 platystomatichtys sturio, and a .dorminator maculatus. Planning on upgrading to a 450 gallon in the near future and the rope fish and firemouths will be put in a 90 gallon I'm setting up.
 
Nice. Good score.
 
Thanks. I'm actually treating it for ich right now.. Had it at the store, and since they treat with chemicals I decided to do it myself because they usually end up dying that way.

Seems to be doing alright so far. It's eating, and very active.
 
Very Cool! I wanted to get one but I have a black ghost knife in the tank i would be putting him in. And since they are both "electric fish" I heard it can screw with there electric organs since they use those to locate food. Does anyone know if this is true?
 
foehammer1268 said:
Very Cool! I wanted to get one but I have a black ghost knife in the tank i would be putting him in. And since they are both "electric fish" I heard it can screw with there electric organs since they use those to locate food. Does anyone know if this is true?
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In a big enough tank it can be done. How big is your aquarium? Personally I wouldn't recommend anything less than 125 gallons for two, but that's just my opinion. You could try it with a larger tank, but if you start to have aggression issues one should be removed.
 
Unfortunately, the little guy didn't survive treatment (had ich when I got it). He died about an hour ago.. I noticed quite a bit of red spots, I'm not sure if it's ammonia burns, I've never seen them before. But if they were it would make sense since the place I got the knives from has ammonia in their water. I'll post some pictures, maybe someone can tell me what it is.. There were no other fish with it, I was heat treating the ich, the temperature was only at 85F and it was turned up over a two day period. There is also nothing wrong with my water.
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Really upsetting too, I was looking forward to keeping this fish..

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