Fire Eel

[Kelli]

I was thinking about a fire eel for my tang tank. Do you think they would eat leleupis or Shellies? Anyone ever owned a fire eel? Did they mess with any of your fish? The one I am looking at is an adult and I will be getting some 1" frontosas. Think that would be a problem?

[eklikewhoa]

they will go after the shellies for sure.

They stalk small fish so anything that isn't in motion will become dinner. If you are set on trying an eel might I suggest a tanganyikan eel? Much cooler IMO.

[mnemenoi]

+1 tanganyikan spiny eels are awesome and there are quite a few different species to choose from

[Kelli]

Really? Okay! I'm def not set on a fire eel. Do the other eels stalk the smaller ones also?

[SunnyHouTX]

+1 tanganyikan spiny eels are awesome and there are quite a few different species to choose from

Great suggestion!

[mnemenoi]

Caecomastacembelus plagiostomus - 12"
Mastacembelus ellipsifer - 18"

There appears to be quite a few different species, but these are are the most often imported and available (albeit occasionally). They command a hefty price, but ar far more reasonably sized then the larger spiny eels (fire and tire track). From my experiance with other spiny eels, they do well in groups as long as they are similarly sized. The do like sand and will bury themselves regularly. Feeding can be tricky (they love earthworms and anything moving) and these appear to be piscivores so I imagine small fry and anything that might fit in their mouth could be on the menu (some shellies I imagine). Look over some forums and keepers experiance and stockings and you should get a good idea on what will work with them. I seem to remember Daves rare fish having some ellipsifer and I do see them every once in awhile locally. Ultimate Fish had one awhile back and might still, just call.

[eklikewhoa]

There are two other species that I can't link through my phone. There's a zebra eel and a white/leaucistic

[Kelli]

But will they all eat my Shellies?

[mnemenoi]

What species do you have? What size are they? Do you have any fry? Do you expect to?

[SunnyHouTX]

I don't think they will, looking at their mouth

[Kelli]

I Don't have any fish in my tank yet but I will start out with 20 1" frontosas and slowly weed the males out as they grow. I will have various tangs like comps, Calvus, gold ocellatus shellies, neolamps, brichardi etc. I may get them at 1" also. I am not trying to breed anything so I'm not worried about fry. If they live, yippee! Any eels that would go with these? I don't wan to spend over $70 or so on an eel. Any in that price range?

[Kelli]

Of course some of them will come out of the tank when the fronts get older. Aka shellies

[mnemenoi]

They usually sell from $50-$100 depending on size and species. I imagine the smaller plagiostomus would be better with shellies, given they could not fit in their mouths. All are wild caught that I am aware of, so smaller specimens can be harder to locate. As to fry, I imagine they would be on their diet, but the comps and altos are notorious fry eaters as well. On the other hand I have heard that gold occies are quite aggressive and can survive with some surprising tankmates and need far larger tanks then one might imagine (30+ gallons)

[allysangels]

I have a young (about 10in) fire eel that I've had about a year now. I love him! I'm growing him out in a 10g, about to transfer to a 29g. black sand, pvc, and java ferns. he definatley digs up plants, but he lives with 2 dwarf frogs and at one point I had livebearer fry in the tank, I was curious, so I put in a pregnant gold dust molly. my eel wouldn't touch them. the frogs however... as a matter of fact, the only thing he will eat is live earthworms, straight from my hand. he is also a great escape artist, not only busting out of the tank but also with a proclivity for hiding out inside my power filter. I had to make a screen for the outflow and I keep the water level pretty low so he can't get up the stream of water falling out. more of a pet that happens to live in water.

[allysangels]

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