Any eel keepers?

[kmaben]

So there has been a few members posting about fish. I have tried fish forums but they tend not to be very friendly people. Are there any Eel keepers out there? Just got one. Very interesting

 

[JessicaK]

It's on my someday list.......
They're so neat.

 

[kmaben]

They come in freshwater species. Or "brackish" water really. Apparently once they're established they aren't that hard to keep. Or so I've been rather snidely told. Not gonna lie though. Hubby does all the tank cleaning and level water checking and what not. He would love to have a saltwater tank but with all the moving it's not a reality. I am not looking forward to moving the fish we have.

 

[JessicaK]

They come in freshwater species. Or "brackish" water really. Apparently once they're established they aren't that hard to keep. Or so I've been rather snidely told. Not gonna lie though. Hubby does all the tank cleaning and level water checking and what not. He would love to have a saltwater tank but with all the moving it's not a reality. I am not looking forward to moving the fish we have.

Yep... that's why we don't have a saltwater tank.


And a couple months ago, I had two aquariums break in 24 hours. So after the replacement broke, I decided to give away my fish and wait until I can afford the setup I really want, not just a small "just-because" tank.

 

[kmaben]

Shnikeys! I would cry if one of ours went down. We have a 90 and a 55. But they were cheap on craigslist. The 90 has a stand and hood and was a practical steal. It's hubbys only hobby though. I wish it were more like rock paining but he likes the fish.

 

[JessicaK]

Yeah... it was a bad 24 hours.

Went to my bedroom at 11, noticed the water level was halfway down, and there was a crack across the glass.
Moved the fish into buckets. Sopped up water and set up fans to try to dry the carpet. Went to bed around 1...
Then next morning I went out and got a new tank, set it up. It looked great. Went and did a couple errands, when I got home, the water level was again really low. Turns out the seal was bad around the bottom and it wasn't water tight.

 

[woahlookitsme]

I have looked into them. . .I actually was looking at the Rope Fish (not an eel but eel like lol) I want to have a nice community tank and was thinking of adding those guys. We have a 75 and 85 gallon tank with nothing in it currently. The BF was planning on bringing it up so we can set it in the apartment. I wish he would hurry because I already know all the fish I want for it LOL

 

[whitelop]

I know what you mean Kaley about the fish people being not so nice.
I've tried on several different fish forums and they're all a little rude. I have mutant fish that people tend to look down upon because of what they are. They didn't do it to themselves, WE did it to them. lol. They like to talk down to the owners like we're a bunch of dummies who don't know what we bought. Stupid. :expressionless
I would love to have an eel! I think my husband would too. We need another fish, so maybe I'll talk to him about an eel. haha.

Someone suggested to me fishforums.com, I looked at it after my fish crisis was over and they didn't seem to be so rude. So you could check that one out if you haven't already. I've also been to monsterfish.com and they were a bunch of *badwords*

 

[kmaben]

monsterfish is where I was! My hubby is on a specialty forum for oscars. They aren't to bad but it's breed specific. I just end up going to this awesome specialty hobbyist store and pick out fish. Then google them and their care. But it's poopy something like RO isn't everywhere. I tried a gerbil forum for my little guys and they were terrible as well.

 

[fuzz16]

MyFishTank MFT is the only fish forum i have liked...theplantedtank and monsterfish are suuuuper into what they do, which is great, but they are very pushy about their veiws sometimes i think.

depends what kind of eel you want.
i had a 2.5ft fire eel, had zig zag and peacock eels also. my fire eel was my favorite. he would take food from my hand and swim around me when i cleaned the tank
the peacock eels do better in groups and i currently have 3 in my tank. its really cool seeing them hang out in the plants with their heads poking out like leaves

just cause the pic was in that folder too...lol

 

[whitelop]

Fuzz, it looks like you have a really nice tank! The last picture, is that some sort of discus? The eel poking its head out of the log, has an adorable face! Do they all have faces like that? If they do, then I'm talking my husband into one tonight! I'm going to google to see the requirements, but I think that I want one, if I can provide the right life for it of course. lol

 

[MiniLopHop]

Very cool tank! I have a 30 gallon community tank with lots of live plants. It has endler's live bearers, guppies, neons, and corey cats. nothing too splashy but it's soothing to look at. I did have shrimp that I loved. I found out too late they were getting sucked into the filtering system. I would love to set up a small shrimp tank.

Unfortunately my husband is so snake phobic he would never let me get an eel, I think they are super cool.

 

[fuzz16]

The freshwater varietys all do yes the peacock eels are a lot shyer and when i only had one you would only see a little pointy nose moving around like a worm from the sand lol but with more friends their braver now. Peacock eels stay the smallest i think, at a little over a foot. mine eat blood worms and frozen or live brine and i keep livebearers in the tank so im sure they get some of those babies too

look into sand substrate also. i used aquarium grade gravel and my black ghost knife and eel would sometimes get scratched from it. they have no scales so you cant treat them with aquarium meds also. and tend to be a bit more senstive. i will say, my fire eel had as much personality as some of the larger cichlids. he was for sure a clown! and the eels WILL dig up plants so be careful what you plant and stick to deep rooted plants. swords have a giant root system and choke out other plants for space and light so one in a 40g would eventually take up half a tank. i LOVE wendtiis, anubis, and java variety of plants and lower lighting makes the eel feel more comfortable so more likely to come out

and yes, discus. group of 4 were supposed to be tefe but their just greens. the others were domestics. I wont do wilds again though unless tank raised, their so touchy and very expensive and i hated doing worm dips and i had to do a 3 month QT

 

[fuzz16]

Very cool tank! I have a 30 gallon community tank with lots of live plants. It has endler's live bearers, guppies, neons, and corey cats. nothing too splashy but it's soothing to look at. I did have shrimp that I loved. I found out too late they were getting sucked into the filtering system. I would love to set up a small shrimp tank.

