tell me about peacock eels!

[Jess.in.WI]

I just saw a pic of a peacock eel on another forum and thought, wow! It had spots on the back half like a clown knife, and was just very appealing.

Would you please tell me more about these eels, their requirements, suitable tankmates, and please, oh please, post pics! thanks!

 

[fishcatch22]

they are some of the smallest spiny eels, only getting about 16" in length.

you can keep one in a 55G.

anything it can't eat is fine. make sure you have a soft substrate.

they love earthworms.

 

[Jess.in.WI]

what would try to eat them? In my 72g bow I have a severum, a firemouth and a pair of "pictus" cats that are around 7" long to name the larger fish... would any try to eat a spiny eel?

 

[rallysman]

If it will fit in the pictus' mouth, they'll try.
Other than that I think you'll be ok.

 

[Bderick67]

what would try to eat them? In my 72g bow I have a severum, a firemouth and a pair of "pictus" cats that are around 7" long to name the larger fish... would any try to eat a spiny eel?

Peacock would go fine in your tank, they are good at escaping so you will want to have a well sealed top though.

 

[guppy]

If you use fine gravel you will often not see your peacock at times, they will burrow and sit with only the nose out of the gravel, but even though they burrow they do not seem to dig up the plants. They can and will eat very small fish but since you are not keeping any, no problem. a peacock as long as the pictus is probably safe and even a full grown one won't eat your other fish.
They are best kept at a near neutral to slightly acidic pH, and 76-85F, As mentioned, their favorite food seems to be worms but they also love glass shrimp. If you feed live worms smaller ones are better as they will sometimes choke one very large ones.
Here are a couple pics from various sources.

 

[Jess.in.WI]

that is such a neat looking eel! thanks for the info, I'll have to watch for some at my lfs's...

 

[MrRngr94]

I just bought one of these for $8. I'm amazed at how social it is. He's in the same tank as my monster goldfish and it seems like he likes to swim with them from one side of the tank to the other. It's pretty amusing. I may go back and buy another so he has a friend to play hide n' seek with. Over the weekend I think I'm going to set up a small worm farm for him and the other fish.

 

[phaedraeos]

We've had two, and both met with an unfortunate, dried out demise on our floor. Be very. very sure that there's no way for them to escape from the tank! Aside from that, they survived just fine on frozen and flake food.

 

[MrRngr94]

Can anyone tell me how fast they grow?