Shy Fire Eel

[Mor61e]

I've had a fire eel in a community tank for a few months now, and i've only ever seen it come out to the front of the tank once, i've also never seen it eat. Is there any way i can get it to come out more?

 

[Mor61e]

Can someone please say something just so i know it's actually working

 

[black angel]

is this it?
http/fish.mongabay.com/species/Mastacemb...throtaenia.html
theres pictures as well.

What do you have with it and is it in the appropriate sized tank. It says it needs some salt in the water.

hope someone can help you better than me

 

[@ombomb]

What are you feeding it?

How big is the tank?

What else is in the tank?

 

[chris_1127]

i've got a small fire eel in my community tank, its pretty shy during the day but seems to be a lot more active during the evening and at night. I had problems at first feeding, as the barbs and severum in the community all wolf the bloodworms before he gets chance, so have now taken to hand feeding the eel frozen bloodworm cubes after dark. Now mine knows that the glass covers sliding back mean feeding time, hes out and up at the top of the tank waiting as soon as i open the lid.
Most of the day though he spends buried under gravel with only the end of his nose poking out

 

[Luke_e]

Would help a great deal if you give the tank volume, also maybe post some pics to show where it hides and a tank shot so we know if there is more than one place for it to hide.

 

[Mor61e]

The tank is 5ft long, 450 litres and it lives with tiger barbs, angelfish, sharks, corys, gudgeons and clown loaches. My tank is planted all the way along the back and i have bogwood and plant pots for hiding places. The substrate is sand and i feed it bloodworm.

 

[Mr Miagi]

Some fish prefer the dark/subdued lighting at night. Eels included. Most will come out at dusk/ight. Dont be worried. if it is eating, and coming out at night, youve got no problems.

Varing its diet will be better for your eel. Try Cockles, small white bait, Brine shrimp, even garden worms.

If you heavily plant the tank, and create shaded areas, he should become more active with time.

I dont always see mine. Not atleast unitl feeding time!

 

[spAcE mOnkEy]

Fire eels are nice fish. I'm pretty sure they shouldnt have any salt in their water. Most eels in this family are shy though, so its normal that your fish is shy. They generally come out at night more. Maybe you could get a dimmer light to see him at night or something. I heard moonlights would work with nocturnal fish like that. But as said, you could probably get him out more if you fed him more of a variety of foods. The best foods for this eel is meaty fishy foods, such as mussels, shrimp, whitebait, and other types of fish (these can usually be bought at a grocery store and should already be dead!).

 

[bunjiweb]

I Bought a fire-eel last week. It is about 7" long and is currently residing in my 4ft tank with loaches, catfish & plecs.

Having similar problems, He is very Shy. Sits under a rock all day with his head poking out. Can't be sure if it is eating or not. Have used Bloodworm, brineshrimp, mussel & tetraprima.

I will probably resort to ringing up the place i got him from and finding out what they were feeding their fire-eels on and give that a try.

Ben

 

[Mor61e]

cool, thanks for all your help guys, i'll give it a try

 

[ringham]

Hello,

I have had a fire eel for quite a few months now (about 8 ). I have never put salt in my water (I don't think that it is necessary), and I have about 4 eels at the moment including my fire eel. I have found that as they grow larger they do actually get less shy. My fire eel is about 8-8.5 inches long and is extremely active. I also have an unusual spiney eel that is about 3 inches and is very shy and under the stones a lot. I have had 1 of my spineys about 4 months and have only ever seen it eat once, and it is still very much alive. As eels are scavangers that do find food, and if they don't can live for a good week or more. I usually feed my eels on bloodworm and now that my fire eel is a decent size (in comparison to my others) I feed it chopped up white bait.

I hope I have been of some help.