Major Question!!!!!

[Freshwaterguy1313]

Ok I have a 55gal. tank with 2 Gold Piranhas and 3 Eels. The Piranhas are fine but the Eels are the problem. They won't eat!!!! I fed him beef, guppies, flakes, and even Bloodworms!!! Now I understand they are a Brackish water type fish so I add the aquarium salt. Then they are also getting a little weak. I am not sure the name of them so i'll try my best to describe them.

They are brown with these yellowish white spots on them(no disease trust me). They are not Moray thats for sure. If you can tell me the name and a little info. on them (what they eat, temp. size, Etc.) I will be happy.



!!!!!!!THANX!!!!!!!

[stang69]

You sure they aren loaches? Just an idea. If they are loaches they are scaleless and prolly not real happy with the salt in the tank. Will they eat flake by chance if you put the flake deep enough in the water to allow fallout for the botton dwellers maybe. Without seeing the fish or a pic its hard to tell what it is.


Jeff

[Freshwaterguy1313]

I think maybe it is a snowflake Eel. It won't eat any flakes but it will eat Feeders. The feeders have to be small though. And they are about 10-13 inches in length

[eses]

What is your general hardness? What is your Ph? How much salt are you adding?

What does the nose/head of the eel look like? Is it rounded, and almost "dog" looking, or does it have a sharp point, with a tuft-like growth of skin coming from the end of it that is over-lapping the mouth, making it look like it has a underbite? What does it's tail look like? Is it the same size as the body, or does it fan out a bit more than the body?

Unless it is a marine eel, like a snowflake, which are black and white with yellow spots, it is probably a freshwater eel ... if you put salt it, it isn't going to be amused. Also if you water is too hard/too soft the eel won't like it.

Most eel's are pretty easy to ID, go down to the best bookstore in your area and look through their freshwater books. Also, do you know what the LFS you bought it from called it? That would help some as well. And, can you see if they have scales or not?

Also check all of your water qualities, nitrate, ammonia, etc, etc. Without having those numbers, you don't know if your poisoning the fish or not.

...try to describe them better and you'll get better answers.

[Freshwaterguy1313]

My hardness of the water is not too soft and not too hard. The PH is normal and rest of the water is fine.

The Eel looks like any other Eel. Not a pointy face and the tail is the same size of the body.

They are Brown with white-yellow Spots. Abot 10-13 inches in length. They seem normal but won't eat the Brineshrimp I give them. I add about 5 tablespoons of Salt which is recommended every Saturday. The water changes I do Once a week( about 25%) because I have plants in there. They have a big thing of Bog in there I prewashed more than once. But other than that they are fine. The petstore I went to is Jan's.... He told me they are Snowflake Eels.

[eses]

Well, hopefully someone else will interject(sp) here, but I've never heard of a freshwater/brackish water snowflake eel. The only snowflake eels I'm familiar with are the marine moray snowflake, which are white with black bands and yellow spots, have a slightly rounded face, and two "nostrel" protrusions on it's snout.

If you are constantly adding 5 tbs of salt, to 55 gallons of water, this is low. In freshwater aquarium running salt, most people use 1 tbs per gallon. If your also changing 25% of the water, or 13.75 gallons, your slowly washing salt out of the system as you add it. There is also a big debate on weather or not to add salt to a freshwater system, many people believe it will lead to internal problems with the fish.

Most eels have very bad sight, and won't see a brine shrimp. They will sometimes run into the cube itself if your feeding frozen, but very few eels will actually pick brine shrimp from the water. Does the eel actively come out when you try to feed it? It might not be seeing the food.

Your description sounds more like a Peacock eel, which is freshwater, but they have a larger tail than body and have pectorals. Hmm. Should have thought about that earlier, does the eel have pectoral fins? The fins that are just behind the gills on each side of it's body? Also, does the eel have gill gaurds (more of a half moon shaped gill outlet) or does it have a small blow-hole like vent?

If you've somehow been wrangled into a marine fish, you're lucky it still is alive. If you've got a brackish fish, you're going to need to add MUCH more salt than that. Most brackish fish, with the exception of very few, are more at home in almost marine water than fresh.

