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So far, the quote I have is 20 cm as a minimum one should expect an adult to grow to, and possibly double that for the bright yellow Spiny Eel. Until more of them appear on the scene, though, we won't know for certain.

But let's face it, a BRIGHT YELLOW SPINY EEL. What a fish! And the phot I have in the magazine is awesome - this is truly sky-high desirable among Eel keepers, and it's not hard to see why!

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

In my experience, they can get to be fairly nasty. My peacock ended up killing an angelicus loach more than half his length via his constant bullying.

They get big.
They eat other fish.
They are mean.
Don't get them unless you have larger, less aggressive fish. Take note that some species can grow in excess of 3 feet in length. Keep them in a covered tank.

my lfs sells spiney eels
but i think this is another kind as i bought one a few years ago and they only grow to 20cm. even the lfs guy said that they dont grow much bigger

i have yet to see a 3" spiny eel. i have seen several spotted fire eels a bit over 20" though. given their size, their temperment is not too bad. it will eat smaller fish, but so do alot of other aquarium fish.


Last edited by mariosim at 01-Oct-2004 00:57

Again, as I said, though they are fairly mean fish, they cannot be kept with overly aggressive tankmates, as they will become bullied. However, all smaller fish will be devoured in a heartbeat. Btw, both fire and trie track eels will reach at LEAST 3 feet in length, maybe more. Having only kept peacocks, which only reach about a foot and a half, I can't vouch for the heftier species as far as temperment and care, but I can tell you, with a good amount of confidence, that there are indeed species of spiny eels which reach lengths of 3+'.

Last edited by Cup_of_Lifenoodles at 01-Oct-2004 01:02

unfortunatly, i live in the deserts of arizona- the closest i have to sea world is a small pond a few miles from here.

i do not wish for this to become a bashing session. from viewing past threads, it seems very likely people will be posting to this one citing a huge variation in their eels' sizes. are all of the smaller spiny eels sold around the country the same specie? (that is an honest question- most of my traveling out of state is business related and i rarely get to sight see at lfss)

There are several species, IIRC. I didn't mean to sound hostile, btw. Sorry if I came across that way.

In my experience, they are very peaceful. At the store I work at, we have several of them (and a few large ones) in diplay tanks, and they never bother the other fish. They are easily tamed and not hard to feed, as long as it isn't flakes.

I can hand feed them, and sometimes they bite my hand as well (they aren't the brightest fish in the world). Don't be afraid of it though, their bites are completely harmless because they have no teeth in their jaws.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Spiny Eels - Family Mastacembelidae

Spiny Eels are nocturnal predators, and some do indeed grow to be large. The Fire Eel (Mastacembelus erythrotaenia) reaches a metre in length! There are smaller species, however, and provided you are cautious about choice of tankmates (i.e., nothing small enough to fit in the mouth), they can coexist with a fairly diverse range of other aquarium occupants. However, the Fire Eel is an exception - apart from its size, it is the most delicate of all the Spiny Eels with respect to water chemistry and other environmental parameters, and needs a species aquarium.

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

We keep our Fire eel in a 120 gallon Malawi display tank. It's about 2' long now, and is one of my favorite fish. Whenever somebody comes to look at the tank, he always comes up to them, expecting to get some food.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

YEAH!!!! Spiny eels aern't mean!!!!! They are peaceful, just predatory. They will eat what fits in their mouth but won't attack anything that won't. Eli (my old peacock eel) was my fav fish and still is. He died from bein beaten up by a cae. But anyway they do get big but are awsome fish if you have the space.

tell me please

Must've just been the personality of that particular fish. The fire eel we have is kept with Synodontis cats, and he never bothers them. They even share the same rocks sometimes.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

I dunno, most of the peacocks that I've seen are of fairly similar temperment. Tire tracks and zebras are supposedly better behaved. Although in the LFS, one of our tire-tracks took out a "FW" moray placed in the same tank. Perhaps it's species specific.

