Fire Eel (Mastacembelus erythrotaenia) Advice?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Fat Homer said:
Hard to say minimum tank size, since it depends how big the fish is when you buy it...

I mean mine for example went from about 10" to 20"+ in about 2 years time, and the younger they are the faster they grow, especially once they learn to eat...

Also, for your information, it took me 6 months just to ween mine off live food, so that should be another consideration of yours... But again, once that happened, it grew like weed...

As for the covers, i cant answer you on the gas exchange problem, but holes in the lid sounds like a good idea...since My tank has a very heavy hood over it, so i dont need to worry as much...

However it was just the holes where the intake and outflow go in and out that the eel squeezed through somehow...

I have since solved that problem by covering that whole area with soft rubber padding, since im now keeping 4x Gymnothorx Polyurandons and dont want to risk losing any of them...
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Curious. Well, so far I'm seeing about 5-6" fish available online. Would a 75 gallon work for 18 months?

No problems with live food, a culture is literally a Home Depot bucket with a sponge filter and some food. Only problem is what kind(s) of live foods should I have on hand? I want him to start eating pretty soon after I get him. Any universally accepted live foods for these buggers? Any safe bets at all?

Also, I'm still wary of how to fool-proof the tank. You're saying glass sheets? Do you have any pictures of your own designs, or an article on how to do it myself? I certainly do not want to mess this part up.

Cheers
 
For lid options, another method would be egg crates weighed down, that could work and give plenty of area for gas exhange...

As for the 18 months, i guess as a safe bet, expect min approx 1" of growth every month from your fish if hes only 5"-6"... So you could end up with potentially an 18"+ fish...

Then as far as feeding goes, sadly no universal answer, best bet is to ask the vendor what they have been feeding theirs and hope once they settle in your tank they start eating soon after...

Most have said either live fish such as guppies or shrimps, i started mine off on live freshwater prawns, then eventually hand feeding frozen market prawns, then from there it was easy getting him onto other meaty foods..
 
I got my fire eel in the 6 inch range and had him about 18 months I would guess. I definitely recommend eel proofing your tank before getting one. One thing I found out about young fire eels, they stress very easy and are prone to premature death. You really want to make sure the eel has a place to hide, a cave system or pvc pipe or something. I found with mine it stopped burrowing in the sand once I offered it a pseudo rock cave. Once you get them eating and they survive the initial few weeks, they become very hardy. My fire eel took frozen blood worms right away, once they hit the 12" plus range you can start cutting up chunks of fresh fish and shrimp (small pieces) and they will readily take that. I have moved my fire eel into a 125 gallon, and he took to it pretty fast. I have some things I still need to do like a circulation pump to ensure that the water is being properly heated in all areas of the tank. His nose seems to be scuffed all the time, and that may be because he went from a course sand tank to a fine smooth gravel tank (pieces are around 1/16th inch to 1/8th inch in size). He has pvc pipes that he hides in, but the bichirs also like going in them so I imagine it can get cramped. I know people say to not keep them with small fish, but mine has never been aggressive in the slightest. He doesn't even go for fish fry when I had my Rosie barbs breeding like rabbits. He only liked his blood worms and shrimp chunks.

They ate very intelligent fish though and recognize their keepers and even eat from their hands. Mine has bit my finger a time or 2 but no damage, it can be a shocker though. He is my favorite fish that I have and would recommend one to anyone who has a proper aquarium.
 
Cosmic_surfer said:
I got my fire eel in the 6 inch range and had him about 18 months I would guess. I definitely recommend eel proofing your tank before getting one. One thing I found out about young fire eels, they stress very easy and are prone to premature death. You really want to make sure the eel has a place to hide, a cave system or pvc pipe or something. I found with mine it stopped burrowing in the sand once I offered it a pseudo rock cave. Once you get them eating and they survive the initial few weeks, they become very hardy. My fire eel took frozen blood worms right away, once they hit the 12" plus range you can start cutting up chunks of fresh fish and shrimp (small pieces) and they will readily take that. I have moved my fire eel into a 125 gallon, and he took to it pretty fast. I have some things I still need to do like a circulation pump to ensure that the water is being properly heated in all areas of the tank. His nose seems to be scuffed all the time, and that may be because he went from a course sand tank to a fine smooth gravel tank (pieces are around 1/16th inch to 1/8th inch in size). He has pvc pipes that he hides in, but the bichirs also like going in them so I imagine it can get cramped. I know people say to not keep them with small fish, but mine has never been aggressive in the slightest. He doesn't even go for fish fry when I had my Rosie barbs breeding like rabbits. He only liked his blood worms and shrimp chunks.

They ate very intelligent fish though and recognize their keepers and even eat from their hands. Mine has bit my finger a time or 2 but no damage, it can be a shocker though. He is my favorite fish that I have and would recommend one to anyone who has a proper aquarium.
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Your take on my idea for a 75 gallon, for a year and a half? Would he be ok?
 
I had one in a 75 gallon tank for a few months(around 5) went from 4" to 9" once I realized it would only eat nightcrawlers and shrimp. Fed from my hand and I could pet it without it swimming away. But only get one I rescued a tire track and it killed my fire eel.
 
75 gallon should be good, as many have said fire eels are not rigid and able to bend pretty easily so are less constrained by smaller aquariums. I would generally say rule of thumb though is if he gets about 50% longer than the width of the tank, it might be time to upgrade. Someday I will get a 5 or 600 gallon tank and do a fire eel community. I just love this fish, it is beautiful.
 
I know I'm a little late to the party but to weigh in on the OP's question, I think that a 75 will be "ok" for 18 months but if possible I would recommend a 125. 125's are usually pretty affordable on Craigslist.

These guys can get pretty long but they also get pretty thick. If you end up with one that grows quicker than most then it "could" end up pushing the 24-30" range by the time you are looking to go to school.

They are beautiful and my favorite as well. I have two that I will be housing in a 220 that I'm working on setting up. Also, before you turn it over to a LFS when you are ready to go to school, you might want to check out if anybody here on MFK would want to take it. Chances are it will have a much better home with someone on here than taking chances with a random LFS customer.

Btw, have you settled on getting them yet?
 
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