Getting a fire eel...

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linkinpark

AC Members
Mar 10, 2009
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Hey guys .
Will be getting a fire eel within this week and i was just wondering if anyone knows a bit about these majestic fishes. I have a 55g tank with 2 blue 3spotted gouramis, and 4 ghost knives. I know it's not that big for all these but i'm planning to move to a bigger tank in a couple of years. The fire eel is nearly 25cm and i already placed a 70cm pvs pipe in my tank and i alrady have rounded small black gravel and 2 pieces of driftood and plenty of fake plants. My PH: 7.5, temp: 26 degrees celcious GH:10 and No2 of 0.0 mg. Anything else i should know about in order not to lose my fire eel cause i set the tank up especially for a fire eel.
 

Squeakfish

Fight the current!
Jan 9, 2008
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SoCal
All I know is you're going to need a tank twice that size to keep the eel longterm. And you're severely pushing your limit with 4 ghosts. You shouldn't keep more than two together in ANY tank, as their delicate EM fields will scramble. Each one of those fish is also capable of reaching over 12". The minimum suggested size tank for those fish is 125 gallons to keep one.
 

linkinpark

AC Members
Mar 10, 2009
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Yeah i'm planning to move on a bigger tank by the end of this year and i already returned 2 of my ghosts back so i think now i'm ok mate
 

Mudfrog

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Jan 17, 2005
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Roanoke, VA
Don't get him is my advice. They require a lot of special care. Mine would only eat night crawlers. So I always had to make sure I had some in the fridge. I also recommend not getting one if you use HOB filters. This was the reason mine died. He would slide up into the filter and back into the tank. Well one day I came home from work to find my 16" fire eel dead on the floor :(

No offense but it seems as if your new to the hobby so I would say skip the fire eel.
 

marinkafuschia

AC Members
Oct 21, 2008
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Olympia, WA
I have a peacock eel which is smaller and supposedly a little easier than a fire eel, but really hes a hard fish to please. takes very special, only live food feeding and crazy secure lids as mudfrog has mentioned. spiny eels are not beginner fish in reality and they hide a lot when their unhappy so their not the most amusing of fish.
my advice to you is don't stock a tank thinking "I'll get a bigger tank soon" have the big tank already just in case some unforeseen situation occurs.
If your set on an eel get ride of 2-3 of the BGK and get a peacock or zig-zag eel to try out first.
 

linkinpark

AC Members
Mar 10, 2009
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Already returned 2 BGK's back and that fire eel is already ordered so there's nothing i can do now:) I'm new to this hobby(actually this is my 2nd tank cause i had another one 55 for 3 years or so with elephant nose, ghost, monos and gouramis) and now i began all over and now i'll make it right, i made my water perfect with 2 external prime 30's and i do my tests once a week to make sure nothing happens. I'm considerably new to this, but that doesn't mean i can't follow thiks right which this is the no.1 mistake rookies tend to make. i believe. As for my filter the fire eel has to be the size of a flake to pass through so i don't mind about that, and the lids are already secured. Hopefully nothing will happen:)
 
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