STarry Night Eel

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Blue2Fyre

Blue2Fyre

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Aug 28, 2008
891
3
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Wisconsin
Has anyone ever heard of a starry night eel? My LFS just got one in and I can't find any info on the internet about them. Does anyone known a scientific name?
They also had a black leopard eel. I can't find much on those either.
The black leopard eel was about 4inches long and was shaped like a fire eel. It was dark brown with a lighter brown stripe along it's back. The body was kind of thick. It was a stressed since the lfs guy had just removed the rock it was hiding under so the colors may have been darker due to that.

I didn't see the starry night eel since it was hiding in the gravel. The lfs guy said he would call me once he caught it. He described it as a thinner eel that was shaped like a dojo loach but had a pointy nose. He said the ones they get in aren't very big but he wasn't sure how big they would get.
He showed me a pictured of what it kind of looked like. I found this online that was similar.
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I haven't seen it yet so I can't say for sure what it looks like. Any help would be appreciated. Sometimes I wish common names didn't exist lol.
 
The eel in the picture is a african slender eel, mastumwhatever frenatus, or african longtail eel

Very cute, and thin. Had two, looking like earthworms / moving like earthworms, but unfortunally they both got eaten by my TT who probably thought they were earthworms.

Very cool tho
 
Hard to ID an eel for you that you didn't even see, haha.
 
haha I know

Just trying to see if anyone has heard of the common name. The lfs is suppose to call me as soon as they dig the eel out of the gravel. Then I can go see it and hopefully get a picture.
 
Yeah, I've heard of them. I think they're Mastacembelus albomaculatus, but I'm not 100% sure. They definitely don't look like M. frenatus to me.
 
I've seen "black leopard eels" lately around my LFS... and everyone I've seen, i'm 99% sure are tire tracks ( armatus ). though it is possible they are simply put into the same tanks as TT's. I had one place dig around the tank, as I was curiouse. nothing but TT's in the tank.

problem is most LFS can't tell a zig zag from a TT let alone ID some of the more exotic species.

You're best bet is too ask them for the scientific name.
 
I did ask for the scientific name but they didn't know it :(

I'm gonna stop by today and see if they have caught the starry night eel so I can get a look at it. I'm about ready to give up and not risk getting an eel I know nothing about.
 
Blue2Fyre;4234084; said:
I did ask for the scientific name but they didn't know it :(

I'm gonna stop by today and see if they have caught the starry night eel so I can get a look at it. I'm about ready to give up and not risk getting an eel I know nothing about.
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I don't think you should give up, most, if not all, spiny eels require similar care other than the tank size. And if it is M. albomaculatus (which I'm pretty sure it is if it is the same species as the one in the pic), then it shouldn't be hard to care for. They only get to about 9" so they don't require a very big tank, and they will accept the same foods as all other spiny eel species that I know of (krill, worms, etc.), so I don't think keeping one would be any more difficult than keeping one of the more common species.
 
Thanks for the encouragement. I'm just use to researching like crazy for any new purchase and this one is proving difficult. I just don't want to end up with a 3 foot eel I can't properly house.
 
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