Help Concerning Fire Eel

[bhellium]

hi everyone ,i have a fire eel he eats well about 6in long but seems to rapidly breath like hes panting is this normal? I have tried to research this but always get conflicting results some people say they naturally breath fast, others say lack of oxygen while others say nitrite/nitrate poisoning well my no2 is 0 i have a heavily planted tank with a dragon goby ,snake fish,2 discus,5 rosy tetras who are all fine.Recently i lost a fire eel who was really tame would feed out of my hand then one day just stopped eating tried everything to get him eating again to no avail he rapidly breathed but every now and then would sneeze [only way i can desribe it] is this related to the other one breathing rapidly.Any help concerning these awesome creatures would be greatly appreciated.

 

[nmonks]

Something is clearly amiss with your environmental conditions. For a start, Dragon Gobies are brackish water fish, and any salinity high enough for them will be lethal to Discus. While Fire Eels are true freshwater fish, they may do better with a tiny amount of salt added (1-2 grammes/litre, not brackish!). They need extremely good water quality and lots of oxygen. Raising the water temperature high enough for Discus (i.e., 28-30 C) would be much too warm for Fire Eels (around 25 C is fine) because the warmer the water, the more oxygen the fish needs, but the less oxygen the water contains. Discus are adapted to those warm, muggy conditions -- that's why they're inactive most of the time -- but your Fire Eel won't like them at all. Finally, Fire Eels need a good strong water current, and anything strong enough for Fire Eels will be buffeting your Discus around the tank. Fire Eels don't particularly like or need very soft water; aim for around 10 degrees dH, pH 7-7.5.

So as I say, you're probably keeping one or more of these fish in the wrong conditions, and as a result, the more delicate species are dying off.

Obviously the only workable solution is to provide a brackish water system for the Dragon Goby; a high-temperature, low-current soft water set-up for your Discus; and a medium hardness, around neutral, plenty-of-current riverine system for your Fire Eel.

Cheers, Neale

hi everyone ,i have a fire eel he eats well about 6in long but seems to rapidly breath like hes panting is this normal? I have tried to research this but always get conflicting results some people say they naturally breath fast, others say lack of oxygen while others say nitrite/nitrate poisoning well my no2 is 0 i have a heavily planted tank with a dragon goby ,snake fish,2 discus,5 rosy tetras who are all fine.Recently i lost a fire eel who was really tame would feed out of my hand then one day just stopped eating tried everything to get him eating again to no avail he rapidly breathed but every now and then would sneeze [only way i can desribe it] is this related to the other one breathing rapidly.Any help concerning these awesome creatures would be greatly appreciated.