fire eel questions

[jclyde13]

not an expert on fire eels however I have been doing quite a bit of investigation on them and meeting with a 3 foot one Snuffles about 2x a week....

They like a planted tank the heavier the better... Memphis is loving the tank now that it is just him and the catfish both shy sorta he loves to sit on his tail and watch me

I have had Oscars and they love to tear the plants up just for fun nothing more they do not eat them, just rip them up

The eel likes the sandy bottom and the oscar will just toss it around again for no reason the Oscars seem to love to move anything you put in the tank as if to say it is my house and I want this over here......

so you will be forced to have your hands in the tank quite often and dep. on the eel he may have an issue with this

then it comes down to feeding Oscars seem to eat very quick grab it all and run while my eel likes to sit down with a small pile of worms and eat one at a time I do not see an Oscar waiting his turn or even sharing

my vote would have to be that these two fish are not ideal house mates. The rope fish is more outward going that might be a better fit.
If you really want one because they are so cool get yet another tank that is what I have done

1 tank for puffers
1 tank for fire eel
1 tank for cichlids
1 tank for shrimp
1 tank for corals and Nemo
1 tank for Guppies

cleaning is an all day thing here

I disagree with every point you made.

Fire eels do like planted tanks, but once they start to gain some size, it is impractical to keep them in a heavily planted tank, since plants take up a lot of floor space, and if you had a tank large enough to plant heavily and still give the eel room to move around, it would be a PITA to plant and maintain the plants in a tank that size. It is much more practical to just use pvc and/or driftwood for hiding places.

Fire eels also do not require a sandy substrate. I am currently keeping a tire track eel (close relative of fire eels) in a tank with a gravel substrate, and it does just fine. The only purpose sand will serve in the long run is to allow you to avoid having to thouroughly vacuum the substrate all the time, because to allow an adult fire eel to burrow in the substrate, your sand would have to be about 8" deep.

And about the feeding issue, there are many solutions to that problem, the best of which probably being handfeeding or target feeding. By handfeeding my eel, I am able to keep it very well fed, despite the fact that it shares a tank with a pacu that is well over 20" long.


And it sounds like you have more tanks than necessary for your fish. You could probably put the cichlids with the eel, and put the guppies with the shrimp, and eliminate two extra rounds of water changes with no problems.

 

[dagua]

Thank you for your input- it is always good to get other opinions....

I could have a few less tanks in my house however there is a great natural, happy balance in each tank.

Puffers while they are great fish and lots of fun to have it is just down right mean to have them in a tank with anybody.... they pick on every body just for fun.

plants can be moved from tank to tank.... also not all plants are rooted on the floor, I have floating plants as well as a few logs in the tank with plants rooted on them (some plants do better this way) allowing more unplanted ground area, as he grows I can always remove some of the larger plants since friends always seem to want some new starts.

I did not say that eel "have to" have a sandy bottom I said they like it

as for putting the eel and the dwarf cichlids together I am not looking to feed a $40. fish to my Eel and with time that could happen.

I could put the guppies and the shrimp together however the guppies do indeed eat the baby shrimp and I am not raising the shrimp for the guppies but for the puffers and they can eat and need the shell fish to keep the teeth ground down

I do not mind the all day cleaning thing since it always includes pruning of the plants to take to the local fish store.... LOL my food bill has gone way down this is a good thing

I did not want to imply that anybody here is doing anything wrong with their own tanks, I only gave some suggestions on things to think about when putting fish together.

 

[jclyde13]

Thank you for your input- it is always good to get other opinions....

I could have a few less tanks in my house however there is a great natural, happy balance in each tank.

Puffers while they are great fish and lots of fun to have it is just down right mean to have them in a tank with anybody.... they pick on every body just for fun. Yep, which is why I didn't suggest switching their tank configuration.

plants can be moved from tank to tank.... also not all plants are rooted on the floor, I have floating plants as well as a few logs in the tank with plants rooted on them (some plants do better this way) allowing more unplanted ground area, as he grows I can always remove some of the larger plants since friends always seem to want some new starts.

I did not say that eel "have to" have a sandy bottom I said they like it I know, but I was just pointing out that sand isn't completely necessary, especially once they are larger.

as for putting the eel and the dwarf cichlids together I am not looking to feed a $40. fish to my Eel and with time that could happen. I didn't realize they were dwarf cichlids, but in that case, you could put the cichlids with the guppies (unless you breed the guppies).

I could put the guppies and the shrimp together however the guppies do indeed eat the baby shrimp and I am not raising the shrimp for the guppies but for the puffers and they can eat and need the shell fish to keep the teeth ground down

I do not mind the all day cleaning thing since it always includes pruning of the plants to take to the local fish store.... LOL my food bill has gone way down this is a good thing

I did not want to imply that anybody here is doing anything wrong with their own tanks, I only gave some suggestions on things to think about when putting fish together. I know.

My comments are in yellow.