Fire Eel

[jasonskillz]

i have had my fire eel for about two weeks now
i have only seen it come out once
why wont it come out???
it is really hard to feed it too
i have to reach in my tank and put a piece of worm for it to eat, my tank is pretty big is ya

 

[CFC]

Small eels are very shy and nocturnal, its only when they reach a foot plus that they start to be more outgoing. Keeping hand feeding the worms until it grows and eventually you will see more of it.

 

[pieman]

Could he not get one of this night effect lights, that way the eel may come out and he can still see the eel to geed him

 

[ringham]

I have 4 eel, 2 of which are fire eels. My smallest fire eel is around 9 - 10" and is always out and about. I think that all fish have a certain time perios that differs between fish to get used to their surroundings. 1 of my standard spineys took around 5 months to stop being shy. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. Try handfeeding your fish with frozen bloodworm and he will eventually asociate your hand with food as all of mine have done. Then he will be out quite often. However even if he does get used to you, and even once he does get out of his shy period eels are nocturnal so you can't expect to always see him. Patiance is a main factor when it comes to keeping eel. They are really fantastic when they stop being shy. I have one of those night effect lights and I don't think that it makes a big difference. You could always get one and if it does make a difference then great, if it doesn't make a differece te at least it looks decent.

 

[Polypterus Delhezi]

i agree, also it depends what size of the fish are in the tank with it, aggressive and large fish can bully or scare the eel into hiding more.
Also another tip for anyone tend to keep eels as the biggest thing in your tank untill they grow at least 1ft, i brought one that was 8inches and stupidly it got eaten by my old pike cichlid
but like ringham said the main factors are for it to climatize and ajust to its surrounds and that it is nocternal

 

[ChrisCook]

I had a Fire Eel which would hide under anything it could until night time when everyone was asleep. I added a second Fire Eel to the tank and they both now swim around all day happily.

 

[jasonskillz]

so i should get 2???
well now it doesnt see so scared anymore
it sticks its head out way more from its hiding place and sorta became territorial
now whne i hold a chunk of worms in form of the hiding place, it will snatch it out off my fingers
waiting when it doesnt get scared and just swims around all the time

 

[CFC]

Fire eels like most of the larger spiny eel species become increasingly territorial and aggressive toward other eel shaped fish as they grow older, while keeping two fire eels in the same tank while they are young may work for a while the chances are you will have issues in the future unless you have a very large tank.

Stick with the hand feeding and slowly lengthen the distance between your hand and the eel so it has to come out further to snatch the food. As the eel grows bigger and more confident it will start to come out into the open more, my 20" fire eel never stops swimming around the tank.

 

[ringham]

I agree that as they get older/larger they also become less shy. Also I used the technique of moving the food farther away as it got more used to my tank, with my 17-18" fire eel. Even though he comes out happily at feeding time he doesn't swim around when the lights are on. He is however as lively as anything when the lights are off. CFC, does your swim around even with the lights on? My smaller ones that I have had for years do but with a 20" eel that must look great 8)

 

[CFC]

Yeah my one is constantly active day or night, lights on or off.

Here's a couple of pics taken this morning

 

[ringham]

Thos are great pics!!! 8)

What do you keep your fire eel with? And what do you feed him other than bloodworm? I ask what you feed him because mine refuses anything other than.

 

[CFC]

Mine mainly eats frozen bloodworm, huge great lumps of the stuff, but it will also eat live river shrimp and worms from my compost heap when they are offered.

I keep it with a couple of rays, peacock bass, silver arowana, royal knife fish, siamese tiger, fei feng and couple of big catfish in my largest tank.

 

[ringham]

It sound like you have a FANTASTIC tank

 

[pieman]

Off topic but, just out of curiosity, how much did it cost to setup your 250g tank?

 

[CFC]

Initially the tank cost me about £650 to set up all in, that was the tank, 3 filters, 2 heaters, powerheads, lights and DIY stand.