Fire Eel Q's - tank size?

[pi-eyed]

Yeah, I've never seen Fire/Tire Track eel's in stores, so I was kind of thinking they'd be hard to find/expensive >.<
So basically live food?
About earthworm's, my dad has some styrofoam box-thing full of them that he keep's for fishing bait (eew) &to put in his garden, it would be fine to get them from there wouldn't it?
I'm kinda nervous I'll be afraid of it when I get it though! lmao, but already I think I love them from what I've read &seen

I have a fire eel around 26" or so. He's about 4 years old and will only eat nightcrawlers. I also have a TT eel that is about 16". The tt will eat just about anything.

Good luck with your eel(which ever you choose),
Chris

 

[jclyde13]

Both are bad tank mates for the docile Fire eel. 24"-36" is average adult size.. the males being the smaller. Females will get larger then 3' if unstunted.

You can expect approx 1" per month average growth rate their first year. Much less then that and the fish is being stunted. My 3 are approx 2yrs old and anywhere from 18"-24"+ .. I believe the smallest one is a male as the 2 larger ones are very close in size and there is a noticable size gap between them.

a 5'x2'x2' Should house an adult male w/out issue and a female if kept alone. Again common plecos and Oscars are both bad tank-mates. The Pleco for their slime coat sucking aggression. And the Oscar for it's overall aggression in general. Cichlids in general make very poor tank-mates for fire eels ime.

On the other hand I do have a very sassy Tire track eel. ( which may not be as colorful but is alot more aggressive ime) He is housed with some Bichir and a very naughty Pike cichlid ( she killed the male in the tank)

These are my experiances.. If you intend to try it, Make sure the eel is in teh tank first and well situated/eating ect before introduceing any tank-mates. At one point I did try an Oscar with my guys.. and it worked until the Oscar matured.. then it was Worl War.. and my eels got the worst end of it by far.

I'm going to have to disagree with you on that. The average size I've seen for fully mature fire eels is about 30-38", and it is definitely not okay to keep an eel in a tank that is only just over 1.5x its length. The absolute minimum is 6x2x2, but even that is a bit small.

To the OP: If you want a large, awesome looking eel that won't outgrow your tank, then go with a Mastacembelus favus. They max out at about 28". M. favus looks almost exactly like regular tire tracks (M. armatus), except their pattern covers their entire body, whereas the pattern on a TT doesn't continue onto the belly.

 

[MonsterMinis]

Thanks for catching my mis-type. I ment a male.. a female would need a bigger tank.. but a male would be fine imo in a 5x2x2. Just as a M. Favus would be as well.

as for the worms as long as you don't use pesticides/herbicides in the garden ( organic) then the worms should be fine.

 

[jclyde13]

Thanks for catching my mis-type. I ment a male.. a female would need a bigger tank.. but a male would be fine imo in a 5x2x2. Just as a M. Favus would be as well.

as for the worms as long as you don't use pesticides/herbicides in the garden ( organic) then the worms should be fine.

I've never seen/heard anything about males having such a significantly smaller adult size...

 

[Demi]

AARGH. You guy's are making me want a BIGGER tank now D:

I can't decide! 160G for $330 (Brand spankin' new, just the tank - freakin' expensive!)
OOOR. a 200G for $370 (Brand spankin' new, just the tank... again... EXPENSIVE!)
I keep trying to reason to myself to not go TOO big, but then I am thinking, I have been trying to get this freakin' thing for AGES &may aswell go the whole way, right?

AARGH. Argh. ARGH! What should I do? LOL.

I have my heart set on the Fire Eel/Tire track Eel (Preferably the Fire Eel) SO that's another point for the bigger tank...

 

[EmrePekdeniz]

Get the larger tank. This means you can stock more and also accommodate the largest species.

 

[Piranha101]

i started mine off in a 55gal at about 8in. now he is 31in. in my 180gal and its a must that you try handfeeding it i handfeed mine hikari pellets & worms they really LOVE em

 

[jclyde13]

Get the larger tank. This means you can stock more and also accommodate the largest species.

+1

I don't really understand why you couldn't just go with M. favus and save a bit of money, though. I mean, they seriously look nearly identical to M. armatus anyway:

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[EmrePekdeniz]

If the eel in the video is M. favus, I strongly suspect I have a M. favus as well. Which is fine and dandy because my current tank is 130 gal. What do you exactly mean by "unpatterned belly" though? The lower half of the eel, or the very ventral strip?

Am I correct to assume that this is M. armatus, with patterns over its upper half body only...

Whereas this is M. favus...?

 

[MonsterMinis]

I've never seen/heard anything about males having such a significantly smaller adult size...

the few breeding incidents I've seen, and I'll try and find the articles described the "male" as being smaller then the female by a noticable amount and the fish being approx 24". These where private hobbyists who didn't doccument everything exceptionally well. but this was a consistant in the "accidents" as well as the fish being in planted set-ups over 180 gals. My own experiances with my 3 also suggest this info is fairly accurate. Obviousely the older fish get the bigger they get.. And there are deffinately some Giants out there to be aware. But they seem to be few and far between. One has been a confirmed female as well.. so until one is a confrimed male I'll follow what the evidance suggests. Even a 24" fire eels is no small fish...

And Bigger is better.. buy the biggest tank you can afford/hold. You'll regret it later if you don't. Since you can't sex them readily be prepared for the "worst".

Emre - You're look for an unbroken pattern under the belly. The pattern will "fade" under the belly of Armatus.