Spiny Eels

[Fishyfanatic]

We purchased two spiny eels for our 55 gal cichlid tank. I have read online that some people will put them in their tanks and not see them for 6 months with the exception for their heads stick out from the sand. Ours are doing just that. The only time we see them is when their head is sticking out of the sand or when the hand from the greenery. I have never seen them eat. Does anyone have any experience with spiny eels? Even though we don't see them eat, are they finding food somehwere? We have had them for about three weeks now.

 

[Toirtis]

I have 8 of them (two each of the barred, tyretrack, peacock, and fire), and I rarely see much of any of mine. Make sure you are providing some good meaty foods (frozen bloodworms, mysis shrimp, tubifex worms, live earthworms, live blackworms) near their hide-outs, so you know that they are getting fed well (feeding just before turning out the lights will help keep their food from getting stolen). What species of spiny eel do you have? Depending on species, they range from 10"-48" when mature.

 

[Concubine]

mine did this when i first got them(peacock). they will grow out of it(along with most tanks ). just offer them meaty foods. what i did is put the food just out of reach of their current hiding spot, which was usually a cave or in the sand,so they would have to move to get it. they quickly learned(luckily) if they did not get it quick, there would be nothing left to get.hope this helps

p.s. If you've had them for three weeks, they were definantly eating something

 

[Fishyfanatic]

The two little guys are spot-finned spiny eels. Today I purchased some freeze dried tubiflex worms. I put a piece into the tank and it floated at the top and the cichlid's are now fighting over it. I tried getting live foods but our lfs's doesn't sell anything live. We currently feed out cichlid's freeze dried blood worms, some flake, a couple red parrot pellets, and brine shrimp. The only thing that they sell at the lfs that is frozen is brine shrimp. Is there anywhere that we can purchase frozen blood worms?

 

[Toirtis]

The two little guys are spot-finned spiny eels.

Sound like peacocks

Is there anywhere that we can purchase frozen blood worms?

Just about every LFS on the planet...I am rather surprised that yours doesn't carry it, but I bet that they can easily get it in for you.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Is there a difference between Spot-finned eels and peacock eels? The lfs said they were spot-finned spiny eels and when we got home we looked them up and sure enough, they are spot-finned.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Here's a pic of the lil guy. It's not his actual pic but they are identical.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

We did go to the LFS and they said that they didn't carry them so we drove a little further to a different place and they had them. We tied a chuck to a rock with a rubber band and sunk it to the bottom about 2 inches in front of one of the eels and he came out and started munchin away at it.

 

[Toirtis]

Is there a difference between Spot-finned eels and peacock eels?

Nope...both are Macrognathus siamensis, just different common names.

Good to hear you found bloodworms and that your eel is enjoying them.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Yes, they are both really enjoying the fact that they can eat. I was pretty worried about them for a while. We thought we would do this about once every other day. Is that too much, too little, or just about right in regards to how much to feed them? We feed them about the size of a dime.

 

[Toirtis]

Once every second day is fine...I feed mine smaller amounts on a daily basis...and, of course, you will need to increase the portions as your eels grow (plus, as they get larger, they will be able to handle larger food, like small earthworms).

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Where would I purchase earthworms? I asked the lfs about it (again, they seem to carry nothing for anything except for goldfish and guppies) and they said they didn't carry them. Are these the same worms you use for fishing?

 

[Toirtis]

Either collect them yourself (from land you know to be untreated with pesticides or herbicides) or buy them at a bait shop.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Thanks for the advice Toirtis! I think I have learned more in the past 2 hours from this site than the past two years drilling the lfs employees.

 

[Toirtis]

No problem...thats what we're here for.

 

[jibboo]

I had a zigzag eel for about a month, and I never saw it eat either. In fact, it didn't even hide in the sand (which I found bizarre since every other eel in lfs tank was under the substrate). He would disappear for long periods of time (I'm assuming that he was in the hollow log in the middle of my tank), then he'd come out every few days, so I knew he was still alive. Unfortunately, he died, and I have no idea why. But I did get some neat pics of him before he died:

 

[TomK2]

I had an eel (sold as tire track eel, but never seemed to get as big as one should, so perhaps it was a different one. looked a lot like yours) that spent its time swimming between plastic logs. This guy had his head out all the time, and swam free in the tank to gobble up his share of frozen bloodworms. Curiosity got the best of him one day, when he swam up the outflow tube of a magnum filter, and met his demise with the filters impeller. I am sure your eels have been eating all along, just privately. When he learns that you = frozen worms, he won't be so shy.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Thanks for all of your reply's, I appreciate it.

 

[hitty]

hey

i've had three spiny eels...

the first two lasted 3 weeks each............ death by starvation.... they wouldnt eat the frozen blood worms i was feeding them...

the third eel... i tried feeding live worms... he did not eat for almost two weeks and i thought he was a goner... slowly he started showing more interest in the worms i was dangling in front of his favorite bunch of java fern... he ate a coupld and i was over the moon....

even though he only managed to eat a couple of worms per feeding (cos of the other fish) he started to pick up... swam around heaps more and seemed happier...

about a month later (and many $$$ on live worms) he started to eat frozen worms...

now (about 4 months later) he swims around the front of the tank waiting to be fed he'll eat right outta my.... i make a little cup with my palm with the worms inside.... he jumps in quite contently and has his fill before running off

cute little guy... seems a little more intelligent than the other fish?

but yep... try the live worm option