My Fatty

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F3l1ss said:
From the scientific research papers I read females are heavier than males and have a bit more girth yes. Other than that, from memory (which is hazy) no.
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I don't think this is uncommon with a lot of fish, and animal, species. The bigger one definitely makes a lot of effort to grab a lot of food, but is definitely much bigger. I'm not too worried about it since I'm not interested in breeding, and I'm pretty sure it's impossible to do so anyway. Lol. It has been a lot of fun so far watching them grow from the 4" I got them at to 12-13" now. And, they still have a long way to go. Lol.
 
Fish Tank Travis said:
I don't think this is uncommon with a lot of fish, and animal, species. The bigger one definitely makes a lot of effort to grab a lot of food, but is definitely much bigger. I'm not too worried about it since I'm not interested in breeding, and I'm pretty sure it's impossible to do so anyway. Lol. It has been a lot of fun so far watching them grow from the 4" I got them at to 12-13" now. And, they still have a long way to go. Lol.
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Nice to see someone dedicated to their wellbeing and willing to care for them until they reach full size. I don't run into many full size Mastacembelus specimens as it seems people aren't prepared to deal with their needs. Especially nutritional needs.

Re: sexing, does your eel have anything at all besides a genital pore? I'm wondering if both sexes have the appendage I described.

O
 
Beautiful pics :)

I got my Tire Track and Fire at about the same time, but the Tire has gown WAY faster. The Fire is probably ~10" and the Tire is easily 12"+ (and much thicker). I suspect, as others have said, that they are both females. I've had 3 Tires before - one got to ~35" before being killed by an incompetent "pet sitter" :( (went away for a week - she came once, not every day as she had agreed and been paid to do, and dumped a TON of food in - killed off over half my tank :( )

My Fire is out a LOT more than the Tire, but now I'm changing things around (having removed the resin ornament I mentioned in the other thread), maybe I'll see her more :)

Will try and get some pics.

FWIW, they both started at ~6" or so, feeding on reg wigglers. Now *all* they eat are nightcrawlers. My old female used to be able to go through 8+ crawlers at a time, this Tire will go through 4-5, and the Fire usually 1 or 2 (at least right off the bat, they may snack on others overnight, as I feed ~30+ at a time - EVERY fish in the tank; synos, plecos, chichlids, all LOVE them).
 
DeathStalker said:
Beautiful pics :)

I got my Tire Track and Fire at about the same time, but the Tire has gown WAY faster. The Fire is probably ~10" and the Tire is easily 12"+ (and much thicker). I suspect, as others have said, that they are both females. I've had 3 Tires before - one got to ~35" before being killed by an incompetent "pet sitter" :( (went away for a week - she came once, not every day as she had agreed and been paid to do, and dumped a TON of food in - killed off over half my tank :( )

My Fire is out a LOT more than the Tire, but now I'm changing things around (having removed the resin ornament I mentioned in the other thread), maybe I'll see her more :)

Will try and get some pics.

FWIW, they both started at ~6" or so, feeding on reg wigglers. Now *all* they eat are nightcrawlers. My old female used to be able to go through 8+ crawlers at a time, this Tire will go through 4-5, and the Fire usually 1 or 2 (at least right off the bat, they may snack on others overnight, as I feed ~30+ at a time - EVERY fish in the tank; synos, plecos, chichlids, all LOVE them).
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Thanks for the compliments. I really can't wait until I get a new phone with a better camera though.

I got both of my larger fire eels at 4". Now, they are both around 13" but the one in the pictures is near twice the girth of the other. My third one that I picked up a few weeks ago is around 8-9". It is still in quarantine.

My two larger ones started only eating frozen bloodworms. I got chopped up red wigglers mixed in with them and they started eating those regularly, and eventually I didn't need to chop them up. Once I moved them into my 220 they really started to eat a variety. They now eat frozen bloodworms, frozen krill, frozen market shrimp, frozen beef heart, frozen mysis shrimp, and live red wigglers. I haven't tried night crawlers yet for the fear that they might choke on them. However, they might be getting to the point that they are ok with them now. When you feed night crawlers, do you chop them up at all or just throw them in whole?

