Advice Needed On Fire Eels.

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hedgehog738

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hi, i have an approximately 8-10inch fire eel. i have her in a tank with medium to large fish but now i am wanting a change and wanting to put smaller shoaling fish in. i am going to get rid (to nice homes, not the bin)of my fish i have now but i really want to keep my fire eel. i was wondering what size fish i would be ok and not get eaten by her. she is really friendly and hand fed on the first day i got her and has never shown any aggression. also i am mainly feeding her on bloodworm but what other foods do they really enjoy or any foods i could give her as a treat. i have tried giving her brine shrimp when she was younger but she doesnt seem to like anything but bloodworm. thanks.
 
We had a couple of fire eels that were approx 28" long, lovely creatures, used to eat chopped up prawn and chopped earthworm, bloodworm is good for getting them feeding but they need a bit more protein to grow, so I would try them with prawn/earthworm/cockles.
 
i have just tried her on lance fish but she wasnt interested. thanks i might try some prawns. where didi you get the earth worms from? or did you just find them yourself and do you have to wash them?
 
We had arowana and stingray too, so we bought 1kg tubs of dendrobaena to keep the fish fed, but you can dig them up from the garden and clean them.
If fish are imprinted on one type of food, you have to let them get hungry before you try something else, they associate bloodworm with food but may not do the same for something they have not seen before, patience is required.
 
Fire eels do need big tanks with quite a bit of height, what size tank do you have? Then we can tell you which fish will be compatibe ;)
 
Fire eels do need big tanks with quite a bit of height, what size tank do you have? Then we can tell you which fish will be compatibe ;)
I have a 250L tank but if she gets really big I will upgrade but probably not for a longtime yet.
 
Fire eels do need big tanks with quite a bit of height, what size tank do you have? Then we can tell you which fish will be compatibe ;)
I have a 250L tank but if she gets really big I will upgrade but probably not for a longtime yet.

That size tank will be fine for a while but the minimum tank size is 400l for when the eel grows. However, what are the measurements of the tank as at that size they need to be in a tank length of atleast 36" long. A suitable tank setup would be a planted tank with fine substrate and try to avoid putting in ornaments and rocks with sharp edges as they are sensitive when it comes to cuts however they can handle it but just more sensitive than other fish.
Suitable tank mates are fish that are not too small to fit in its mouth but also fish that are not too aggressive. They will get on with any fish including at that size and people have got away with smaller fish like tetras with them but they will grow quick and if they are given the right treatment and the right size tank they can grow quickly up to 1 metre (100cm) in a years time. I don't recommend any small fish like tetras. Usually they are kept with fish like Oscars and bigger catfish however Oscars will need a bigger tank.
They are kept with monster fish like Oscars, Pacus, Silverdollars, Silver Arowanas and other big catfish also clown loach. Its just about the tank size you have that people might say these fish will not be compatible. People might not agree to this but if you are for definite going to upgrade to a larger tank later then you could keep a couple of small oscars around 3" but will warn you that these will also grow quicker than you think.
Give the fire eel a good home by putting in bogwood and some long pipe that is twice as big than the eel in diametre so it feels secure, they love to get inside tunnel areas and feel more secure. The more you make him feel at home the more you will enjoy watching the eel. Mine took ages to eat and did't eat any of the food I usually feed my fish so I thought I will try some live earth worms and he went after it straight away, the problem was that he was around 7-8" to but I couldn't always find worms that were fin enough for him to eat, they were all too fat :drool:
 
I have just tried giving her some frozen krill and she is just having a nibble at the moment but I will keep trying until she gobbles it all up!
 
I had a 20 inch fire eel last year and it loved prawns and earthworms wouldn;t touch lancefish though.

I had a couple of small clown loach in there with it which it didn;t bother with but i have no doubt that if there were small tetras or anything in there they would soon be an evening snack

I;m surprised to hear they could grow to a meter in a year as I;ve always foundthem slow growers
 

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