Hey all, I've got a recently accquired american eel, a little less than a foot long. He was caught in a local stream, and with permission from the park authority (which also happens to be my boss), I took him home, with a longnose dace to clean up his scraps. He is in a 15 gallon, currently unfiltered, because I read they can be kept in unfiltered aquaria as long as the water is changed, which I have been doing almost daily for the past week or so.
Lately, one of his gills has... flattened. Like any eel, he gasps constantly and the gills poof out with every breath, but on one side (I think it keeps switching sides...) it stays flat against his head. Every couple hours it will resume on both sides, then go back to one again. He is also spending a lot of time at the top of the tank with his nose sticking out (NOT the typical eeling around, trying to escape), presumably breathing air. I read eels can take oxygen from the air, and my dad thinks that there is little to no oxygen in the water since it is so still, and the eel is 'suffocating'. Im thinking a filter would keep the water moving and help this problem, but I was going to get a filter tomorrow anyway, just for peace of mind and general cleanliness, even though it could probably do without it aside from the oxygen dilemma.
Will the addition of a filter keep the water moving enough to improve dissolved oxygen levels and make the poor guy (gal?) feel better?
Also, I'm not sure if he is eating or not... I give him bloodworms, which do mostly dissapear (there is a dace in there too), but he refused shrimp pellets and krill. American eel keepers, what do you feed yours, and how much/often?
Edit: Okay, now hes doing something wierd and its worrying me! Hes snapping his head up and down in short bursts, almost like a sneeze or something! He only did it a few times, but now that I think about it I caught him doing it yesterday too.
Lately, one of his gills has... flattened. Like any eel, he gasps constantly and the gills poof out with every breath, but on one side (I think it keeps switching sides...) it stays flat against his head. Every couple hours it will resume on both sides, then go back to one again. He is also spending a lot of time at the top of the tank with his nose sticking out (NOT the typical eeling around, trying to escape), presumably breathing air. I read eels can take oxygen from the air, and my dad thinks that there is little to no oxygen in the water since it is so still, and the eel is 'suffocating'. Im thinking a filter would keep the water moving and help this problem, but I was going to get a filter tomorrow anyway, just for peace of mind and general cleanliness, even though it could probably do without it aside from the oxygen dilemma.
Will the addition of a filter keep the water moving enough to improve dissolved oxygen levels and make the poor guy (gal?) feel better?
Also, I'm not sure if he is eating or not... I give him bloodworms, which do mostly dissapear (there is a dace in there too), but he refused shrimp pellets and krill. American eel keepers, what do you feed yours, and how much/often?
Edit: Okay, now hes doing something wierd and its worrying me! Hes snapping his head up and down in short bursts, almost like a sneeze or something! He only did it a few times, but now that I think about it I caught him doing it yesterday too.
Hes pretty fat, and the glass probably distorts him a bit, so he looks bigger than he is. I took a ruler next to him when he sidled up next to the glass. 