Eel Id.... For The Last Time Lol

[Starfishpower]

photobucket isnt working for me, and i could explain all the other things im having difficulty with trying to get these things up and remain up but ill leave it at the only way i can get this to work is if i use the attachments options which only comes up in certain forums, like "other catfish" for instance, which is where i have posted it

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=234311

hopefully this will work this time.

 

[Mr._Fishy]

Yep, that's Macrognathus siamensis. Otherwise known as the peacock eel. Really cool fish.

Ryan

 

[Starfishpower]

thanks! they get along wonderfully with each other so im really happy. i even woke up this morning to look over and see them swimming around together.

 

[Mr._Fishy]

They are a gregarious species, so you should see lots of the hanging around together!

Ryan

 

[Starfishpower]

once i get my bigger tank i want to get atlest 4 i looked at tanks last night, i found some glass 75 galons for $180 with a stand for about the same. i can make my own hood. particularly when hoods are $130. i need to design the biotype first (i want it to be a spiny eel tank with the largest species in there being peacocks... so maybe a south asian tank with native plants) and then i can design the hood to hold the right type of light. id like to get 2 external filters even though i only need one, just cause i want extra clean water and in case one breaks i wouldnt be scrambling for money to quickly by a replacement. i need new bogwood too cause the peice i have has a smallhole in it that the eels like to hide in... and my first one is getting so fat he's starting to get stuck in it

 

[Mr._Fishy]

Be sure to widen the hole that he is getting stuck in now! If they get stuck, they are a pain to get unstuck as their spines prevent them from backing out. I got mine stuck in wood, wasn't fun to get him out. Had to use a saw to saw the wood as much as I could, then break the wood where the hole was.

Ryan

 

[Starfishpower]

that sucks. i hope he's ok. im hoping my new eel will pull though being moved and all, the guy at the lfs (walmart )took FOREVER catching him... man that guy was incompetent, i seriously wanted to be like "oh just give me the net! il catch him!" ya.... i cant stand bad pet store ppl. hes still hesitant to eat, if he's eating at all. at least one of them is though cause none of the earthworm bits are left the next morning when i check it. im gonna give him a week.

 

[Mr._Fishy]

Mine is alive and kicking to this very day. My piece of wood is a different story though. And spiny eels are incredibly hard to catch. If you do ever have to catch yours, the two net method seems to work best.

Ryan

 

[Starfishpower]

well im glad to hear your fish is alive. i always hate it when a beloved pet of mine dies and since im now in full agreement that im going to need a much larger tank than the 55 i have now, im starting to turn my attention to larger fish. if i have to end up with just smaller species of spiny eels (since i want it to be an eel only tank) then that's what ill have to do, but i might as well ask this any way. if i had just peacocks, as the smallest in there, do they get big enough for me to get something like a fire eel as well and have him/her not see the peacocks as food or would i be better off just sticking with peacocks and smaller ones like zig zags and half bandeds?

 

[Mr._Fishy]

I would just stick to members of the Macrognathus genus. Members of the Mastacembelus genus will either get too large or have different water requirements than your other fish.

Ryan

 

[Starfishpower]

 

[Starfishpower]

hmmm i just did a water test and my pH is has dropped to 6.4. it was at 7.8 three weeks ago. is that bad? what could be causing that?

 

[nmonks]

I'd concur with this, though with the caveat that at least some Macrognathus can get quite big, e.g., 60 cm for Macrognathus aral (the one-striped spiny eel). That said, I've not heard of Macrognathus aral get about 30-40 cm in captivity.

Since all Macrognathus seem to have identical requirements, I don't think identification is terribly important. As I've said elsewhere, I suspect this fish is simply an unusual example of M. siamensis, but the aquarium literature is as good as useless for identifying these fish and Fishbase has only a very limited selection of photos.

Cheers, Neale

I would just stick to members of the Macrognathus genus. Members of the Mastacembelus genus will either get too large or have different water requirements than your other fish.

 

[toddnbecka]

Biological activity will cause the pH to drop, something known as "old tank syndrome". The carbonate content (which stabilizes pH) of the water is constantly being "used up" by the organic acids produced by bacteria. The solution is to keep the substrate and filter media cleaner while increasing frequency of partial water changes. Or you can do it the lazy way by adding crushed coral to raise the pH and hardness, but you still need to step up the mainenance.
I have a pair of Tanganykian spiney eels, they're my favorite fish.
female plagiostoma:

male:

 

[Starfishpower]

ok, ill do that. and i think my sand has started to grow anaerobic bacteria, parts of it are turning black. is there anything i should do to deal with this other than just stirring it up gently at every water change?