When my prior tank crashed I lost my fire eel. He was my favorite fish. I finally found another one at the store that seemed outgoing, but the lady netted the wrong one I think. He or she is super timid and just hides all the time. My old one would take worms from my hand. This one runs away from the worms alone. Very skittish. Tank mates are bichirs and angels. No one is picking on him. He's still small, only about 8 to 10 inches and skinny.
I know unique fish have unique personalities. I miss my old eel. I guess my question is what could I do to increase his confidence? Would dither fish help? I know they brought out my old severum, but I don't know about the eel. Also kinda cramped on tank space at the moment so I don't think I could do a school.
Tank is 75 gallons. Being upgraded in a month or two. (Stupid remodel went horribly wrong so I wasn't able to upgrade when I wanted.) Going to try for a 210. All the fish are pretty young except the ornate bichir. He's about 15 to 16 inches. Then there is a smaller speckled bichir, a young lapradei, and an ity bity senegal in a breeder box. Two angelfish, and the eel. Before you chastize me for overstocking I'm well aware that these fish are outgrowing this tank. The only reason I have them all is cause they're still young. If the remodel takes too long I will have to rehome some. I have two Cascade 1000 canister filters. temp sits between 78 and 80. Salted water. Weekly 50% water changes. Crushed coral. The water condition is immaculate. The ornate pecks at the smaller bichirs occasionally but never seems to do any real damage. Otherwise it's a peaceful tank. The ornate utterly ignores anything but other bichirs. I don't have any proper hides cause the bichirs all seem to get along better without them. When I put hides in they'd fight. That said, the eel may just need one.
So I guess my eel is just shy. Which is a little disappointing. You think time will boost his confidence? If you think dither fish would work I'm open to suggestions. I imagine in the 210 I could do a school. As for right now I don't really expect to fit any more fish in there and don't know if that would help. Unless maybe there's a single fish I could get. Do fire eels like company? Maybe a companion. Then I'd better just get a 300. lol. Anyway, sorry for the long post. Just curious about peoples experience with eels and hoping someone will say that theirs was shy but opened up later. It's only been about a week so far.
I know unique fish have unique personalities. I miss my old eel. I guess my question is what could I do to increase his confidence? Would dither fish help? I know they brought out my old severum, but I don't know about the eel. Also kinda cramped on tank space at the moment so I don't think I could do a school.
Tank is 75 gallons. Being upgraded in a month or two. (Stupid remodel went horribly wrong so I wasn't able to upgrade when I wanted.) Going to try for a 210. All the fish are pretty young except the ornate bichir. He's about 15 to 16 inches. Then there is a smaller speckled bichir, a young lapradei, and an ity bity senegal in a breeder box. Two angelfish, and the eel. Before you chastize me for overstocking I'm well aware that these fish are outgrowing this tank. The only reason I have them all is cause they're still young. If the remodel takes too long I will have to rehome some. I have two Cascade 1000 canister filters. temp sits between 78 and 80. Salted water. Weekly 50% water changes. Crushed coral. The water condition is immaculate. The ornate pecks at the smaller bichirs occasionally but never seems to do any real damage. Otherwise it's a peaceful tank. The ornate utterly ignores anything but other bichirs. I don't have any proper hides cause the bichirs all seem to get along better without them. When I put hides in they'd fight. That said, the eel may just need one.
So I guess my eel is just shy. Which is a little disappointing. You think time will boost his confidence? If you think dither fish would work I'm open to suggestions. I imagine in the 210 I could do a school. As for right now I don't really expect to fit any more fish in there and don't know if that would help. Unless maybe there's a single fish I could get. Do fire eels like company? Maybe a companion. Then I'd better just get a 300. lol. Anyway, sorry for the long post. Just curious about peoples experience with eels and hoping someone will say that theirs was shy but opened up later. It's only been about a week so far.
