Got me an American eel!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
loconorc;2791476; said:
I'm not a big fan of aqualandpetsplus, the majority of their care sheets (at least for the reptiles) are absolutely horrid. I have read that link before, and just about all there is about them in 5 pages of a google search, and some surfing around this forum :)

By the way, right now he/she is only about 6-8 inches long.
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i find there fish care sheets are better
 
Well yeah, he's going into a bigger tank as soon as he outgrows this one, but for now I'm gonna take a wild guess and say he's fine. I've got animals coming in and out all the time, I'm sure someone could use the old tank eventually. If for some reason I cant afford a cheap tank off of craigslist or something, I know plenty of people who would love to take him, or maybe I'll have craving for sushi ;)

Anyway, I put some rocks from my stream in there, he's swimming in odd circles around one side of the tank... It looks different than just exploring, but his swimming looks normal. He's got plenty of cover, maybe he's just stressed from all the maintainence I've been doing?
 
skateatburners;2791463; said:
they grow big. my dad cought 1 6 feet llong and as big around as his are. they need HUGE tanks.. they also need salt water. well i think its the females that live in salt water. im not 100% SURE. HERE find the info here



www.aqualandpetsplus.com
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That is most likely a conger eel american eels can live their whole lives in fresh but need to back to salt to reproduce and after reproduction they die. They can live for a great deal of time. One fisherman caught a five pound eel and using its ear bone found it was 30+ years old.
 
They apparently grow pretty slowly in the wild- it takes a female about 5 years to hit 20" and may take 10 or more years for her to reach full size. Your eel will probably grow somewhat more quickly than that, not having to deal with cold water or food shortage.

I don't know, but I suspect that you're close enough to the coast to get either sex. Other than size I know of no characters for distinguishing the sexes, and even size is not reliable in some populations.
 
Are bloodworms okay to feed it? I got gravel and rocks and plants and make a little cave for him, and a filter. Next time I go to the nature center I'm gonna catch him some tankmates, like another bluegill or two and some minnows (which might as well be dinner), or a madtom if I can find one.

Hes super restless, hes been swimmer hyperactively around the tank since I put the new stuff in a couple hours ago, is this a bad sign?

My dad looked at me like I had 3 heads when I bought 50 bucks worth of fish stuff today...
 
I'm sure bloodworms will be fine. F/T shrimp will probably go over well too. Eels are kind of secretive, so he'll probably be agitated until he has some cover.
 
He's had some cover for a while, I think he was just too freaked out from all that hustle and bustle to notice... He seems to have figured out he has shelter now and hes periodically taking breaks between bursts of activity. I'm really anxious to get him some tankmates!
 
Does anyone think a pickerel,crayfish, and/or madtom would make a good tankmate?
 
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