Help! Just Received Eels

[gosu-pk]

I just got 1 of each: Fire eel, tire track eel, and a freshwater eel

Do these guys survive in freshwater? Ive been hearing around that they must live in brackist/salt water

Is this true?
Please help!
And what do these guys eat? Snails? Fish?

Thank you please reply asap!

 

[diademhill]

I just got 1 of each: Fire eel, tire track eel, and a freshwater eel

Do these guys survive in freshwater? Ive been hearing around that they must live in brackist/salt water

Is this true?
Please help!
And what do these guys eat? Snails? Fish?

Thank you please reply asap!

Fire eels & tyre track eels are freshwater.

If the other was decribed as a freshwater moray it will need moving to brackish.

All these eat worms & crustaceans.

I hope you have a big, mature, tank.

 

[ArroWanaWhitey]

might be a good idea to research the fish a little bit before buying =)

 

[Stacy84]

i had a "freshwater" eel who faired well the first few months i had him. However over time he stopped eating and started to appear sickly. I read the same articles about needing brackish water so i moved him to my brackish tank but unfortunatly he was too weak and ended up passing away the next day (very very sad!). When I went out to replace him i found out that there is no such think as a freshwater eel and that they should be atleast brackish while young and then completely marine. I know this is the case for so called freshwater moray eels and snowflake eels as the LFS that educated me on the marine requirements of these eels had his in marine tanks and they looked very healthy and happy. Hope this helps and i recommend returning atleast the freshwater one if you cannot accomadate its salty needs.

 

[gosu-pk]

Thank you, that was very very helpful
Do you know how long until I should move my eel into brackish water?

 

[Stacy84]

Thank you, that was very very helpful
Do you know how long until I should move my eel into brackish water?

I am only familiar with the "freshwater moray" so I will go with above responses and say that only the moray should be converted to brackish so I hope you have two tanks. You don't want to plunge the eel into brackish right away. You want to set up the other tank and start increasing the salinity using marine aquarium salt about 0.002 per week with the eel in the tank. In all honesty I think that you should slowly convert to full marine instead of stopping at brackish to preserve long term health. However, he should be fine at high end brackish (1.016-1.018) for short term until you have the set up for a marine aquarium. By short term i mean within a six months to a year. If you are not able to handle a full marine tank in the near future for the life of your eel I would return him. One sign of the water quality being poor or not salty enough is if the eel stops or slows eating. A healthy eel should rigourously eat most meaty foods. Just as a note: Keep in mind that fresh water morays get to be about a foot and a half long and will eat any fish that will fit in its mouth. At about a foot mine ate a full grown barb and a two inch bala. I would recommend keeping them with larger fish or other eels as the generally like to be with others of their kind or similar species. (Mine fell in love and moved in with my rope fish) I hope this helps keep you from having the same experience i did! Good luck

 

[pica_nuttalli]

FYI, the spiney eels (fire and tyre-track) are 100% freshwater. these eels will also both easily reach and exceed 2 feet in length and should be kept in no less than 200g when adult.

so you've got about 6 months to get a great big tank or find them new homes