My little guy that's new just eats red wigglers. I tried a bunch of different stuff but that's the only thing he will go for. I'm hoping that when I move him into the 220 with the other two he will follow their lead and branch out to a variety of foods, preferably frozen. I will probably be moving him next weekend.

Definitely post up some pictures of your eels. It sounds like you have the eye for eels like I do. Lol
 
Nope, I just toss them in and they all go for them :) They'l gulp them down pretty quick once they hit ~8" or so. They do have teeth, so they don't just swallow them.

I love eels, but have only been successful with Tire Track - had one Fire before, but he didn' thrive and just wouldn't eat at all. I was worried with this one, but she went right after the red wigglers, and within a month or so was going after the thinner crawlers. Now she wolfs down even the largest of them. (FWIW, I get my crawlers by the box of 500 at my local bait store). They're the Canadian Nightcrawlers, not the European Nightcrawlers you'll usually find online. These you keep in the fridge (they want to be in the high 30s F).

Things will get "interesting" in the tank when I add the crayfish shortly (now that the weather is warming) - we are lucky enough to have a local crayfish farm - *real* crayfish (or crawfish, as so like it) - they type you eat, not the tiny Paper Crayfish you get in the LFS' (same species as the "Electric Blue" or "Red Crayfish" that they always want so much for. I get about a dozen of these for ~$10 :) and they can get HUGE (6"-8"). Best tank cleaners you can get - they will eat *everything* on the bottom :)

(Though they are also a delicacy for my Reed/Rope fish and my Bichirs, lol)
 
DeathStalker said:
Nope, I just toss them in and they all go for them :) They'l gulp them down pretty quick once they hit ~8" or so. They do have teeth, so they don't just swallow them.

I love eels, but have only been successful with Tire Track - had one Fire before, but he didn' thrive and just wouldn't eat at all. I was worried with this one, but she went right after the red wigglers, and within a month or so was going after the thinner crawlers. Now she wolfs down even the largest of them. (FWIW, I get my crawlers by the box of 500 at my local bait store). They're the Canadian Nightcrawlers, not the European Nightcrawlers you'll usually find online. These you keep in the fridge (they want to be in the high 30s F).

Things will get "interesting" in the tank when I add the crayfish shortly (now that the weather is warming) - we are lucky enough to have a local crayfish farm - *real* crayfish (or crawfish, as so like it) - they type you eat, not the tiny Paper Crayfish you get in the LFS' (same species as the "Electric Blue" or "Red Crayfish" that they always want so much for. I get about a dozen of these for ~$10 :) and they can get HUGE (6"-8"). Best tank cleaners you can get - they will eat *everything* on the bottom :)

(Though they are also a delicacy for my Reed/Rope fish and my Bichirs, lol)
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here we have a local prawn farm and all our LFS sell prawns year round priced from 10 for $1 to 12 for $2.50. they are usually sold at the size .5-1" but if they don't get eaten like when my bichirs didn't eat them they outgrew my bichirs and had to be removed but they are great cleaners. Here is the sizing chart from the farm

shrimpsizing.jpg
 
thefredpit said:
here we have a local prawn farm and all our LFS sell prawns year round priced from 10 for $1 to 12 for $2.50. they are usually sold at the size .5-1" but if they don't get eaten like when my bichirs didn't eat them they outgrew my bichirs and had to be removed but they are great cleaners. Here is the sizing chart from the farm

View attachment 1249541
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WTF are those! Those long arms are different than any crawfish I've ever seen. Those are some creepy looking buggars.
 
I will post a pic of my 16-17 inches. Almost had him 3 years now. My aqua buddy eats from my hand and is such a good fish. I loved watching him last night after I threw some fresh shrimp chunks in. An Oscar got the jump on the largest chunk and was trying to swallow it, after fire eel cleaned up he got a ping on some food somewhere else. Got to the oscar and started sniffing the water flowing through his gills (literally almost sniffing in the gill). He positioned towards the mouth and found a piece he missed. Pulled it right out of the oscars mouth.
 
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