[Hoplosternum]

Hello,

I too do not know what sort of eel you have, but I have kept bichir's which are fairly eel like in appearence. Although my Bichirs were only about 6" long they would not tend to bother with catfish pellets, sinking waffers, flake or even frozen brine shrimp, bloodworms, krill or mysis (their catfish tankmates would eat all of those).

I fed mine on frozen silversides and cockles. You may want to try feeding frozen silversides or lancefish. Your eels may simply not consider the brine shrimp worth the effort (especially if they are over a foot long). I am more suprised they won't take the beef but perhaps they will find defrosted silversides/smelt or lancefish more familliar. Cockles and mussels are both worth a try too. All these should be available in you LFS freezer department!

If they will eat (even just feeders) then I doubt they are too distressed (such as being true marine eels kept in brakish conditions). Many of the large 'oddball' freshwater species such as eels, snakeheads, some catfish types etc. can be hard to train to eat none live food. I think your best bet is with the small fish I have mentioned.

Good luck with them.

[Freshwaterguy1313]

I think maybe it is a peacock eel his nostrils seem to look "popped out". I will try Smelts and those other stuff you were saying and I will see what happens. How much salt would I put in then??? Should I even bother putting salt in??? How about the water change, when and how much??? Thanks a bunch for your guys help!!!!

[eses]

Ack, I errored with the salt, you should be putting in not 1 tbs, but 1 teaspoon. Or whatever it says on the package basically, but I wouldn't add the salt at all. I've seen more problems with adding salt to a freshwater tank than good in my experience.

I would do water changes as your tank warrants them. Check our nitrate and ammonia levels on a regular basis and do water changes in "reaction" to them. After awhile, shorten the period between changes. Atleast every 2 weeks, weekly if your tank is overloaded or you have high ammonia or nitrate.

Hope this helps.

[Hoplosternum]

Hello,

Are you sure they are not Ornate bichir's? They are fairly eel like (sausage shapped with blunt faces and fair sized mouths) , are grey/blue/browny coloured with yellow/white speckles all over their backs (with whitish bellies). They have two tube like 'things' that look like nostrils (but they have ordinary nostrils as well ).

Unless you are sure they are brakish fish I would not bother with the salt at all. It will be upsetting your plants even if the fish don't mind. As an alternative to feeder guppies you could try glass/river shrimp. In england these are much cheaper and they are also less likely to be harbouring nasty parasites that may infect your fish.

[Freshwaterguy1313]

Can you tell me a site that I can go to that has pics of these eels or you have a pic of them. Maybe that can help me with it. They just might be those!!! THANX

[Hoplosternum]

I am very bad at links but here goes....


http://www.aquariacentral.com/specie...view_records=1


Well that hasn't worked at all but if you try the Aquariacentral site, in the Freshwater Species profiles under Miscellaneous you will find information on the Ornate Bichir, other Bichirs and various Eels.

**Well maybe the link does work!

[Freshwaterguy1313]

No they are not is. It is skinnier than that and no fins. I think it maybe a peacock eel. I am pretty sure it is. Though it does have the same color as the Ornate Bichir. The one I have is more slim than the Bichir. Thanks though for that thought

[organicreefer]

perhaps you have the freshwater "snowflake eel"Gymnothorax polyuranodon .i beleive this fish lives in marine water as an adult.here is a link to a pic/info:


http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/Spec...e=polyuranodon

[Freshwaterguy1313]

Thats not it either. Though it is that skinny but the same color as the Ornate Bichir. I have no Idea what it is but one of them died today!! I think it may have starved to death. I couldn't find those fish the silver-thing-a-fish. I don't know what to do. I just might sell them IF I can't find out what they are or eat

[Freshwaterguy1313]

Sorry but thanks for your help. I had to sell my last Eel. The others were just dying and I just had to sell them. I appreciate all the help though!!!

[Hoplosternum]

I'm very sorry to hear that you had to sell your remaining eels and you never found out exactly what they were. I think you have done the right thing as I suppose they have a chance in the LFS / with a new owner but I suspect these ones should never have been taken out of the river Many of these large oddball FW fish seem to be difficult to keep and adapt to eating non-live foods.