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so ive had my peacock eel for abour 2 weeks now, he usually is very shy and never comes out. I am wondering if it is maybe because of the other fish? or maybe he hasnt become aquainted to his surroundings yet. I have plenty of places for him to hide, but usually he just remains floating in the same spot in the plants. I was also wondering if the eel may pray on the barbs. any replies would be great!
my tank specs in case you were wondering
35 gal tank.
2 albino tiger barbs
2 tiger barbs
1 green tiger barb
2 glass barbs
2 cherry barbs
1 pleco
1 bumble bee catfish
1 red tail shark
The tank is well cycled and all of these fish ive had for around 8 months.
any help would be awesome.

2 tanks (for now)
1 30 gallon
1 22 gallon
Barb and oddball/predatory fish fan

Hi Barb and welcome to Fish Profiles!

The eel is behaving normally considering what you have in the tank with it. The eels are shy, retiring, fish that spend their days hiding in the mud at home (you should have fine sand not gravel as the substrate in your tank) and come out at night to swim and search for food. You could use "moon light" bulbs that come on for a few hours after dark. That way you can watch it as it goes about its "day." Your tank should have several pieces of driftwood and lots of plants, preferably floating for it to hide in, under, and around.

Your tank is not exactly a "safe haven" for your fish. For instance, the red tailed shark is a territorial, bottom dweller, who will tend to pick on any other bottom dweller and drive them out of "its" territory. Also, the barbs tend to be pickish and should be kept in shoals of 5 or 6 of each type to keep the agression "self contained."
Your tank is not large enough to properly house shoals of each of the various barbs you have in there now.

Read up on the properties of "barbs" as a whole, and also read up on the red tail shark. They look beautiful as young fish, grow much larger, their color fades, and can get a bit "cranky" as mature adults.

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

thanks for the reply!
i was actually considering upgrading my setup to a 55 gallon.
I also thought that barbs would be less aggressive as long as they are kept in large schools of barbs of certain types? And i may bring the red tail back to my lfs, would perhaps a rainbow shark be more peaceful for the tank?
thanks.

2 tanks (for now)
1 30 gallon
1 22 gallon
Barb and oddball/predatory fish fan

Hi Barb,
Changing to the 55 with your "Barb" collection and adding to its members would be a good idea. The Rainbow Shark information is contained in the link below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_shark

As you can see, it can grow to 7 inchs in length. It too will fade and loose its color with age. The vivid black body and red fins of those fish are eye catching, but the do not retain their coloration, and can be problematic in small aquariums.

If you are going to keep the eel, and they are very interesting, I'd suggest you create an environment for it with the fine sand substrate for it to dig in, as well as plants and driftwood, and companions from the area it is found in. Use "plant friendly" lighting (around 6700K) and just for yourself, the light fixture should also have the "Moonlight" option. Set the lights so that they are "regular" light for 8 - 10 hours, and then have them shut off and the moonlights come on for another 3 or 4 hours, followed by darkness for the rest of the 24 hour period.

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/mix/peacockeels.php

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

just thought id drop an update, i rearranged my tank and added a few more plants to add more hiding spots, and i noticed the eel out and about alot more during the day! one of his favorite spots is on top of my thermometer

2 tanks (for now)
1 30 gallon
1 22 gallon
Barb and oddball/predatory fish fan