Help with new rescued peacock eel

[Angelphish]

Yeah there weren't many openings to start with, just one for my lucky bamboo and another for the filter, so i placed socks to stuff the openings without blocking the filter and plant. I went to both petland and petsmart and neither had aquarium sand surprisingly so I'm still searching for some. I placed some pvc pipes and embedded them partially in the gravel to create caves along with just some more rock formations and dens for the eel to choose.
Heres a video of it eating which I somehow got on camera

It's doing well, most of the fish ignore it except the damn weather loaches think its another loach lol and keep following it and hiding with it and it clearly is ignoring them. Their spacial awareness sucks as they just cram themselves in with the eel and the eel's just peeved and has to leave because the loaches are massive and take up space. They are 4-6 inches.

What you have isn't a peacock eel, it's actually a Half Banded Spiny Eel (Macrognathus circumcinctus). In my experience these are quite often sold as Peacock Eels, as I've seen multiple of these at Petsmart and one at my lfs. A couple years ago I bought a Half Banded Spiny Eel, and I liked mine much more than the peacock eel I owned later on. They're much more active and personable than peacock eel. Mine would constantly roam the tank, weave itself between plants, and greet me at the front of the tank.

 

[Steven Williams]

What you have isn't a peacock eel, it's actually a Half Banded Spiny Eel (Macrognathus circumcinctus). In my experience these are quite often sold as Peacock Eels, as I've seen multiple of these at Petsmart and one at my lfs. A couple years ago I bought a Half Banded Spiny Eel, and I liked mine much more than the peacock eel I owned later on. They're much more active and personable than peacock eel. Mine would constantly roam the tank, weave itself between plants, and greet me at the front of the tank.

Actually that makes more sense, the spiny eel family is pretty big so they just sell it all under a single name. That would explain why it's much more active then the peacocks I've dealt with, sweet. Thanks for the tip would've never realized

 

[Angelphish]

Actually that makes more sense, the spiny eel family is pretty big so they just sell it all under a single name. That would explain why it's much more active then the peacocks I've dealt with, sweet. Thanks for the tip would've never realized

Yeah it's a common mistake that happens quite often.

In my opinion Half Banded Spiny Eels are more fun to keep than Peacocks, so you should feel lucky to have gotten one rather than a peacock, especially for free.

 

[thefredpit]

Yeah there weren't many openings to start with, just one for my lucky bamboo and another for the filter, so i placed socks to stuff the openings without blocking the filter and plant. I went to both petland and petsmart and neither had aquarium sand surprisingly so I'm still searching for some. I placed some pvc pipes and embedded them partially in the gravel to create caves along with just some more rock formations and dens for the eel to choose.
Heres a video of it eating which I somehow got on camera

It's doing well, most of the fish ignore it except the damn weather loaches think its another loach lol and keep following it and hiding with it and it clearly is ignoring them. Their spacial awareness sucks as they just cram themselves in with the eel and the eel's just peeved and has to leave because the loaches are massive and take up space. They are 4-6 inches.

the cheapest sand route is pool filter sand or black diamond sand blasting abrasive I use both.

as far as yours not being a peacock I was wondering why yours seemed so much less shy than the 2 peacocks I had now we know

 

[Steven Williams]

the cheapest sand route is pool filter sand or black diamond sand blasting abrasive I use both.

as far as yours not being a peacock I was wondering why yours seemed so much less shy than the 2 peacocks I had now we know

Yeah it all makes sense now, I will definetly get some pool filter sand for it, do I have to sand the whole aquarium or like a section and wait till it grows?

 

[Steven Williams]

the cheapest sand route is pool filter sand or black diamond sand blasting abrasive I use both.

as far as yours not being a peacock I was wondering why yours seemed so much less shy than the 2 peacocks I had now we know

Yeah it all makes sense now, I will definetly get some pool filter sand for it, do I have to sand the whole aquarium or like a section and wait till it grows?

 

[Just Toby]

Some pool filter sand can be sharp, I would buy aquarium sand from a fish shop.

 

[Steven Williams]

Some pool filter sand can be sharp, I would buy aquarium sand from a fish shop.

Yeah I'll wait I'll I find some then

 

[thefredpit]

Some pool filter sand can be sharp, I would buy aquarium sand from a fish shop.

I've never seen or even heard of sharp pool filter sand, and only once have I seen black diamond have any sharp particles in it and that was obviously a bad batch. Pool filter sand is so common as a substitute I've seen numerous fish stores sell it for aquarium purposes

 

[Just Toby]

Maybe UK and USA use different, when I changed the sand in my pool filter it had warnings all over the sack.