Last edited by Cup_of_Lifenoodles at 03-Oct-2004 21:10

well, as you've all noticed there is a great debate on spiny eel sizes.....but i don't know why ther are many species of spiny eels, and they all grow to diferant lengths for the most part they are peacefull, but will eat any fish that fit in their mouth....ie, a foot long spiny will prob eat young neons ect. BTW, does anyone know of any spiny eel "experts"? i have an "unknown" spiny eel i would like id'd, but i can't find anything on the net about them

Hi Fish_Tank,

I know nothing at all about them really, but the following page may help identification:

http://www.fishbase.org/identification/specieslist.cfm?famcode=432&areacode=

Regards,
Dex




Last edited by dextroze at 03-Oct-2004 05:22

peacock eels have teeth theyre highly recurved for keepin stuff in so when they bite a finger it feels as tho they dont if they could get big nuf to get a round ur finger ud notice a big difference my moray bit me once n ripped a nice wound that prolly needed 3-4 stitches
eels r peaceful but yet there predatoryyes they can n sometimes do bite but i still hand feed all of myn

thanx 4 that link, it's a gr8 help

As has been stated above, Spiny Eels vary in size and temperament. All, however, are twylight-active predators, and WILL happily snack upon anything that can fit in their mouths. So, choose companions with care.

As for hearing that a Fire Eel is sharing its home with Synodontis, I reckon you must be expending a lot of effort to keep that fish happy if is *is* happy - usually, Fire Eels prefer being in a small group in a species aquarium of their own. Or perhaps you happen to have an unusually adaptable specimen!



Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Spiny Eel Update!

I've written quite a few words on Spiny Eels (Family Mastacembelidae), most notably emphasising key issues such as the fact that these fishes are crepuscular (twylight active) and in the wild live as ambush predators striking from hiding places buried in the substrate. I've also mentioned that the majority of Spiny Eels are relatively hardy, with one principal exception, the Fire Eel Mastacembelus erythrotaenia) which has a well-deserved reputation for being more delicate than its relations, and that Spiny Eels appreciate subdued lighting, floating plants. and LOTS of hiding places. A deep substrate into which they can bury themselves without scratching themselves on sharp particles should be considered a 'must', as these fishes do bury themselves in the wild in preparation for ambush attacks, and if this is accompanied by complex bogwood tangles into which the fishes can wriggle and contort themselves around, so much the better. I've also mentioned in the past that aquarium companions should be chosen with care, as Spiny Eels WILL devour with relish any other fishes present that can fit into their mouths, and that the size of most Spiny Eels makes a large aquarium a must - 18 inches (46 cm approx.) is an 'average' size for members of the Genus Mastacembelus, while Mastacembelus erythrotaenia can attain a final body length of a metre - three utterly huge ones used to live in Liverpool Museum's basement aquarium section prior to the museum's refit, and part of the reason that they attained their immense proportions was that their home was a whopping 1,000 gallons!

However, most of the species that might be termed 'popular' Spiny Eels (in the sense that they're the ones most likely to be encountered) are South East Asian in origin, come from rainforest stream biotopes, and therefore are most likely to be happiest in moderately soft, slightly acidic water of the kind familiar to those like myself who are primarily keepers of South American fishes. However, this is NOT the whole story!

One new import I've seen described recently is known for the moment as Caecomastacembelus sp. "Yellow". Thus far, no-one knows how large this fish will grow, because it is a recent import and a rarity at that. It is also absolutely sky-high desirable among specialist Spiny Eel keepers, because this is a brilliant, solid yellow Spiny Eel! I have before me as I type this a photograph of the fish, and it is almost as solid yellow as a marine Lemonpeel Angelfish, which for a freshwater fish is VERY unusual to say the least! Sadly, the brief article that covers this gem (which is likely to be obscenely expensive if encountered by anyone here on the Board for the moment) does not give details of its geographical origin, so this expensive purchase will be a daunting prospect to anyone other than a specialist for the time being.

