Artist Hopes Elephantine Aquarium Makes a Big Splash : Sculpture: Valencia man looks to sell a five-foot-tall, 300-gallon acrylic tank he created. The price tag--$120,000.

If a Christmas gift from the mall just won’t do this year, Valencia resident Tom Wise has created an eccentric alternative to fruitcake and sweaters.

How about a five-foot-tall, elephant-shaped aquarium? Ordering the acrylic-sculpted tank is as simple as picking up the phone and calling the toll-free number for the 1994 Neiman-Marcus Christmas book.

Paying for the tank, however, is another matter. The 300-gallon aquarium costs $120,000. Fish are not included.

“It should have fish that cost $2,000 to $3,000 apiece in it, and I just don’t give those away,” Wise said.

Wise, 49, who specializes in large sculptures, spent three years making the Indian elephant sculpture at his Valencia studio. He said because elephants seem to enjoy water, an aquarium resembling one is not so unusual. Besides, he said, it will probably be easier to sell than a large sea creature.

“The problem with a blue whale is not everybody likes it,” he said. “Everybody likes the good-luck elephant.”

The elephant design is also more adaptable for aquarium functions because the filter pump and electrical hookup are concealed in one of its gold-covered feet, Wise said. The tank weighs about 300 pounds empty and about 10 times that when filled with water.

He finished the aquarium shortly after the Northridge earthquake and tried unsuccessfully to sell it to a couple of casinos. About a week later he approached Neiman-Marcus, which for decades has included a few bizarre items in its Christmas catalogue from the hundreds of inventions and creations submitted by people each year.

A committee of about a dozen Neiman-Marcus employees decided to include Wise’s elephant because it is “something that makes people pause,” said Liz Barrett, a spokeswoman for the Dallas-based retailer.

“It packs such an impact when you look at it,” she said. “The fact that it’s totally handcrafted injects people with awe.”

The aqua-colored aquarium is about 6 1/2 feet long, 3 feet wide and 5 feet tall. The tusks, trunk and toes are covered with gold-leaf, and water fills everything but the tusks and trunk.

“If fish and debris got trapped in the nose you’d never get it out,” Wise explained.

The elephant comes with a pedestal that hides the power cord and a hand-carved howdah that is placed on top of the animal. The tank plugs into a standard electrical outlet.

Wise has been interested in art since he was a child in Hollywood playing with modeling clay. He has spent the past 15 years sculpting everything from jewelry to gorillas.

Although he has worked mostly with bronze, Wise said he discovered acrylic sculptures at an art show about five years ago and was impressed by the material’s toughness and crystal-like beauty. Experts told him creating large sculptures from acrylic would be impossible because conventional tools would be useless for carving the harder-than-bronze substance.

Wise solved the problem by designing his own power tools. He declined to provide many details about them, not wanting to invite competition into a small field, but said one tool has a rotating disc with an abrasive surface 130 times finer than any sandpaper.

He created the elephant from a 6-by-7-foot block of acrylic, stopping only to complete a few other projects he sold during those three years.

“Sometimes I’d work on it 20 hours a day, three or four days in a row,” he said. “I just went nuts.”

Wise was inside the elephant, polishing it, when the Northridge earthquake struck. He said at first he thought some friends had come by to visit and were shaking the aquarium as a prank. But when he started to climb out, he realized it was a major quake.

“Then I said to myself, ‘Why am I trying to get out?’ ” he said. “If the building comes down, I’ll still be alive. I’ll be trapped inside the elephant, but it won’t break.”

Several homeowners and at least one business have expressed interest in the elephant, said Barrett of Neiman-Marcus. She said Wise has created a mold of the elephant and could replicate the aquarium if the original is sold.

“I don’t know if we could supply one to every person that asks,” she added.