My New Peacock Spiny Eel

[Genesis]

Just an update on his progress;
Ned is a very lively addition to the tank, he's always got his pointy little nose in all the action and loves to explore the tank. Im pleased to say he's eating nicely, he enjoyed a whole cube of bloodworm yesterday (greedy bugger) but its great to see he's not starving. Ive also blocked off all the holes so he doesnt try a fin at carpet surfing

here are some pics of Ned;

(mugshot^ )

 

[Genesis]

 

[jayjay]

looks good! just wondering about you keeping him with gravel? does he burrow? he might ingure himself is why i'm asking?

tank specs aswel please sorry i haven't read your other posts so don't know about it.

he looks so tiny lol.

 

[nmonks]

Agreed. Please consider switching to sand. Spiny eels try to dig into gravel and scratch themselves. They then get bacterial infections, and these seem untreatable, and then they die. This happens far too often. A spiny eel in a sandy tank is a lot more fun, too. You'll see him really do his thing, including hide himself in the sand with just his head poking out. Very cute.

Cheers,

Neale

looks good! just wondering about you keeping him with gravel? does he burrow? he might ingure himself is why i'm asking?

 

[Genesis]

he does dig sometimes, but very rarely, only ever seen it once, usually he's swimming around looking for food.

he's about 2-3 inches long and the tank is 180l or 47.5 us gallons

 

[ringham]

its about like 2 inches rite now but wat should i do...i heard they get bigg , will it be able to survive its whole life

if not how long can it stay in the 29 g for ... i shoulda known they grow big eh

so should i just let it grow in the 29 or flushem down the toulet n get a smaller pleco like one that maxed growth is like 6 inches...instead of like 20

how long does it take for the pleco to reach like 10 inches

When eels are small they find it very hard to burrow themselves inot gravel. For small eels, sand is HIGHLY recommended. When bigger they shouldn't have any problems but if n eel feels that it has nowhere to hide then they CAN get very strssed out. I once kept a baby spiney with gravel and it just couldn't get under. Having something around them on all sides makes them feel secure. When they cannot burrow the lose their security and can die (IME). This does not however mean that this will happen to yours. I have raised several eels with gravel.

Your gravel seems to be particularly fine so IMO there should be no problem.

 

[cane76]

Ned would prefer sand im sure

 

[ringham]

in short, yes I think that he would prefer sand.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

such a cutie!! curse you for reinvigorating my deep seated need to one day own an eel!

(ringham, that is hands-down the most bizzarro quote that you have posted up there. what on earth?!? )

 

[ringham]

lol, maybe

I think it is pretty wierd thinking that the weasley twins are sexy. We all have our opinions lol.

 

[cane76]

im confused what has that quote got to do with this thread and who the hell are the weasly twins

 

[ringham]

the weasly twins are 2 characters in the harry potter films lol.

Back to the point... cool eel.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

yeah, cool eel.

just a general question for anybody, but are peacock eels social or territorial? i'm just wandering if they might not be more inclined to thrive if kept in a pair/trio/group.

 

[Dragonscales]

They are social fish and I always keep them in groups. They feel more secure, seem to enjoy the company and are less likely of tank jumping IME.

 

[ringham]

Eels can be kept with other fish. In my porfile you will see that in my 240 i keep them in a community. It does not matter a huge amount wether they are kept in groups, however IMO they PREFER to be kept as more than 1.