One species for which I DO have geographical information is the rare and expensive Aethiomastacembelus ellipsifer. This is a native of Lake Tanganyika, and therefore needs the same kind of water as shell-dwelling Cichlids, a radical departure from the favoured water conditions of its South-East Asian cousins. I mentioned this briefly in a past article (in General Freshwater prior to the 'year zero' archiving operation ) on Sean Evans, a keeper of assorted oddballs profiled in a past edition of Practical Fishkeeping magazine, and again, this is a fish that is likely to enjoy subdued lighting and lots of cover, although in this case the cover will most likely be of the rocky kind. Sean keeps his in an aquarium whose other occupants include Altolamprologus calvus, Cyprichromis leptosoma, Synodontis multipunctatus, the shell-dweller Neolamprologus multifasciatus and Julidochromis sp. 'Gombi' - we can assume, given Sean's experience in raising a wildly diverse fish range, that these are likely to be compatible, although I would personally have balked at the prospect of putting a Spiny Eel in with shell-dwellers in case the shellies were small enough to be an expensive lunch for the Eel! However, be advised that this is not the only Tanganyikan Eel likely to appear in the future, although most of these will remain expensive and rare for the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile, I cannot leave a piece on Spiny Eels without dwelling on the infamous "Tyre Track Eel" identity question. My infamous TFH back numbers from the 1970s carried a letter asking about this, and the reply from the editors stated that no less than three species were sold as "Tyre Track Eels". Bearing in mind that these taxonomic names are 1970s vintage, and may have changed, a Google search on them may still prove useful - they are Mastacembelus armatus, Mastacembelus loennbergi and Mastacembelus zebrinus. Of these, the one whose body colouration most resembles a car tyre pattern is M. armatus, but all three may appear in a dealer's under the name of "Tyre Track Eel", so if you want one of these, arm yourself with LOTS of photographs so that you can determine the identity of your prospective purchase, not least because in the hunt for these fishes, you may find yourself buying specimens from different dealers, only to find that your prospective Spiny Eel breeding project has collapsed at first base because you have one individual of each species ... all of these can be expected to reach 18 inches at least, and possibly more, so a substantial aquarium is a must for long-term housing.

And remember, they are twylight active in the wild. Which means that acclimatising them to auarium life includes the introduction of mobile live foods after "lights out" when they are first acquired. Once the Spiny Eels learn to associate you, the aquarist, with food, they will venture out during daylight hours (particularly if the aquarist has thoughtfully provided lots of cover, shade and suitably subdued lighting), and big ones can become real pets that will learn to take food from the aquarist's fingers. Fire Eels, despite their delicacy (most authorities agree that Fire Eels will only eat living foods in captivity), can become tame enough to stroke when large!

One final note from one of the Tetra experts with respect to Fire Eels - out of all the Spiny Eels, this is the one that is most susceptible to attacks by skin parasites. While other Spiny Eels may be subject to various assaults of this kind by unwelcome pathogens, the Fire Eel seems to be particularly poorly equipped to deal with skin parasites. Hygeine considerations are therefore very high on the list for keepers of Fire Eels. Also, Fire Eels are unusual in that they are sometimes found in brackish estuarine waters, and some aquarists have reported considerable success in keeping Fire Eels in brackish conditions, which also seems to aid them in fending off unwanted skin parasites. It is entirely possible that Fire Eels in the wild migrate to brackish waters naturally to 'convalesce', as it were, although confirmation of this would require the kind of scientific expedition I'd love to be able to afford but currently can't! Most of the other commonly available Spiny Eels, including the mish-mash of "Tyre-Track" Eels, are much less fussy about their conditions, and likely to prove considerably more robust in captivity, making them the Spiny Eels of choice for the aquarist venturing into this Family for the first time.

Meanwhile, if there is anyone on this Board rich enough to afford one of those solid yellow Spiny Eels (which are, at the moment, the fish world's equivalent of a Lamborghini - sky-high desirable and astronomically expensive) I'm sure Adam would appreciate you buying him a second server for the Board




Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Update:

Here's Sean Evan's Tanganyikan Spiny Eel ...

http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Tanks/mytank9.htm

Enjoy!

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002