Spiney Eel = Peacock Eel..?

[William]

I've been searching mad for a month now for info on the Peacock Eel I have.

While I on occasion find personal sites of people who have Peacocks, I more often then not ocme up with Info about the SPiney Eel.


Well, I saw a REAL good pic of a Spiney Eel today, and I swear to god.. it looks EXACTLY like my Peacock Eel..

My question are... are they two similar species.. or one in the same?

 

[madasafish]

They are the same... that is the species is named the peacock eel, the spiny eel and the spiny peacock eel (Macrognathus siamensis). It's actually a member of a family of eels called the "spiny eels," (others include the tiretrack eel, the zigzag eel, the fire eel) which differ from true eels, such as the moray. They're tropical fish with elongated bodies, and have lost some of their more fish-like characteristics.

The Spiny Peacock eel will grow to about a foot, as far as I understand it, and will look fab in your tank (as long as it's spacious enough--figure at least 55 gallons, though I'd say only a 100 is humane...).

Here's the Fishbase.org link for it if you haven't checked it out already.

http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?genusname=Macrognathus&speciesname=siamensis

How big is yours, and does he/she bury him/herself in the substrate all day? The peacocks I've seen are really shy and only feed nocturnally. Do you put some food in the tank after dark? What do you feed him/her?

 

[possum]

Mine wouldnt eat anything but cut up earthworms and wouldnt even touch freezedried

 

[madasafish]

Tried brine shrimp?

 

[William]

How big is yours, and does he/she bury him/herself in the substrate all day? The peacocks I've seen are really shy and only feed nocturnally. Do you put some food in the tank after dark? What do you feed him/her?

To answer your questions in order typed.

No, it used to.. But not anymore.

He is no where near shy, he comes out at any hour of the day, and is very ougoing. He went so far as to stick his nose in the betta's eye when I tried [and failed ] to introduce a betta male to my tank.

I don't feed after dark, well, I guess I do feed around 6pm EST. But he comes out whenever hes hungry.

and he latches onto a cube of Tubifex worms and just floats like a bobber at the top of the tank hanging down off the cube as he eats.


I hope I addressed all your questions

 

[ghoastoflyle]

hey whats up william, im planning on getting a fire eel. do you have many other fish in your aquarium with him? if so how big and do they bother the other fish, ive heard different things from different sources. hope to hear from you. thanks

 

[William]

Well, I have a Bala Shark, CAEW, alot of Ghost Shrimp, Two fiddler crabs [ one male, one female ] Four Balloon Mollies, one baby Sailfin Molly [ Just over a month old ] a few feeder fish and my Peacock eel.


Fish range from a quarter of an inch [ some of the Ghost Shrimp, Most are larger ] to 8 inches [ The Eel himself ]

 

[madasafish]

ghoastoflyle,

Fire eel gets about 3+ feet long, just FYI. It grow long and quite massive. It's a beautiful fish, but only if you have a 200+ gallon aquarium to house it in.

Check fishbase.org for some pix:

http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?genusname=Mastacembelus&speciesname=erythrotaenia

None of these pix contain a fully grown specimen, but you can imagine that the eel probably gets about a foot longer than the one the fisherman is holding.

Also, if you're not careful, the eel may get out of the tank. When it's older it will be quite powerful and could easily knock your hood out of the way.

Think about the peacock eel. It only grows to a (manageable) foot in length.

Sorry to rain on your parade!

 

[William]

What I've read the Peacock gets between 14 and 18 inches in length..

 

[madasafish]

Well, fishbase.org is, in my opinion, the most trustworthy source. It puts the max length of the peacock eel at 30 cm, i.e. ~1 foot: http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?genusname=Macrognathus&speciesname=siamensis

However, no source is categorically correct. Other eels, such as the tiretrack and zigzag (and fire) eel do get larger. Where did you read this, William? It's useful to be able to quote a source.

 

[William]

www.fishprofiles.com


There were more, but I can't find them. everyone says the eels max length is different, so I met in hte middle

 

[ghoastoflyle]

http://www.aquariumfish.net/catalog_pages/sharks_eels_loaches/eels_spiny.htm#top2

ive been going by this, at second look i do notice quite a large difference between peacock and the fire eel. i remembered their was a difference in length just didnt remember how much. thanks alot. just have to find a peacock . any one know how long it takes eels to grow? my lfs has fire eels at 4 inches so i was tempted. thanks again

 

[madasafish]

Well, William. The prob is that we're talking about two different species of fish! I mentioned above that I'm talking about the Macrognathus siamensis species, which does grow to 12 inches according to some other references (including the link ghoastoflyle included). You're talking about the aculeatus species which, according to aquariumfish.net grows to about 15 inches.

So we're both right!

ghoastoflyle, I'd be very careful about trusting Nevin and Tom Bailey. They're good guys, but a lot of their information is incorrect. Just look at the multitude of letters sent into the site (which they put up on the site) correcting the info they've put up. Fishbase.org is the most comprehensive site, and will usually give the most accurate information on any fish.

However, when I was thinking about buying fish, I spent MANY a long hour on aquariumfish.net checking out their cool videos of FW barracudas and mouth brooders. Have you seen their vids? Small, but very cool! Browse the site, but take all info with a grain of salt...