We bought Severus, a new peacock eel, about a month ago. When we brought him home he was very brave and generally lounged on plants. He was also very sneaky and kept jumping into the filter, which made me very nervous. I thought this was because he wanted some peace and quiet. I decided that building an eel tube out of pvc pipe and burying it in the gravel would be a good solution. This required moving all the fish to a different tank for about an hour while my husband and I rearranged things. Ever since the shuffle Severus hides (not in the tube, we took it out after he had not found/used it for two weeks) buried in the gravel. I miss watching him swim, and am not sure how to fix this. Has anyone had a spiny eel become shy after a tank cleaning/revamping. Do you think he will warm up to us again. It has been about three weeks since he started hiding from us, but I now can usually at least find his head sticking out of the gravel somewhere, for the first week or so I was convinced he had jumped out somehow and our dog must have eaten him...luckily he is alive and well. Also, any tips for keeping him out of the filter, so we can bring our water level back up to normal. Any tips/advice would be appreciated.
Shy peacock eel.
- Thread starter Jonesin4Fish
- Start date
I have two large tanks with spiny eels. I love them. I have different kinds all now rare. They need company of their own kind, atleast three, five is even better it makes them braver. They are nocturnal fish. Sand allows them to dig in when frightened and does not damage their delicate skin, They do not have scales. They love a non buried house that is not too big. They do not want other regular fish in there with them. They need meaty food. They also need non aggressive fish in their tank. They eat about every other day when small and about every third day when larger. Inspite of some beliefs they like slightly acid water 6.0 to 6.8. They can appreciate a little salt about 1/2 spoon per gallon every 4th water change. Check the tank at night with a dull flash light and maybe add a moon light.
I have seen differing opinions on whether or not spiny eels like to be housed together, so I wasn't sure. In your experience do they need to be the same species, or just close to the same size. With our current tank we cannot add anymore fish right now, we are a little overloaded as is probably, we are doing a big upgrade next month though. He still swims around the tank at night, i just miss him resting out in the open during the day, and i know that the gravel isn't good for him. I'm wishing I never attempted the tube, but I guess the gravel is safer than the filter. We feed him on red wigglers, about 3 to 5 cut in half every other day or so. I've seen him eat them, we put a lot in because we have other fish that will go after the worms.