Fire eel in skinny tank

[Yoimbrian]

Hello

My wife and are I sketching out our basement remodel - likely about a year from now.

One proposal is an aquarium as a room divider between the home theater and a random sitting / play area of sorts - but that area isn't very wide and the hall would be super awkward with a wide aquarium.

So if I did 10 feet long, 3 feet tall, but only 18" wide would that be good for a fire eel? There would be no plans to ever upgrade, and I don't want to ever need to rehome, so it would be planning on a 36" monster eventually.

Tank mates would be some combo of clown loaches, discus, silver dollars, etc.

 

[Fish Tank Travis]

I would highly recommend at least a 24" wide tank for the fire eel. It could possibly live in the 18" wide tank, but as it gets bigger I think it might have a hard time turning around.

 

[Drstrangelove]

Agreed. A 3 foot fire eel will be very thick. (Three feet is certainly feasible especially in a large enough tank with good care.) I imagine a 3 foot fire eel having an issue turning in an 18-inch wide tank, and certain decor may make it an issue even at smaller sizes.

There are smaller eels however that you might want to consider that will make a much better match. https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/which-spiny-eel-is-best-for-me.170778/

All of them imo are gorgeous and interesting specimens, and even at 12-18" are nothing short of impressive. Be careful if you plan on getting more than one eel for the tank as there is some evidence that may not work in many cases.

 

[Yoimbrian]

Thanks for the responses.

The other layout would involve pivoting the home theater 90 degrees and putting an in-wall aquarium with access from the utility room. it would allow for a bigger aquarium footprint, but it would only be visible from one side (I could maybe put it in the corner and get two sides, but there is a structural beam in that area so I may not...).

So...small skinny aquarium with smaller fish and a smaller eel but visible from 3 sides, or larger aquarium with a fire eel (and maybe even stingray since I'd probably go 3' ) but only visible from the front.

 

[Tahn]

Instead of fire eels, do 5000 clown loaches.

 

[Fish Tank Travis]

Thanks for the responses.

The other layout would involve pivoting the home theater 90 degrees and putting an in-wall aquarium with access from the utility room. it would allow for a bigger aquarium footprint, but it would only be visible from one side (I could maybe put it in the corner and get two sides, but there is a structural beam in that area so I may not...).

So...small skinny aquarium with smaller fish and a smaller eel but visible from 3 sides, or larger aquarium with a fire eel (and maybe even stingray since I'd probably go 3' ) but only visible from the front.

My vote would be for a 3ft wide aquarium and fire eel. You could probably put 4-5 fire eels in a 3x10ft aquarium and keep a small colony of them. That would look really awesome.