Congo Eel Died!

[Industrial]

So today when I got home from school, I saw my Mastacembelus cryptacanthus dead!

I originally bought him from a tank at work after he was sitting there for maybe 3-4 weeks. He was one of three, the first one who died and the second got chewed up by a couple African Brown Knives after I got mine.

He was in a 20g with my 4" Campylomormyrus rhynchophorus (Double Trunk Elephant Nose) and 3 1/2" SA Leaffish. I fed the tank bloodworms, glassworms and live blackworms five times a week and spot fed the eel 3-4 times a week (as they rarely eat in the wild).

I really doubt it was killed by anything, as the double trunk elephant nose is super interactive and friendly to all of the tank mates it has/had and the eel never got close to the elephant noses' territory. And the leaf fish, is well a leaf fish so of course he wouldn't bother the eel.



Here is a picture of him before I bought him when he was in the store's tank.

 

[Laticauda]

Sorry for your loss.

I would like to note, a friend of mine has a leaf fish that took a bite out of a platy, so maybe there was some aggression/bullying there? Did you see him eat when you "spot fed" him?

 

[Industrial]

I have never seen the Leaf Fish display aggression. However, it was also in a very heavily planted tank a giant anubias and smaller crypts and java ferns to fill in a few empty spaces on the bottom. The Leaf Fish sort of sits in one spot all day on the bottom, when the eel would be laying somewhere in the giant anubias plant so I would be surprised if it even saw the eel more than 2-3 times. Maybe I will get some kind of molly or platy and see if the leaf goes after that at all before I try adding more sensitive fish.

I always watch my fish eat when I spot feed them. In the eel's case, the elephant nose comes up to the surface as soon as I touch the lid and gets excited and eats like a pig, so I would always feed the elephant nose first and then squirt a little pile of worms on the eel's leaf that he was sitting on. He would "cherry pick" the best looking ones. Feeding the fish is one of my favorites and normally I watch every fish eat at least one thing lol.