Unfortunately my husband is so snake phobic he would never let me get an eel, I think they are super cool.

I forget what these guys are called...lol. i would never get one again bc they are suuuper senstive and nocturnal. but o so slimey and not skittish when hands are in the tank

I would LOVE to do a shrimp tank just for looks then to feed to my angel pair..but the water here is so nasty i have trouble with some fish. thankfully my expensive wild plecos decided to not die one me!!!

 

[whitelop]

Wow, your discus sure are pretty! I wouldn't mind having some of those, haha.
I have Blood Parrots. One of them being a King Kong BP, she's a bit aggressive. My other one is a regular BP and she is constantly pale, large and a total sweetie. I hand feed her peas and she follows me when I walk by the tank. lol They're my mutants and I love them.
We also have some sort of African catfish. I swear, that is the fast growing fish I have ever seen. We got him at about an inch long, thought he was going to be a feeder for my barbs because he was so small, he is like 5 inches long now and we've had him for like 6 months. He survived the barbs, unfortunately they didn't survive a 'too much water' tank change. I was very sad at the loss of those two.
So now we only have the BP's and the catfish.

I think Angel fish have the most angry little faces. They're all so mad looking! lol I like the long finned ones the best.

 

[fuzz16]

Never did get into the BP and i had to look up what a king kong was lol...does it have the hump? always though FH were suuuper pretty but the SUPER nice ones are sooo expensive lol.

pictus maybe? i am not a fan of keeping cats in aquariums..no tank is suitable for them. i HAAATE angels haha! lol they are so boring compared to discus but much cheaper and more readily available.

convicts are my FAVORITE aggressive SA cichlid which is half BP. They breed so fast and well the fry make excellent conditioning food for discus/angels!!! and their small size with the big fish attitude is to be admired lol

 

[whitelop]

No my king kong doesn't have the hump. She is the kind with the perfect mouth, the black forehead spot and she has more of a convict body. If I can get them both together I'll take a picture of them side by side.

When I first got my big BP, I had no idea what I was getting. Then I noticed her mouth never shut, so I googled them. Then realized I bought some deformed human made fish. I was furious that they even sold them. Then we decided on a second one, because I would rather save one from a LFS because I know how to take care of them better. As it turns out, the one we chose because she had a 'perfect' mouth, was a King Kong, just not labeled as such. It took me until a few weeks ago to realize what she was and why she was so aggressive.
Mine are just regular colors, I don't believe in the dying or the ink injecting, its really terrible what they do to them.

The catfish isn't a pictus. I can not for the life of me remember what it is called and I haven't been able to find it when I search for it. He has this spike that comes up on his dorsal fin, to warn the other fish to stay away from him. lol he's pretty cool. He has done pretty well in our tank with the other fish, he doesn't usually come out unless he hears the tank lid open. haha. If he grows too big I'll have to retank him, but hopefully that won't be for a while!

I also really love convicts, they're so pretty! I like the FH too, they're really cool, but I don't like the humps they have on their heads. I like the ones without the humps.

 

[whitelop]

This is like the best picture I could get. They like to move around and its always dark in my house. lol
On the left is the King Kong.
On the right is the regular BP. She is always that color, its not the water.
Their water is pretty much spot on for what they need. The King Kong is having some swim bladder issues right now, so I've been giving her peas and I think I may have to put her in a q-tank.

 

[kmaben]

This is awesome! My little eel looks like the black one you posted. I asked the fish guys again what he was and they said Peru eel. Upon googeling he looks nothing like that. I'm feeding him worms and frozen brine too. Or rather Omar is because I wont stick my hands in his tank. The fish guys said ghost shrimp and small feeders. But he's in with my husbands oscars so it's a bit difficult with the shrimp. Dont have any plants for him to dig up but I need to get him some more hidey places. They leave him alone for whatever reason. Omar's rainbow shark likes to hang out with him. He's pretty brave and five minutes after you turn the tank light out he's on the move. I'd like to get another one but I dont need any fighting.

I can't wait for omar to get his 150gl so I can get the 90 for a fahakra puffer. Favoritest fish of all. Puffers and eels. I seen a ropefish today also. Very interesting.

What kind of diseases and such are the eels prone too? Are they across the board specific or do I really need to figure out what his breed is?

 

[fuzz16]

i can barely tell the difference between the young BP and the king kong BP, i am not a huge fan of them lol. how big are those king kongs supposed to get?

i sadly have no room for oscars but i so loved the one i had back when i lived with my parents still i cant justify having such a large tank for species only though now.

LOVE puffers...but agains species only dont work for me lol. looked at 20g for pea puffers, would LOOOOVE having a heavily planted pea puffer tank lol. as boring as that would be lol. moment you get bit by an 8" puffer though and you may question whether you want one haha

eels are prone to anything that other fish are, but like puffers, BGK, any scaleless fish..they are more susceptible without the protection of scales. with big time ray people, i know they medicate via needles. just keep clean water and you shouldnt have a problem