American eel tankmates

[loconorc]

Hey all, just got an american eel for my 10 gal a few days ago. He/she is almost a foot long, about as thick as my thumb. Very healthy, not a scratch on him, very full belly. He was caught in a local stream, and was quite bigger than all the others Ive seen in there, so with permission from the park authority, I took him home and set him up. Hes much bolder than my old eel (who now resides at the nature center where I work, close to where this one was caught), and lives with a longnose dace that was caught along with him, without conflict. At our nature center we have an eel is almost every one of our aquatic displays, and they seem relatively peaceful to me.

Could this guy live with some danios as long as its not overcrowded? How about some small native darters or satinfin shiners (those are kind of obscure lol)? The tank is quite well covered and has the same substrate as the old eel tank, which that eel loved to burrow in (this guy chooses not to for some reason, prefers the plant in the back), and I am prepared to upgrade when the eel grows up, which takes quite a number of years.

And I know this is quite probably untrue, but one of my friends, who is almost as big a nature geek as I am, but not quite as smart, tells me that when american eels reach the silver adult stage, they MUST be released to breed or they will die... That cant be true can it? I have read of a famous 80 year old eel in a public aquarium, and a european eel (basically the same animal) in Sweden who has lived in a well since 1859, and is still alive.

Thanks for any tips or info!

 

[Cichlaholics Anonymous]

at the size it is currently, I still would rather house it in a bigger tank. eels in small tanks tend to escape easily more often ime

 

[fishman646]

I have a friend who has a 40 inch yellowhead eel whick is salt water and has put it into 300 plus gallon tank but hates them. The eel loves being solo in his little 90 gallon so for now your eel in a 10 is fi ne but do know american eels get large and you will need atleast 55 gallons. I wouldnt add an7y tank mate and feed once ever 2 to 4 days as eel have a low metabolism.

 

[loconorc]

I think I'm just gonna keep him as is for a while. When he outgrows it (which will be pretty soon I imagine), I may go for a bigger native tank, with some orangespot sunfish, redfin pickerel, yellow bullhead, or something like that, but that will have to wait a while. In any case, if there is a point in time where I cannot keep it, my nature center would be glad to take it off my hands for awhile while I arrange something.

 

[ReelBigFish]

Hey this is quite late to post, but in my experience, nothing makes a good tankmate for an American eel. They will eat anything they can fit into their mouths. The only things my boy hasn't eaten are freshwater clams, and that may just be because he hasn't found 'em yet!

As for the releasing the silver stage eel, that's very, very, very, very illegal if you've already kept the fish in a tank.