Scott MacAdam
Fish Addict
WHAT A DAY........ I know this seems like quite a read but please, read on.....
I was attending some business conferences away from home and I decided to stop by one of the LPS on the way back. Once there, I spent a little time looking around and I came across the "White Spot Spiny Eel" (Mastacembelus armatus)... I had been contemplating getting one of these for some time now but i have never before been confonted with an opportunity to do so. I live in a small town and our only fish supplier is walmart, so I decided to check out the local market in the city... after some thinking and consideration, I decided to go ahead and buy this beauty of a fish. The cost, $30CDN, a bit pricy for my liking, but I would never see these where I live so I decided to take the risk.
The 4 hour drive home was a bit conserning but it didn't seem to affect the fish all that much. But still, I was careful to make sure not to stress the fish and about 4 hours and 15 minuites later, it was in my tank at home and looking nice and healthy. So after watching it for about another 15-20 minuites to observe how it was swimming /breathing/Etc. I was convinced that it would be fine and I continued on and went upstairs and caught the end of "Law and Order" on T.V.
After the show I headed back downstairs to check on the fish only to find it missing.... Panicing, I'm sifting through the plants thinking that it mush have coiled up and be in hiding.... and then I hear " flop....... flop....." I look behing the tank and there is my 1/2 foot long eel lying in a heap of dust and debris. I grabbed the fish and put it back in te water. with no reaction from the fish i figured it was probably too late and it had been out too long. regardless, I continurd to unwrap all of the cat hair and dust that had gotten attached like glue to this poor fish. All of a sudden, it takes off... so at this point the fish is hiding covered in dust and hair somewhere in my tank...
I hunt down the fish and attempt to clean it off, but do you think the fish understood my good intentions? nope! hahaha! and thus on goes the battle.....so I chase it into a net and take everything wrapped around it head off and let it free again.... Suprizingly, from what I can see, the fish is not overly stressed at all in consideration of the events prior, not half as stressed as I am at least...... but anyway, I reach for the stress coat to add a bit in because i'm sure my floor isn't all that "fish friendly". So to make my day even more fun, the bottle is empty. so hes roughing it, no stress coat tonight..
anyway, 30 minuites passes and I turn the lights down low because I understand that this fish is a noctournal eater.... so good enough, I throw in some flake food for the other few fish in there, expecting he may take a bit for himself. so I drop the food into the out flow of the filter hoping it would shoot some across the tank, and the food remains motionless. this is the point where I realize the filter is not working....i will spare you the details, but i did fix it, so, as the food hits the water he perches his head out of a plant, much like you see the moray eels do on thouse documentries just before they snatch a fish passing by. So I'm excited, hoping that maybe I won't have to feed this fish that special because of his apparent interest in the flake. A chunk of flake lands directly on his nose, and he sits there, doing nothing.... so the flake is a no go. so I look for my tubiflex worms, which are not yet to be found..... but no worries, I have a bag of frozen jumbo shrimp saved in the freezer for these occasions, I figured i'd chop one up and throw it in. well I bet you can see where this is headed..... My shrimp..... were thrown out....
so here I am tonight, with about 40lbs of books on my tank cover, with no food to offer this fish, and no stress coat.... what am I to do...... I can go in to walmart tomorow and pick some things up tomorow but I would like a solution ASAP. I've hear of fish eating cheese and plecos eating lots of vegatalbes.... is there anything I can offer this carnivore without making the already hectic matters worse? if not, what should I try to find to buy as food for it tomorow?
if it is of any intrest I will get some pics..... just let me know
Thanks Again Everyone.
I was attending some business conferences away from home and I decided to stop by one of the LPS on the way back. Once there, I spent a little time looking around and I came across the "White Spot Spiny Eel" (Mastacembelus armatus)... I had been contemplating getting one of these for some time now but i have never before been confonted with an opportunity to do so. I live in a small town and our only fish supplier is walmart, so I decided to check out the local market in the city... after some thinking and consideration, I decided to go ahead and buy this beauty of a fish. The cost, $30CDN, a bit pricy for my liking, but I would never see these where I live so I decided to take the risk.
The 4 hour drive home was a bit conserning but it didn't seem to affect the fish all that much. But still, I was careful to make sure not to stress the fish and about 4 hours and 15 minuites later, it was in my tank at home and looking nice and healthy. So after watching it for about another 15-20 minuites to observe how it was swimming /breathing/Etc. I was convinced that it would be fine and I continued on and went upstairs and caught the end of "Law and Order" on T.V.
After the show I headed back downstairs to check on the fish only to find it missing.... Panicing, I'm sifting through the plants thinking that it mush have coiled up and be in hiding.... and then I hear " flop....... flop....." I look behing the tank and there is my 1/2 foot long eel lying in a heap of dust and debris. I grabbed the fish and put it back in te water. with no reaction from the fish i figured it was probably too late and it had been out too long. regardless, I continurd to unwrap all of the cat hair and dust that had gotten attached like glue to this poor fish. All of a sudden, it takes off... so at this point the fish is hiding covered in dust and hair somewhere in my tank...
I hunt down the fish and attempt to clean it off, but do you think the fish understood my good intentions? nope! hahaha! and thus on goes the battle.....so I chase it into a net and take everything wrapped around it head off and let it free again.... Suprizingly, from what I can see, the fish is not overly stressed at all in consideration of the events prior, not half as stressed as I am at least...... but anyway, I reach for the stress coat to add a bit in because i'm sure my floor isn't all that "fish friendly". So to make my day even more fun, the bottle is empty. so hes roughing it, no stress coat tonight..
anyway, 30 minuites passes and I turn the lights down low because I understand that this fish is a noctournal eater.... so good enough, I throw in some flake food for the other few fish in there, expecting he may take a bit for himself. so I drop the food into the out flow of the filter hoping it would shoot some across the tank, and the food remains motionless. this is the point where I realize the filter is not working....i will spare you the details, but i did fix it, so, as the food hits the water he perches his head out of a plant, much like you see the moray eels do on thouse documentries just before they snatch a fish passing by. So I'm excited, hoping that maybe I won't have to feed this fish that special because of his apparent interest in the flake. A chunk of flake lands directly on his nose, and he sits there, doing nothing.... so the flake is a no go. so I look for my tubiflex worms, which are not yet to be found..... but no worries, I have a bag of frozen jumbo shrimp saved in the freezer for these occasions, I figured i'd chop one up and throw it in. well I bet you can see where this is headed..... My shrimp..... were thrown out....
so here I am tonight, with about 40lbs of books on my tank cover, with no food to offer this fish, and no stress coat.... what am I to do...... I can go in to walmart tomorow and pick some things up tomorow but I would like a solution ASAP. I've hear of fish eating cheese and plecos eating lots of vegatalbes.... is there anything I can offer this carnivore without making the already hectic matters worse? if not, what should I try to find to buy as food for it tomorow?
if it is of any intrest I will get some pics..... just let me know
Thanks Again Everyone.
