non-hiding eel,

[little]

ok my Peac0ck eel who i have had for about 6 months has changed his habits, I moved him out of his 60g community tank. I had to stick him in a friends tank for a few days, I hate to admit once he was in there, i noticed how BAD the tank was, It had not been clean for months, you could see the build up on the bottom, he seemed ok, needless to say, I got my hands on the tank and gutted it. Had to move my eel again, this time to a smaller cleaner tank, with a neon, brittlenose, and some kind of black marbled angelfish, He seems cotent, except for the fact that he is hanging out in the plants, been a week now and thats all he does is hang in the plants? any idea on whats going on? he moves around and stuff but remains in the plant, is he scared? is something wrong with the gravel maybe?

[MyraVan]

Sorry to comandeer this old post, but for some reason I don't seem to be able to start new threads at the moment, although I have done so before (I get some kind of error about "cannot allocate memory").

My question is also about peac0ck eels, so that's why I've stolen this thread.

I'm slowly stocking my 58gal (100cm x 40cm x 70cm) tank. Right now it
contains

4 rosy barbs
6 blue tetras
1 bristlenose pleco

over the coming weeks I will add

5 angelfish
6 polka dot loaches

Would a peac0ck eel work in this tank? I read that they like to burrow,
which my plants wouldn't like, but that if you provide a cave for it they
stay there instead of burrowing. I don't like the looks of white PVC pipes,
but I thought that a brown downpipe (for a gutter) might be a bit less
obtrusive. I could cut a long window in one side and put that side towards
the glass so I could actually see the guy in his cave.

What do you think?

[TREASURECHEST]

I would suggest a small piece of sinking driftwood with a suitable "nook or cranny" for the eel to hide in. They are just as easily accepted, if not more desirable, and they look natural in a tank. Keep in mind, if the piece you choose is new, it will leach tannins into the water, but they are not harmful to the fish.

[Scuba Kid]

I've been getting the same error in the journal and diy sections, Myra. Wonder what's going on?

[Fishboy93]

what shev(an old member) did was he had a coconut hut with a piece of PVC under it that his tiretrack eel hung out in....

[MyraVan]

Thanks for the ideas, guys. But -- a coconut hut for a tire track eel? Tire tracks get huge! Might work for a peac0ck eel, though.

I am reassured that you don't find any problems with compatability with the eel and my current and future fish! I will get one, then. Now to find one... I seem to remember seeing some eel-like things in my local fish shop, but I hadn't gotten interested in them before, so I didn't enquire about what they were. Time for a trip back to the fish shop!

[Scuba Kid]

No, you don't understand the coconut idea myra.

You woule have a piece of PVC pipe going at a slant into the gravel, but still accessible by the eel. Then place the coconut hut over the pvc pipe so that the eel can go into the hut and then in the pvc.

Here's the DIY made by Shev a while ago. Instructions on how to make a coconut hut and a pic showing how he arranged it for his eel.

http://www.fishforums.com/forum/diy-...hlight=coconut

Edit: Keep in mind when stocking your tank that tire track eels will eat anything that fits in thier mouth. They are not aggressive, but they're still predators. Fish like tetras might not be the best choice for long.

[TREASURECHEST]

You will also want to make sure the eel's tank is tightly covered....eel's are escape artists.

This is my Black Spotted Eel~
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t...ackSpotEel.jpg

[MyraVan]

Ah, right, Scuba Kid, *now* I understand the coconut cave & PVC pipe thing, and the result does look very good. I'm thinking of the peac0ck eel, not the tire track. The peac0ck stays alot smaller, but I have read that it will sometimes eat small fish like tetras. To be honest, I'm not very worried about that. If they start turning up missing I'll fish out the rest and give them to someone. In my opinion tetras are extremely pretty, but not all that interesting. I'd rather have a really interesting fish like the eel (at least, from what I read they are interesting). And as for holes in the tank, I'll have to cover them up for the polka dot loaches anyway, as they also like to jump.

Treasurechest, that is one *nice* looking eel!

[TREASURECHEST]

Treasurechest, that is one *nice* looking eel!

Thanks! It's almost 10 inches and very comical...it begs for food like a dog!

[bomb-]

Well, your Peac0ck Eel might be scared out of his wits right now. I have one myself and am very skilled with them. Because of all of his tank changes, you might need to give him some time to adapt to his new environment.

Mine did the same thing when I switched him to my new tank from my old tank. The best thing I could do for him was get him a friend. I got him a Fire Eel (a great addition) and now they come out and play together all the time. He's happy.

Your eel is fine. Peac0ck Eels are hiders. If your gravel is too sharp and rocky, he may not want to dig under it because it hurts him, so he has to find another place to hide. (Peac0cks are major gravel burrowers). try get another hiding place for him where he will be more happy.

[Scuba Kid]

Dude, this thread is a bit old. Check the dates.