Fire Eel & Fahaka Puffer
- Thread starter SinCalRyder
- Start date
Okay so far so good. I went ahead and made about 1/3 of the 60 gallon into sand. The I took the puffers favorite little fake wood to hide behind and moved it into there so he feels a little comfortable. It took about 30 minutes and he came out to eat, first good sign. Its now been about an hour and him and the Eel finally had their first encounter. It went good, the Eel was just real curious and was checking him out, then they both went their seperate ways. So no problems so far, keeping fingers crossed. Oh and the cichlid is now all alone with no one to pick on lol.
Okay so for update it looks as if Mr. Eelvis and Rafael the puffer aren't going to be sharing the same tank. Now my problem is that the puffer can not go back into the 35 gallin cause he is jsut too big, and I can't afford another tank right now. crap crap crap. Tonight we noticed a chunk missing out of the Eels tail, so I have to figure something out asap. Well guess its alesson learned about pushing the limits of fish compatibility.
you could just put in a tank divider until you figure out what to do... that can buy you some time
I was actually going to do a divider that night, go down to home depot and get something, but thanks to wonderful myspace I posted a bulletin about my problem and ended up finding a budyy with a 55 gallon he needed to get rid of because of moving to an apartment. Free only condition was I took the fish in it as well. Its been over a week now and all is well. Now I just gotta keep an eye on the monster pletco so he doesn't suck the slime coat off my Eel, worse case is he goes in with the puffer, who for some reason gets alont perfect with pletcos.
Hey there,...not sure if you have tried yet, but I highly recommend that you DO NOT put your eel in with the puffer.
I found myself in a similar situation when I picked up a 13" Fire Eel in Grand Forks on a wknd visit.
My puffer had been in a tank full of feeder guppies when I first got him and he never touched one. I added a couple of small plecos to help with the algae. No problem.
Added my Fire Eel (also named Elvis!?! weird.)....and he hid in one corner, the puffer stayed in the other. No problem.
Turned out the lights,....PROBLEM. Fire Eels come out at nite and they like will try to curl up and cuddle with any fish they can't eat !!
He was all over the puffer, curling up on his head, swimming around him, beside him, etc.
I came out the next morning and Elvis had two large 'chomps' about 4" from his tail. One right thru his body, the other caught the bottom edge of the tail.
I transferred the eel to a hospital tank, then to his new home with Bichirs and ropefish once he had healed.
The puffer is now living with 8 or 10 guppies and the two plecos. The plcos hide really well and the guppies are too small for him to bother with, I think.
If you care about the eel, I would suggest other arrangements. The puffer will not necessarily try to eat the eel, but I can almost guarantee that he will kill it sooner or later. He might tolerate it for a while but it's not worth the risk IMO.
HTH
Blaine
I found myself in a similar situation when I picked up a 13" Fire Eel in Grand Forks on a wknd visit.
My puffer had been in a tank full of feeder guppies when I first got him and he never touched one. I added a couple of small plecos to help with the algae. No problem.
Added my Fire Eel (also named Elvis!?! weird.)....and he hid in one corner, the puffer stayed in the other. No problem.
Turned out the lights,....PROBLEM. Fire Eels come out at nite and they like will try to curl up and cuddle with any fish they can't eat !!
He was all over the puffer, curling up on his head, swimming around him, beside him, etc.
I came out the next morning and Elvis had two large 'chomps' about 4" from his tail. One right thru his body, the other caught the bottom edge of the tail.
I transferred the eel to a hospital tank, then to his new home with Bichirs and ropefish once he had healed.
The puffer is now living with 8 or 10 guppies and the two plecos. The plcos hide really well and the guppies are too small for him to bother with, I think.
If you care about the eel, I would suggest other arrangements. The puffer will not necessarily try to eat the eel, but I can almost guarantee that he will kill it sooner or later. He might tolerate it for a while but it's not worth the risk IMO.
HTH
Blaine
i wouldnt do it. i once had a mixed tank that had a fire eel in it, and had to move the gowing puffer inot that tank. soo i moved all te fish out except i could not catch the damn fire eel for the life of me so i figured hell with it maby hes quick enough to stay out of the pufers way. it work for like 3 days and then one day i cmae home and the fire eels head was almsot sliced right off! was not good.
