More new fishies and near disaster.

Shocker6966

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Nov 5, 2006
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Peterborough, Ontario
So, in addition to the Chocolate pom pom oranda I got for my step daughter and her mother yesterday, we picked up 2-5"ish common oscars, and a super duper cool juvie fire eel. I wanted to put the eel in the 30 gal because of the regulated temperature. 5 mins after putting him in, and watching him writhe across the epoxied gravel substrate I watched him writhe right into the crayfish's open and waiting claws. Fortunately he was quick enough to escape his grasp, but I had a near heart attack. It's odd because the cray doesn't bother any other fish, bottom feeders included. But the fool hardy eel writhed right into it's waiting grasp. So for now, he gets to hang out in the colder, more peaceful tank(still not too cold - daytime temps sit around 74ish.)

And yes, I'll beat you all to it. Its my fault for having a mean ******* crayfish and putting a poor defenseless little eel in with her.
 
Fire eel if I remember correctly is a BW eel. someone correct me if I am wrong
 
I would be having a crayfish for a snack.
 
Mastacembelus erythrotaenia if properly maintained, grows to over two feet and should be kept in at least 100 gallons when it exceeds 8-9 inches..

this species have only small embedded scales and being otherwise soft-bodied, are susceptible to physical traumas, bacterial and parasitic infection. since this species likes to dig, it requires a sand substrate ... sharp gravel will lead to cuts and scrapes which rresult in bacterial infection. Fire eels don't respond well to toxic dye and metal medications. As with tetras, catfishes, and other small scaled fishes, careful half-doses, adding salt and diligent water quality checks and changes are appropriate.

goldfish are cold water species and should NOT be maintained with tropical fish. all tropical fish require stable (regulated) temperatures in the 78-80° range.
 
Notorious escape artists.... Ill bet he's on the carpet in 3 days or less.

The "pleco grooming" is probably slime sucking. This is a very bad thing. Get rid of the pleco.

Crayfish are invertibrates with chitinous exoskeletons. No slime to suck^^

The whole topic of this thread was about how my Clarkii Blue just about cut my new fire eel into 3 pieces minutes after I put it in the tank.
 
Crayfish are invertibrates with chitinous exoskeletons. No slime to suck^^

The whole topic of this thread was about how my Clarkii Blue just about cut my new fire eel into 3 pieces minutes after I put it in the tank.

You said the "pleco polishes the Raph" I assumed Raphael Catfish......Guess that meant crayfish... Yes I am aware of the anatomy of a crayfish...If that pleco is latching onto things, he will get the oranda...Why do you have such a mish-mash in one tank???
 
"the pleco polishes her carapace for her" the crayfish - probably just like snails, they get a little buildup of algae on there. i've defintely seen one of my mystery snails with a little bristlenose latched on top of the shell like some sort of aquatic spoiler.

still though. . . your tanks look like mount st. helens with pressure building up. african and sa cichilds together, cool water fish that get waaaay big (channel cats and oranda) in with the tropical pleco in a tank that is way too small for any one of those fish, and in the 30 you'll probably be okay for a while but all those fish together are going to outgrow the tank. the oscars alone need 90+ just as adults, with everything else in there it's not enough room. plus oscars are realy just big babies, the other cichlids are going to be beating them up sooner or later.
 
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