Electric Eel..

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Unless they're kept in a huge tank, they're kinda boring. I kept mine in a 900gal. There was enough room that they had to move around to investigate nooks and crannies for crayfish and shiners. In small tanks, they can basically sense the entire tank from one position so, why use the energy to move around?
 
I get your point..

Maybe here's another way to enjoy them specially when feeding.

[video=youtube;WM3-CgJnNNs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM3-CgJnNNs[/video]
 
GonePhishing said:
I heard that you can even have them without filtration, because they are breathing air from the top like snakeheads. Since it was mentioned that moving the eel would be hard, what are the techniques that one can do when moving them?
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Juveniles are sensitive and take care that do not catch diseases. In an aquarium, you will still need filtration as nitrates, nitrites, etc. are also bad for this fish. Depending on the size of your tank, if you do not have filtration and your tank is small, you'd probably have to change some water almost everyday. Would be good NOT to keep in deep tank as they must come up to the surface to gulp air. Aeration would be good for your beneficial bacteria in your filter.

If I am not mistaken, they are scaleless and hence if they fall sick, do not add salt. Bio-load is high and if not taken into consideration, the quality of water may deteriorate such that the juvenile electric eel would fall sick. Take care when using live feeders!! The two most likely diseases, IMO, that a juvenile e. eel would get and end up dead are ich and cotton wool disease. Read up on these two diseases and cures for scaleless fishes. Read also about the general needs of these fishes e.g. pH, hardness, Temperature, etc.

Since yours would be only 6 inches, if you want to transfer the fish from one tank to another, it isn't a great problem. You can still use a normal fish net but wear rubber/silicone gloves if you want to absolutely avoid getting an electric shock. The approximate strength of the current increases proportionately to the length of the fish and it is about 100 volts per foot. Yours (5 inches) would be about 50 volts. Good thing is that current won't be fatal.

What if you fish grows big? You can transfer it in similar manner as shown in the video below:

[video=youtube;NNZmlcBpRLw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNZmlcBpRLw[/video]

It's hard to say whether you should have tank mates for your juvenile e. eel. I see some small ones have tank mates (Youtube), whereas another may absolutely be intolerant, seeking out any new "intruder" and keep attacking until...

Adults are more tolerant towards the same species but I haven't seen adults being kept with other species of fishes.

That's about all I can think of. Good luck to you :)
 
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