Caecilians

[Mikaila31]

It's been awhile since I posted any pics of these guys. I was able to get some good shots last night. I'm going to try to get some full body pics tonight. You can't tell in the pictures, but they are about 2 feet long now. They seem to really like their upgraded tank.

 

[simonas]

I think I've seen you post pics of these before. Lovely looking fish, I've never seen them for sale but would love to keep them!!

 

[england]

very nice Typhlonectes natans,,,,,how many you got,or is it just the one?
beautiful oddball, how do you find them in the tank?do they hide under the substrate at all?

 

[paul_219]

Thats an amazing fish. Lovely.

 

[TylerFerretLord]

The funny thing is that they're not fish.

They look great, wish I could keep some.

 

[matt20687]

are these tropical or marine? i have never seen these before. they look awesome gotta get some!!!!

 

[Straydum]

they're kept in fresh water and are classified under amphibians rather than fishes

 

[Mikaila31]

very nice Typhlonectes natans,,,,,how many you got,or is it just the one?
beautiful oddball, how do you find them in the tank?do they hide under the substrate at all?

There's two adults, one male one female. They normally don't hide under the substrate. Sometimes they bury their heads, but they never go any further than that. They usually both curl up under the bogwood in the tank. They are easy to find in the tank. They sleep most the time, but will swim around the tank during the day and the night. Pretty cool when they are out swimming.

My camera went into hiding, otherwise I would post a pic of one of them being held. But in my sig. there is a video link of them eating. Despite being two foot long carnivores, they are really peaceful. They share a tank with 26 fish ranging from 3"-1.5" and some cherry shrimp. They have never eaten a fish or live shrimp, but will tear apart a nightcrawler or chunk of shrimp. Silly thing is the fish give them no space, especially the panda garras. If you watch the video you will see. The panda garras swim all over the caecilians, this actually bothered the caecilians the first week. Now its not too odd to see one of the caecilians sleeping w/ a garra sitting right on its head. Like in this old pic

 

[england]

you have some serious beautiful oddballs, whats that with it in last pic?
do they cost alot of money the caecilians?<colombian worm thing

 

[Mikaila31]

The fish is a Panda Garra. I paid $30 for each of them. Which IMO isn't a lot for something that is suppose to live 5-20 years. Hardest thing is finding them. My dad would buy them all the time when I was a kid. They where kept very poorly and tended to die or escape the tank after a few months. Then they disappeared from stores and you never saw them any more. I ran across these two just buy chance a year ago. Was just browsing a fish store and was totally shocked when I saw them. They were an impulse buy . Next hardest thing is keeping them in the tank. The glass lid on this tank is duct taped down. Easy to care for, toss in some food every other day. Also pull out their skin shedding, which is like snot . The fish try to eat it, and almost suffocate doing so. They still try every time though....

 

[connorsbala]

Wow..i totally forgot about my old one, those pics have reminded me of it! I had it for 3 months, but then as you may have guessed, it got out of the tank any yep...never to be found again. It had glass sliding covers on the tank. One day, i noticed there was a slight gap, and the first thing that came to my head was to check for my Caeclillian Worm! So i look under its fav log...couldnt see it. I added some live bloodworms in a feeding dish as it would usually come out and feed but it didnt. I then decided to take out all the wood and rock and still it couldnt be found...week later it was found under my bed
Great creatures though! Love their faces...its as if theyre smiling all the time!

EDIT: I bought mine for £12.95 at 8 inches....grew it to about 11" before it escaped. And also it was kept with Amano Shrimp and tetras such as Cardinal's and Rummy-Noses...never had one fish go missing

 

[Mikaila31]

Sorry to hear that you lost yours. I've only had a few minor incidents. The worse was when I found my female up in the hood in the middle of the night. She had managed to get up on top of the tank lid under the hood. Good thing I built my hood, so it weighs 20 pounds. It basically confined her on the top of the tank. She is just really lucky I hear her rustling when I went to lock the door at 1 am. My glass tops have been taped down ever since then. All other incidents have been really minor. I'll be doing a water change and forget to close the lid. A minuet later I hear a "plop" and turn around to find a really confuse caecilian on the floor. Its always the female, she has jumped out a couple times. The male never has.

I'm planning over winter break to modify my lids. Replace the plastic back strip with plexiglass, and I want to some how attach magnets to both the tank and glass top so the lid is held down. I have no idea if that will work though.