freshwater moray eel

[ozzy47]

ok i just got my first freshwater moray eel after alot of research and going against my lfs i have some salt as it appears they are a brackish fish, my question is how can i get him to feed? i have tried cockles, whitebait and lance fish even holding them in front of his cave but he will not come out for them its been 3 days now and i havent been able to get him to eat a single thing.

 

[CFC]

Morray eels are seriously fussy eaters, what was the lfs feeding it before you bought it? The golden rule whenever buying any predatory oddball is to ask to see it eat before purchase, if the lfs refuses or the fish does not eat then dont buy the it unless you are experienced in weening wild caught fish onto a more practical diet. To get your eel to start eating i suggest some live food, small fish and feeder shrimp should tempt it to feed, once the eel is eating and its confidence grows it will start to come out and you can try getting it onto meaty frozen foods like white bait, cockles, mussels and shrimp.


edit: Ive just noticed that you have your eel in with a oscar and plec i think you may have misunderstood the meaning of brackish. Brackish water contains much more salt than oscars and plecs can tolerate, in a 100g tank you should be adding somewhere in the region of 50 tablespoons of marine salt to bring the SG up to a reading of around 1.010 on a hydrometer, your eel can survive a while in less saline and even freshwater but in the long term its health will suffer the longer it is kept that way, in the wild these eels will even enter full sea water on occasion.

 

[ozzy47]

ok thank you for that cfc unfortunatly my lfs have said i dont even need any salt in the water but if i feel i must add some just 5 tablespoons will do i am getting increasingly worried about him he now looks as though he is gasping for air, it may be a case of taking him back i think, another question how would polypterus fair in with oscars wich are about 3 inches at the moment the polypterus are only about 3 to 4 inches themselves.

many thanks

 

[CFC]

A polypterus would be a much better choice of tankmate providing it was one of the larger species like P.delhizi or P.ornatipinnis, P.senegalus doesnt get big enough to live with adult oscars. Bichirs have one of the most rapid growth rates i have seen and should be able to keep up with the oscar in the growth stakes.

 

[ozzy47]

well thank you very much cfc i am going to the lfs later so i am going say about taking the moray back and getting 2 polypterus for my oscars, one more question sorry to be a pain but will the pleco be ok in with them all.

and again many thanks

 

[fish_r_great]

Common Plecos get up to 18" and should be fine.

 

[CFC]

Common Plecos get up to 18" and should be fine.

No they wont actually. Plecs should not be kept with bichirs or garfish as both these types of fish have ganoid scales, fish like plecos and rasping cyprinids (redtail black sharks and flying foxes etc) sometimes feed on the slime coating of bichirs/gars leaving them open to infections which can and usually do kill the fish.

 

[ozzy47]

once again thank u very much cfc

 

[Levine]

I have never seen a pleco scale suck, thought it was more of a chinese algae eater and flying fox kind of gig? I have 3 common plecs in 3 different tanks and haven't seen this occur. Anyone have a link to an article? Sorry for off topic.

 

[CFC]

They only seem to do it to Polypterides (bichirs etc) and gars which are the only fish to have ganoid scales, for some reason plecs are drawn to their slime coating. The smaller L number plecs usually work out ok (as long as they are too big to fit in the bichirs mouth) but big plecs like commons and gibbiceps can over power the bichirs and pin them down.

 

[ryan]

I have never seen a pleco scale suck, thought it was more of a chinese algae eater and flying fox kind of gig? I have 3 common plecs in 3 different tanks and haven't seen this occur. Anyone have a link to an article? Sorry for off topic.

I have seen them do it to large disk shape fish like Angels and Discus when they reach roughly 6-7" my fish seemed to have an aggressive change.

 

[Dwarfs]

Common Plecos get up to 18" and should be fine. 

No they wont actually. Plecs should not be kept with bichirs or garfish as both these types of fish have ganoid scales, fish like plecos and rasping cyprinids (redtail black sharks and flying foxes etc) sometimes feed on the slime coating of bichirs/gars leaving them open to infections which can and usually do kill the fish.

Does that include ropefish aswell? I have my fish in seperate tanks temporarily (30g, geo, pictus, ropefish, and butterfly fish, and the other a 20g long with the pleco, the gudgeon and an african knife) Would my clown pleco suck on the ropefish? I can put the pleco with other fish if I have to

 

[CFC]

Yes rope/reed fish are polypterids and have ganoid scales just like their bichir and gar relatives. If you can seperate them without having problems than i would as it is better to be safe than sorry.

 

[Dwarfs]

Yes rope/reed fish are polypterids and have ganoid scales just like their bichir and gar relatives. If you can seperate them without having problems than i would as it is better to be safe than sorry.

Well I'm setting up another 30 gallon with some firemouths or rainbow cichlids soon so, I'll put the pleco in there, they are in different tanks ATM
Thanks for the info