Elephant nose fish Hello Mr. Fenner I have been away from the hobby for ten years now I am back with renewed enthusiasm, much more patience , and financially stable. It is wonderful how the internet has opened up the realm of knowledge for all ages and levels. <Wish I had written the above. Agreed> I am particularly fond of your site, visit it every other day. I am fascinated with the elephant nose fish and was wondering if you knew how to identify male and females, I was considering an attempt at breeding despite warnings of the difficulty of captive breeding (makes the challenge even more attractive). That's all for now. Thank you for your time and expertise. Stephen <Don't know and didn't find sexual dimorphic information (other than the amounts of EOD (Electrical emittance) of newly imported specimens (females are "quieter") any external differentiating circumstances. Do read over the references listed here: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/mormyrids.htm  and consider a bibliographic search... and writing up the popular captive husbandry of this species. Bob Fenner>

Re: elephant nose fish thank you for the quick reply. I suspected that this undertaking would take quite a bit of research perhaps from obscure sources but that makes it more fun. Interesting about the EOD, I just picture myself walking into the LFS and hooking up my Radio shack piezoelectric earphone ,which allows you to hear the electric signals of the elephant fish, and trying to differentiate which ones are "quieter." It would be quite a humorous scene! <Yes... a good idea> Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction. look forward to our next dialogue. Regards, Stephen <Do look into doing a biblio. on the species, family, electrogenic fishes in general. Bob Fenner>

Re: Wallaby wood Thanks for the quick reply. The specimen marketed under the name "wallaby wood" was purchased at my LFS, my research seems to suggest that it is actually Swahala wood from the dark reaches of mighty Africa. <Ahh, I do know this product> Nobody at different LFS stores seem to know much about it although they all stock and sell it. Their instructions are all similar, just soak in hot water for 1-2 days and it will be fine, no staining of water and if there is any, well the filtration system will clear it up. Well 8 days later of soaking and boiling it in my huge lobster pot still produces a beautiful light brown water which would make any ice tea company proud! Thank you for your input, I will not give up, sodium bicarbonate is next. Quick follow-up on one of my earlier ?'s regarding sexing of the Mormyrid "elephant nose fish", after researching bibliography came across small paragraph stating that "the fish with the more curved anal fin is the male". Just thought you may like to know. Thanks again Stephen <Thank you for this. Have heard similar statements. Bob Fenner>