elephant nosed fish

Question
QUESTION: do elephant nosed and puffer fish go together and if so what other fish go with them im setting up a large biorb tank

ANSWER: Hi Leah,
 I strongly suggest that you do not mix these fish.  I suspect that the puffer fish will quickly kill the elephant nose fish. In general, puffer fish do not mix with other fish.  They are very effective predators, even on much larger fish. Puffers have a very strong and sharp "beak".

-- Ron C.
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: hi thanks for your answer what would you suggest i put with my elephant fish im setting up a reef one tank and would appreciate any advice thank you

Answer
Hi Leah,
  It is important to understand what elephant nose fish are.  They are in the family Mormyridae and they mostly come from very murky waters in Western Africa.  They spend a lot of the time hiding in logs and weeds and such in the wild.  It is REALLY important to give your elephant nose several good long cave/tunnel like places to hide otherwise he will not do well at all.  The other thing to keep in mind is that they are predators, meaning they eat smaller fish, so I would not be surprised if he ate any small fish you put in the tank.  In general, they do best on their own in a tank because if you put a large fish in with an elephant nose, that fish will likely attack the elephant nose.

-- Ron C.
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>