Elephant nose - Gnathonemus petersii

I Might be wrong, but you get them in some river systemslocally. We used to fish the Matlabas river close to Thabazimbi a lot as kids.One year during the 80’s drought, we netted a pool that was drying out, andcame upon some weird long nose fish. Were told it is dolphin/elephant fish. Thatwas the only time I ever saw them, as you never caught them on a line, but theywere there.

 

I have a weired question..... if anyone knows..

I have googled it but havent found any precise answers

Elephant noses, clown knife fish and a few others emit electrical currents

How strong are the electrical currents emited and if you have more than one fish would this affect a pacemaker?
I said it was a weired question....

 

I have a West African biotope tank so the fish there are from a similar environment. There is only the one in this particular setup and based on the introduction it looks like everything will be just fine. The fish is obviously primarily a bottom dweller so the space is shared by a few corys which dont seem to bother it at all. The fish is actually very active, constantly moving about probing the substrate. The Congos occupy the higher part of the water column and as such dont seem to upset the fish at all.
My biggest concern was my Bush Fish as they are supposed to be semi aggressive but the two species seem to be totally happy to occupy a similar space and there has been no aggression at all. The African Butterflies occupy the very top so there is no issue there..
What i have noticed is that this fish is far more active than the info would have you believe. It is constantly out in the open foraging.
Feeding was my biggest concern so i decided to try an mimic nature.I buried a block of frozen bloodworm just under the surface of the soil. I doubt his electrical ability had anything to do with it but within seconds the fish had found the spot and began poking about pulling the worms into his mouth so the feeding conundrum seems to be solved and im confident this fish will thrive.
All in all its been a great addition to the tank and as this will probably be the last addition im pretty stoked.
My water conditions are generally pretty good and the tank is well established so all i have to monitor now is the water changes so as not to shock the little guy.
I will keep this thread and my main thread updated.'

Will add pics form my camera tonight, phone pics to follow.

Cheers,

Greg

 

The current is so minimal i wouldnt have thought it would matter. Unlike Eels etc they do not discharge large amounts of current, its rather a very low frequency that they use to source prey.

 

As they are used all over the world to test water quality it would be possible that they could have been introduced locally if they werent already there to start with. They are very particular about water parameters apparently and will not survive with poor water quality.

 

Thanks GregM, and good luck with the little guy

He is gorgeous!!!

 

Very interesting question on the pacemaker, I wonder what amount of current is needed to interfere with it. I see Greg says very low current.. I know that a lot of factories will not allow a person fitted with a pacemaker in, due to possible interference....... @MariaS, something we just take for granted

 

I must admit, i know nothing about pacemakers.. Just seems unlikely that a current so low that it doesnt affect other fish would be able to interfere with something mechanical or indeed with a human being. As always, i stand to be corrected.

 

Well, that's the problem they tell you to be carefull but dont give enough detail
You are right, you also cant carry your cell phone on the same side as your pacemaker, no welding or within 10m of someone welding, and as little exposure as possible to microwave...and take extra care when working with electrical appliances as a shock knocks you quite a bit so.. yep.. things we take for granted everyday but you get used to thinking before acting!! Not so bad...

 

more pics

few more

 

@GregM, if your hand is close to your fish while working in the tank. Can you feel anything?

 

Little late with the response, sorry........

No, the charge must be absolutely minimal, i have made contact with him whilst burying his worms in the substrate and didnt feel a thing... to be fair, for something as large and cumbersome as a human to feel anything, it needs to be pretty forceful.

Furthermore, with regards to feeding. I have observed this fish taking granular food as well as flakes which have sunk to the base of the tank. He rummages through the moss i have on my logs, dislodging whatever he can find and chomping it.

Nothing special has been done to accommodate him bar the finer sand in the one side of the tank where i feed him. I do between 10% and 50% water change every week or two and he seems totally happy. Not too tough to keep after all...

 

Thought for a while you had tested it out and got a "klap". Glad all is ok and interesting to follow.

All the best