Snakehead and Fire eel Compatability?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
if you look hard enough, there are some compatable spiney eels that are also sub-tropical. you will however need to do some research on this , spiney eels come from many places around the globe from africa to sub-tropical india and warm temperate china. how ever some do prefer so salt in the aquarium , some grow huge , one to look into if you want a spiny eel in with a rainbow would be [FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Mastacembelus zebrinus it comes from a area close to rainbows area and only grows to around 6-8" and would make a decent addition to a sub-tropical comunity tank . [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica][FONT=Arial, Helvetica]one thing you must consider is without a winter cooling period a rainbow will die half way through the following year , and you will most likely think it was for no reason , it is indeed for a reason and that is 99% of the time due to no winter cooling period .[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica][FONT=Arial, Helvetica]as baloo pointed out , rainbows best takemates are other rainbows , and your tank would make a great species tank for a group , also if you have chosen your rainbows well then they will make ANY tankmates look drab in comparison . [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica][FONT=Arial, Helvetica]if your rainbows do not look like the ones below , it maybe just that you have not got your tanks set up correctly. if in a species tank and set up correct then a rainbow snakehead should make any fire eel look drab by comparison
[/FONT]
[/FONT]


DSC_0059.jpg


DSC_0072.jpg



and if the ones you picked up are the so called blue rainbows ,ie sp. assam the same things apply but your fish should look like this

DSC_0114.jpg



cheers col
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica][/FONT]
 
Ultimately, it boils down to preference.

As far as I'm concerned, I find a certain deal of spiny eels to be just as beautiful as Channa. But preference will always be a determining factor.

In any case, whatever you consider to keep, or how to keep it/them, you have to understand that 60 GAL isn't enough for a fire eel. Anything that would potentially grow anywhere between 2 1/2 to 3 feet would need something with at least some extra width.
 
synodontisjack;2559076; said:
i have seen fire eels at 36" and have owned other spiny eels over the 24" mark. A fire eel will almost certainly reach 36" which deserves a 180 minnimum.




Ye i totaly agree! And no i think a snakehead may nip the eel.:(
 
you could keep the a juvenile fire eel in a 60 gallon for i'd say 2 years they grow at a rate of 5-6 inches a year when theyre young, depending on what size you get it at, then you would DEFINITELY DEFINITELY DEFINITELY DEFINITELY DEFINITELY HAVE TO UPGRADE as they will definitely grow to 30inches minimum,

check this out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfeQueSCgsg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9n9VuCmtEM

oh and the channa bleheri would be fine when the eel is still quite small, but when adult may eat the bleheri (may).. bleheri are quite timid
 
the sub tropical eels are hard to find but if you could find them it would be definitely worth picking them up.

Also the fire eel i've got at the moment has reached 12" from the 7" i got it at 6 months ago. I would say a fire eel would stay in a 60 for more like 12-18 months than 2 years.
 
yeah fire eel is totally unsuitable for your tank long term and would without doubt eat the channa and is tropical . remember the channa will only reach around 7" if your lucky and is a very peacfull fish , it will eat what it can fit in its mouth ,which is the same as most fish , but will very rarly start a fight.

you really must first decide if you want to keep a tropical tank = very easy
or a sub tropical tank easy but very hard to find stock and will more than likley need to order things in or visit specialists like wildwoods , but can be worth the time and effort when you have the finnished project

cheers col
 
ive read 22-28 degrees is sub-tropical?I NEED TO KNOW WHAT SUB TROPICAL IS! lol 28 degrees is quite warm but help?
 
ok guys , sub-tropical tempretures are taken from sub-tropical parts of the world , they vary just as tropical tempretures do. but in a sub-tropical enviroment would would expect water tempretures to be around 16 deg upto around 26 deg , tropical would overlap this being from around 25deg upwards and temperate from around 19deg downwards ,
the main diferance though is tropical is useally year round temp with only little change in temps over the year
sub-tropical will show at least two distinct seasons during one part of the year water temp could be 16 deg and during another part could be 25 deg
temperate will show even more variation and most temperate place will show 4 distinct seasons and may have very low winter temps .

so you can indeed find a temp that suits both tropical and sub-tropical but you can not provide the cooler season temp drop and still cover both species , and unfortunatly rainbows genrally will die around 6 months after missing there cooler season break , a lot of people may think "oh my rainbow died for no reason and all my perameters are ok" when in fact its fate may of been sealed 6 months earlier.


cheers col
 
MonsterFishKeepers.com