So I lost most of my fish due to a week long power outage. A week after the power outage my fire eel turned up missing. I looked EVERYWHERE. My first fire eel which was 16" jumped and I found him in another room (this was a few years back). So I knew to look everywhere. Well it was nowhere to be found on the floor. I checked in my HOB AC110 that I use for plants. I even took the sponge out and nothing. So since I lost my three favorite fish within 2 weeks I decided to get out of the hobby. I posted the rest of my catfish and bichirs on CL. Finally after 2 weeks I had a buyer. Once the fish were gone I drained the tanks and turned the filters off. This past weekend I started to take the tanks down. I had all of the substrate out, the canister filter dismantled and ready to be cleaned, etc. Finally I took the HOB with the plants off and I see the little guy at the bottom. I thought to myself "well crap there he is, he must be dead", I shook the filter and he starts swimming around. "OH CRAP" my wife comes running in and I said "I found the fire eel, he's still alive" So the remainder of the day was putting everything back together. I knew it was going to be iffy about him making it as the tanks were empty and the filters had been off for just over a week. I put water back in and let him get settled in, he ate a night crawler within a couple hours. The next day I tested the water and had 0 Amonia and 0 Nitrite. I tested it again this morning and it's the same. I got very lucky. I imagine the plants kept the water oxygenated for the week?
The only thing I can come up with is that I have the AC110 sponge cut down the middle to have the roots fed through there. He must have been in the sponge itself when I removed it to check for him in the filter. Now that I'm back into aquariums I'm going to go in a different direction. He will be my focus and he'll share his tank with some peaceful schooling fish.
The only thing I can come up with is that I have the AC110 sponge cut down the middle to have the roots fed through there. He must have been in the sponge itself when I removed it to check for him in the filter. Now that I'm back into aquariums I'm going to go in a different direction. He will be my focus and he'll share his tank with some peaceful schooling fish.
