Fire eels are relatively hardy fish, and are easy to take care of. They are mostly nocturnal, so all feedings are primarily at night.
Common Names: Fire Eel
Category: Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes)
Family: Mastacembelidae
Origin: Asia; Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia
Main Ecosystem: A large lowland floodplain species occurring in slow moving rivers and inundated plains.
Salinity: Freshwater
Temperament: Peaceful, but can become aggressive towards other fire eels as they get older. Will get along fine with most community fish, unless it’s small enough to eat.
Diet: Scavengers, live foods (Black worms,Brine Shrimp, Mosquito larvae, red wigglers), Frozen any small pieces that they can fit in their mouth.
Care: Fire eels are relatively hardy fish, and are easy to take care of. They are mostly nocturnal, so all feedings are primarily at night. I feed my 2 fire eels frozen bloodworms that have been thawed out. I will also mix in frozen brine shrimp and beef heart as well on occasion but they don’t seem to touch the brine shrimp by itself. For the tank, it’s recommended to do a periodic water change of 20-30% weekly, or if the tank has a low bioload, then you can spread it out a little further. I prefer to do 50% weekly myself on all my tanks.
dkH 5-19
Potential size: Up to 40″ in the wild, may reach 40″ in captivity.
Water Region: bottom
Activity: nocturnal night
Lifespan: Not known, They have been reported to live up to 20 years.
Color: Dark brown/black with light grey-brown underside, with gold and red pattern down the sides and back.
Mouth: Pointed, elongated nose.
Sexing: Unknown
Acclimation: Here’s my way of acclimating. I take the bag of fish, and empty them into a small bucket. Then with a cup, I will slowly add tank water until the bucket is half full. Then I will empty half of the water in the sink and do this again. Generally this will take 20 minutes or so. And I’ve never suffered any losses, even with some of the more delicate fish like my German Blue Rams. Once acclimated, I will empty the bucket into a fish net over a 5 gallon bucket, and place the fish into the tank.
Breeding: Spawnings have been reported in captivity in large 125+ gallon tanks with a neutral
Sources:
http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_Mastacembelus_erythrotaenia.php
http://filaman.ifm-geomar.de/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=12026
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=16&cat=1911&articleid=2632
http://en.mimi.hu/aquarium/fire_eel.html
Last update: 2006-06-05 13:48
Author: Lonewolfblue