Freshwater Eels!

[AaronW]

Hello everyone I'm new but very glad to be here. Anyway I have a tiretrack eel and I love him. He's not shy anymore and comes out of his cave often. Currently he's in a 10 gallon tank but I'm moving him to a 50 gallon in a few weeks. I was curious if I could keep him in the tank with african cichlids? Could anybody give me some advice??

 

[bettaowner]

He'll need a bigger tank. Yes you can keep him with african cichlids. I think tire tracks need at least a 250.

 

[AaronW]

I read somewhere that a 50 gallon tank is sufficient. How long before I will have to upgrade?

 

[vanimal]

180 Gallons is the minimum for an adult! But he should be alright in the 50 gallon for a while. How big and what are you feeding it??

 

[vanimal]

I read somewhere that a 50 gallon tank is sufficient. How long before I will have to upgrade?

Keep in mind these fish have the potential to reach 36' inches if properly cared for. Once it outgrows the 50 you will have to go much larger! I would do 125 gallons at the minimum but I recommend 150+.

 

[AaronW]

Right now he's about 5 inches. I feed him dried blood worms. Should I switch to live earth worms? He looks healthy though

 

[bettaowner]

He's eating freeze dried blood worms? These guys will usually eat live or frozen food only.

 

[vanimal]

He's eating freeze dried blood worms? These guys will usually eat live or frozen food only.

Yeah agreed. Haha switch to frozen blood worms and yeah try some small earth worms. Most eels will take blood worms and earth worms but I have a picky fire eel that only takes shrimp. I usually buy a bag of frozen shrimp get one thaw it and rip it up into small pieces and he seems to like that. You could also try shrimp maybe your Eel will like it too.

 

[Mudfrog]

Do a lot of water changes.. eels are not real hardy and a 10g tanks water can foul fairly easily.

 

[vanimal]

Do a lot of water changes.. eels are not real hardy and a 10g tanks water can foul fairly easily.

Agreed especially when smaller.

 

[vanimal]

What substrate do you have and plan on getting in the 50 gallon?

 

[AaronW]

I'm going to use sand because I wanna a more natural look for my tank. I've also heard that its easier to clean because it doesn't collect debris like gravel does. Any thoughts on that?

 

[vanimal]

I'm going to use sand because I wanna a more natural look for my tank. I've also heard that its easier to clean because it doesn't collect debris like gravel does. Any thoughts on that?

That is true and it will be better for your Eel too because when they burrow if you have rough gravel it can hurt them so go with sand.

 

[HopefulHobbiest]

Eel that will stay in a 55G?

you all seem very knowledgable about eels so let me ask you this...

is there a fresh water eel that will live in a 55G for life??

i'm in the process of cleaning a 125 i bought from a co-worker but between work and things to do around the house the clean up may take a lil while.. but i'm planning on moving some fish from my 55, adding some additional fish from LFS, you know how it goes...

i'll be keeping some of the fish in the 55 but i would like to add an eel to my collection.

any help you can provide would be extremely helpful.

as a side note i'm not yet sure on the substrate for the 125 but i'm really leaning towards gravel. 55 has sand and my filter flow(aquaclear 110 & 70) pushes it around way too much lol. every day during feeding i have to shift sand around to cover up the spots where the bottom glass is showing.(needless to say i'm probably gonna go with gravel in the 125)

 

[vanimal]

you all seem very knowledgable about eels so let me ask you this...

is there a fresh water eel that will live in a 55G for life??

i'm in the process of cleaning a 125 i bought from a co-worker but between work and things to do around the house the clean up may take a lil while.. but i'm planning on moving some fish from my 55, adding some additional fish from LFS, you know how it goes...

i'll be keeping some of the fish in the 55 but i would like to add an eel to my collection.

any help you can provide would be extremely helpful.

as a side note i'm not yet sure on the substrate for the 125 but i'm really leaning towards gravel. 55 has sand and my filter flow(aquaclear 110 & 70) pushes it around way too much lol. every day during feeding i have to shift sand around to cover up the spots where the bottom glass is showing.(needless to say i'm probably gonna go with gravel in the 125)

A Peacock Eel can live in a 55 gallon for life. They max out in size at around 8 inches but can reach 15 if given a large enough tank. I have never seen a 15 inch one but it's possible.

 

[HopefulHobbiest]

Awesome, I think I'll grab one of those once I switch some fish over to the 125

 

[vanimal]

Awesome, I think I'll grab one of those once I switch some fish over to the 125

I used to keep one in a 45 and he ate frozen Blood Worms. But remember eels can be very picky fish so you have to find a food they like. I would try all of these.
Frozen Blood Worms
Frozen Krill
Earth Worms (usually small ones)
Tubifex Worms
Frozen Shrimp (raw like the kind that we would eat)
And some will even take Shrimp Pellets
And if he doesn't like any of those foods which I doubt will happen because i even got my super picky Fire Eel to eat shrimp you should try live Ghost shrimp. At first that's all my FE would take but now he likes normal Shrimp.

 

[HopefulHobbiest]

That's good to know... I already use most of that feeding my fish now lol so I should be pretty much set

 

[AaronW]

So I'm gonna be using sand as my substrate. I was thinking pool filter sand because I like the color. Would that be ok?

 

[HopefulHobbiest]

As long as its not too abrasive it should be just fine for eels