My 27" fire eel escaped yesterday

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At first I was like.. OH noz! not Norbert!... by the time I was done.. I was laughing good. Sorry to hear he jumped out.. but it's one of those moments if someone had a video camera they'de make a mint offa ya for... I can only imagine your distress/aggitation .. trying to get him, and the plop back into the tank. I'de be more worried about you getting an infection from the spine wounds then him atm. ;) Glad it ended well.
 
Glad Norbert is OK!

It's amazing how strong and fast they can be out of the water!

BTW, my fire eel come to me too! He even sticks his head out of the water to eat, learned that trick after the pike stole one too many worms and crayfish from him!
 
keepinfish;4047523; said:
that is a funny story. My fire eel is about 28" or so and has never had trouble trying to escape. Well a few months ago his stick that he likes to chill on fell over and he was not happy. He pushed open the lid on the 210 and was crawling around and thrashing on the top of the tank. He could not get out becasue of the canopy. My wife started yelling saying i think the fire eel is out. I came running and about that time he managed to get over the canopy and "flop" on the tile floor. He was as you said fast like a snake. I kept trying to grab him and he just tore up my hands. He was unbelievably slick as snot and so muscular. I finally got a towl and grabbed him and put him back in the tank. Just a few scrapes on him but blood on me...lol
I fed a few minutes later and he ate like nothing ever happened. Big fire eels are tough as nails!

glad your is doing great
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yep! sounds very familiar. A towel is the way to go. Could believe that was the one time I didn't have one laying around the garage somewhere... Glad you're guy pulled through it too.
 
mamapuff;4047527; said:
Wow thats really cool to know. I didn't realize that. Is the mucous poisonous to potential predators? Or does it just make them hard to catch?
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I don't believe them to be at all poisonous. My guess is they are scaleless in order to make those long, thin bodies useful. Because they have no scales, they can squirm into tight places and then back up. If they had scales, they would likely get caught on things as they backed up, making it difficult and dangerous as they'd risk infection when they got ripped. Lots of slime coat would help to stand in place of the armour scales provide. This is 100% my theory and do not have anything other than educated guessing backing this up. Your theory on slime coat and predators may be just as valid and at work as well.
 
Thanks guys. You know how special these eels are, and how much personality they have. Norbert even stands out amongst the three I have. He super involved with the world beyond the tank. He loves sticking his head out and seeing what's out here.

(Sorry for multiple posts. I'm on my iPhone. It's hard to quote multiple people in one post)
 
hey bro, im not worry about the fish.
im worry about you !!! make sure you dont get an infection !!! :D

glad to hear the eels FINE !!
 
Hi there. In most cases around here, 'bro' works fine. However, I'm in the minority here as I am chick. :) (Probably explains things like me calling him Norbs and stuff :D) Anyways, I'm okay. I soaked them and then put on liquid bandage. So far they look good except that I ripped on open this evening. It's hard to keep it from happening as they are all on my finger tips. Theyll heal up, and if I don't, I'll have a great story for the doctor. Wouldn't be the first time I ended up admitted to the hospital for infected animal inflicted wounds (vet tech).
 
That's a close one! Glad that he made it! :) I told you, that's an eel! Fish doesn't move. Fish flop! :D
 
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