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#Post#: 1224--------------------------------------------------
Fire Eel
By: Thecrazyfishlady Date: October 7, 2014, 2:02 pm
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So this is not something I ever planned to keep as a fish
keeper, but I've long admired them since I first saw videos of
them early on in the my foray into keeping fish. Fire eels
supposedly get at least 2 to 2.5 feet on average, sometimes 3,
and I've heard some people try to claim they've seen 4 footers
but I have never seen any sort of confirmation on this actually
happening in captivity.
These are diggers prone to redecorating the habitat you give
them...but they are trainable, personable, and highly
intelligent.
Over the weekend I pulled a Sat at the pet-store I work at (not
a chain, it's a good little pet-store, and our animals are very
well taken care of). While I was scrubbing a 75 gallon tank,
someone comes in and even from that distance I knew exactly what
he had in that bag. It was a big fire-eel. Not full grown, but
not exactly a baby in more. I have not yet measured him, but he
is probably as long as, or a little bit longer than Queen (my
ornate). So somewhere between 14 and 16". He was healthy but
obviously very scared and confused. The person who owned him was
switching gears with his tank. That's all I will really say
about that.
So I thought I would share him here. He's now mine. I did some
serious thinking, and talking back and forth with the person I
work with. I know the Wolf didn't work out in the tank with the
Ornate but he looks similar to a bichir which was why she got
isolated away from the bichirs to begin with. This spiny eel
looks nothing like a bichir, or a worm. He's also big enough to
not be something she can easily bully.
At best they get along. At worst I can return him to the
pet-store and we find a better home for him.
Sat night I took him home, went ahead and did a large water
change to make absolute sure the water was sparkling clean, and
then acclimated him. The experience was interesting because
usually the Elephants are quick to do their game against a
predator. They were interested in the spiny eel, but they didn't
seem to treat him like a predator so no game happened. They did
at first try to chase the eels tail, and quickly became bored of
that.
The eel very quickly found the unoccupied left side of the tank
where the slate is layered to create a nice hide. No one ever
uses it because the elephants always energetically bicker over
who gets to be close to the Queen. For the first two days the
eel was cautious and would come out to explore but never for
long. The Ornate knows the eel is there but is not exhibiting
the same behavior she did towards the Wolf. Curiosity, yeah I
can see that. No aggression, not haunting the eel at every turn.
In fact..
HTML http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y98/Sanguvixen/IMG_20141006_115912_663_zpsfa74676b.jpg
This has happened a fair few times. I noticed the eel got a few
nicks on his tail but I'm not certain that happened in my tank.
I don't remember what his tail looked like prior to him coming
home. I did rescape the hide anyway and removed a few slates
that had sharp edges.
HTML http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y98/Sanguvixen/IMG_20141006_120323_450_zpsfdc59905.jpg
Unfortunately I don't have quality pictures or video. Every time
he comes around or out I don't have the good camera on me.
I did capture video yesterday of him moving around exploring the
tank more enthusiastically:
HTML http://youtu.be/2KulWe9cCRk
He unfortunately either refuses to eat when I am around...or is
not eating in general. I offer him a worm every day now. I do
hold back some of what I feel the elephants, and push that food
where he currently is hiding. Today he actually started
constructing a burrow of some sort, as the sand has been tossed
around and piled up. I actually caught him in mid burrow which
led him to stopping and poking his head out:
HTML http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y98/Sanguvixen/IMG_20141007_123808_413_zps92a71c6f.jpg
So his name is Laz, which is a combination of what his original
name was from his original owner, and the secondary name I
tagged before that. Laz is shorter to say and rolls off the
tounge better. I know he can't stay in this 125 gallon forever.
I wouldn't personally even keep him in a 150 with what his full
size will be. I'm really hard-set on eventually custom ordering
an acrylic tank down the road or acquiring a used one(which ever
happens). Turn it into a long term project. It'll cut down on
the weight, and I can also focus on trying to do reinforcing
under where the tank will stand to make absolute sure the floor
will hold. (Old house, not a slab flooring). Ideally I want to
limit the future build to around 150 to 200 gallons.
Initially I wanted to sacrifice height to push for more depth
(going from front to back). However now that this eel is in
there I'm not so certain. What are their preferences with the
tallness of the tank? Will they be happier if they can fully
stretch out from nose to tip up and down similar to how plecos
are? Or would a tank that they have full mobility to turn around
comfortably be good enough?
I have to stick to the 6 foot length, but if I can push the
depth to be 24" or 30" that would in my mind be ideal long
term. I'd look to cut the tallness down to around 17" or 20"
tops. I don't know anyone locally who has experience with full
grown fire-eels so any advice is welcome.
#Post#: 1349--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fire Eel
By: the_shazard Date: October 12, 2014, 8:26 pm
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That is one cool looking eel, i tried keeping a peacock eel
before but wasnt successful.
#Post#: 1577--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fire Eel
By: summoner2183 Date: October 22, 2014, 8:49 am
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Beautiful fire eel you got there!
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