This is not actually a nose, but a sensitive extension of the mouth, that it uses for self-defense, communication, navigation, and finding worms and insects to eat.

[5] Peters's elephantnose fish is one of the most commonly available freshwater elephantfish in aquarium stores in the United States.

In the aquarium it is timid, preferring a heavily planted environment with subdued lighting, and thrives in a tank of more than 200 litres (44 imp gal; 53 US gal); favourable additions to the fish's aquarium environment are a pipe or hollow log, alongside soft, sandy substrate, allowing the fish to sift through it with its delicate extended lip.

The fish feeds on small worms (bloodworms being the most common) and aquatic invertebrates such as mosquito larvae, but will accept frozen or flake food.

Its eyes use a combination of photonic crystals, parabolic mirrors and a clustered arrangement of rods and cones.