I've had it with all these "typical" vertebrates being posted here. Check out my rescue. *LONG*

GiantVinegaroon

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
1,389
Enough with the bearded dragons, leopard geckos, ball pythons, and dogs. Other animals need love too...and I've noticed fish are severely lacking here, so I'm gonna post about the fish I saved from a Chinatown.

On Martin Luther King Day, my friends and I decided to go into Chinatown. I was interested in seeing a live Asian swamp eel (Monopterus albus) for the first time. Well we saw eels, but not the one I was hoping for. Many restaurants and one fish market had live American eels (Anguilla rostrata) on display. This was a fish I've read plenty about and was completely fascinated by(their breeding behavior is fascinating....and that snake-like appearance is just awesome. While I was intending on purchasing a swamp eel, my friends helped me decide to settle for an American eel(I read PLENTY on their captive care beforehand). We searched all the shops and restaurants for a smaller, healthy eel. Most of the healthy ones were on displays at restaurants, and I figured going in and asking "How much is that eel in the window?"(Hey...sounds like a catchy tune!) wouldn't be very polite. We went into one market that actually was selling live eels, but it appeared the only two left they had were dead and moldy...earlier in that same market they had one small eel remaining that I was growing interested in and it appeared to be gone. A closer look showed that the eel I liked was still there sitting on the dirty bottom. When I asked the man working at the counter about getting that eel out, he looked in and told me they were all out, not realizing the last live one blending into the bottom of the filthy tank. When I said I'd take the eel, he gave me a funny look as if he was thinking "why does this man want this one tiny eel(20 inches)?" I was happy to see that it took almost 5 minutes and two workers to net him out of the tank....he was swimming like crazy hoping not to be sliced up into unagi. The man weighed him on the scale(once he stopped thrashing violently) and told me how much I had to pay for him($2.60....very good considering they were charging $8.50/Lb of eel)I said I'd take it...and he started asking me a question I could not make out, while at the same time making his one hand into a pair of scissors(he was asking to clean the eel) and I just froze, not realizing what to say. Luckily my one friend blurted out "NO WE WANT IT ALIVE PLEASE!" and the man simply tossed it into a plastic bag. We asked for him to fill it with water, which he did. I paid for the eel(the cashier made a funny face as well, seeing that I was buying a live eel) and brought him home.

Here's a pic of Eli, my eel.



His tank:



The water is shallow in order to help prevent escapes.

On Friday I saw him eat for the first time. He's been eating while I was asleep...so it's really good to actually see him eat and not worry about where the other food disappeared to.

btw i'm not really annoyed by the beardie, leo, and ball python and dog posts lol
 
Last edited:

8by8

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 17, 2009
Messages
233
WoW. Thats cool. Never heard of a pet eel before. Cool how you got him too. What do they eat , and how big do they get? Might buy a CB offspring from you in the next year or two. Keep us posted on his now well being.
 

Hobo

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Staff member
Joined
Jul 27, 2009
Messages
2,208
There's a asian supermarket chain here that sells live freshwater fish/eels too. In some of their tanks, they also have some plecos... HUGE ones... the ones that cost 100+ if you get em at a petstore.

Let me just say:

New employee + buying "that tilapia, right there against the glass!" = New pleco for my friends 150 gallon for only 16.95!
 

Shell

ArachnoVixen AKA Dream Crusher AKA Heartbreaker
Staff member
Joined
Sep 14, 2009
Messages
1,659
Very cool :) If I had the room for bigger tanks, I'd get an eel.

Out of curiousity, what are you feeding him? I just wondered if he would eat anything similar to what my rope fish and bichir's eat.
 

GiantVinegaroon

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
1,389
WoW. Thats cool. Never heard of a pet eel before. Cool how you got him too. What do they eat , and how big do they get? Might buy a CB offspring from you in the next year or two. Keep us posted on his now well being.
They eat about anything. Mine right now is really liking nightcrawlers and seems to eat mealworms when I scent them with nightcrawler. I have a goldfish in there that he hasn't eaten yet....which I plan to scent with nightcrawler and see if that has any effect.

They get pretty big. Males get about 2 feet. Females average about 3-4, possibly 5 feet.

Hate to break it to you, but don't ever expect anyone to breed American eels. They travel from freshwater to the Sargasso Sea, which is near Bermuda. It is here where the eels supposedly spawn and the adults are believed to die(this was just figured out this century). The babies hatch and survive on yolk for weeks as the currents carry them back to freshwater streams and rivers.
 

