Long time no post! Peacock eel question

[Oddball~]

Hey guys, I haven't posted in a longgg time! I've been pro-occupied with summer vacation and paintball...

My friend claims that peacock eels are fine in a 20 gallon long tank and that he wants one with a rubber lip pleco as well as a Leopard Ctenopoma. That's a lotta fish inside of that tank! Think he could get away with just the Ctenopoma and the rubber lip plec???

The eel will grow to 13" long, so I told him no on that, but he's being really stubborn...

 

[maaltan]

I wouldn't put one in a 20g unless its by itself. but I've never had one.

Whats with this sudden proliferation of peacock eels in stores. walmart, petsmart, and both LFS in area has them. they are pushing them down peoples throat.

From my brief research they are not good for beginners.

1: get huge
2: require live food
3: most of the times require "retraining" to eat at all since they didn't get fed right at FS.
4: very sedentary when happy and confortable (ie boring) get very active (and stressed) when water too hot and wont eat when too cold. A very narrow range.
5: Slow eaters, probably means you have to "hand" feed them or they never eat
6: did i mention they are hard to feed?
7: nocturnal and burrow in substrate in day (boring again) unless again in bad water.

i stopped reading that site about then. it scared me away from them. poor fish being sent to kiddies homes in glass bowls.

 

[Calico Goat]

I have a small one, after a bit of work they do make good fish. I do keep mine in a 20g long, but only because the fish is 4-5", and will be rehoused. Maaltan's right: not an easy fish to keep.

 

[Oddball~]

I've had tough fish to keep... BBGs are surprisingly tough and picky for a fish under 1.5 inches long! GSPs and Figure 8 Puffers are hard to keep, too!