What Salinity?

[Marine/Freshwater?]

I was looking for fish put in with my figure eight and this wierd looking spiny eel at my lfs. I thought no it couldnt be or could it? It was infact Macrognathus pancalus a "brackish" species according to fisbase. I am curiuos what specific gavityy would be appropriate and what the extremes are. This is the only brackish spiny eel listed on fishbase. It is said to occur in estuaries. He is doing well, but id like some recomendations on food. Im feeding him flecks of silverside. He is 12 c.m. Any advice apreciated. Yes I realize that my puffer could be dangerous. I have a sand substrate and plenty of places to hide.

 

[nmonks]

Spiny eels aren't really good brackish water fish. Tops is SG 1.005, and ideally around 1.003. While that's fine if you're mixing with mollies and knight gobies, they're not an option for fish that need high salinity environments. Anyway, yes, you can potentially mix these with figure-8s, provided the SG is kept relatively low.

Macrognathus pancalus isn't the only brackish water spiny eel. There are many others. Mastacembelus armatus, Macrognathus aral, and Macrognathus aculeatus for a start.

Cheers, Neale