Lunar

Arachnopeon
Joined
Nov 30, 2009
Messages
46
Really cool, not into fish whatsoever but it's a really fresh post for the vertebrate section.
 

zonbonzovi

Creeping beneath you
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 20, 2008
Messages
3,346
Hey, that eel looks like Vincent Schiavelli...or does Vincent Schiavelli look the your eel?
 

GiantVinegaroon

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
1,389
Very cool :) If I had the room for bigger tanks, I'd get an eel.

Out of curiousity, what are you feeding him? I just wondered if he would eat anything similar to what my rope fish and bichir's eat.
Like I said before they'll eat just about anything.
 

UrbanJungles

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 12, 2007
Messages
1,125
Hate to break it to you, but don't ever expect anyone to breed American eels. They travel from freshwater to the Sargasso Sea, which is near Bermuda. It is here where the eels supposedly spawn and the adults are believed to die(this was just figured out this century). The babies hatch and survive on yolk for weeks as the currents carry them back to freshwater streams and rivers.
Actually...
The babies are hatched in the Sargasso, at certain stages in their lives they move inland via freshwater tracts where they stay for another few stages of development. As they mature they eventually leave freshwater and return to the sea. They wander the coasts as juveniles and young adults for several years eventually making their way back to the Sargasso to reproduce and die.

Two things, they need cool water. That heat lamp over the tank will contribute to its demise. Next is escapes, it will escape from that tank even with the water level reduced. They are prodigious at escaping even when seemingly impossible. In a couple of weeks if you don't get him into some brackish water you will start to see lesions develop.

I've been keeping these for several years in the the native aquatic collection of the museum I used to be involved with.
 

GiantVinegaroon

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
1,389
Actually...
The babies are hatched in the Sargasso, at certain stages in their lives they move inland via freshwater tracts where they stay for another few stages of development. As they mature they eventually leave freshwater and return to the sea. They wander the coasts as juveniles and young adults for several years eventually making their way back to the Sargasso to reproduce and die.

Two things, they need cool water. That heat lamp over the tank will contribute to its demise. Next is escapes, it will escape from that tank even with the water level reduced. They are prodigious at escaping even when seemingly impossible. In a couple of weeks if you don't get him into some brackish water you will start to see lesions develop.

I've been keeping these for several years in the the native aquatic collection of the museum I used to be involved with.
I guess I should point out some things to settle any misunderstandings.

1) It's a flourescent aquarium light, not a heat lamp.

2) I am EXTREMELY EXTREMELY aware of eels being great escape artists. I'm working on getting a lock for the tank.

3) It's brackish.
 

GiantVinegaroon

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
1,389
Ahhhh he finally ate that goldfish that was swimming in his tank for a few weeks. It's about time!
 

Alejandro45

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
May 22, 2009
Messages
114
wow thats a nice eel I always thought they were interesting.

but could you clean out the tank of any manmade debris? I understand your going for polluted brackish mangrove water and all but just keep it natural.:cool:

other than that very nice tank:worship:

PS do you get any smell from the anerobic bacteria that release gas in the decomposing sediment?
 

GiantVinegaroon

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
1,389
wow thats a nice eel I always thought they were interesting.

but could you clean out the tank of any manmade debris? I understand your going for polluted brackish mangrove water and all but just keep it natural.:cool:

other than that very nice tank:worship:

PS do you get any smell from the anerobic bacteria that release gas in the decomposing sediment?
I only had the bottle in there as a means of enrichment. Food was inside and I was hoping for him to go in to get to it, but he never did...even though he can fit. It's gone now.

polluted brackish mangrove? what the heck? lol it's supposed to be replicating a creek or small stream.

Oh yeah, and I don't smell anything from the leaves.
 
Last edited:

RoachGirlRen

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 8, 2007
Messages
994
You have my immense jealousy! This is pretty much my favorite species of fish, hands down. It makes me very sad that they haven't been afforded adequate protection despite suffering serious declines in population and continue to be heavily exploited for food and bait. Kudos to you for giving this fella a good home.
 

GiantVinegaroon

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
1,389
You have my immense jealousy! This is pretty much my favorite species of fish, hands down. It makes me very sad that they haven't been afforded adequate protection despite suffering serious declines in population and continue to be heavily exploited for food and bait. Kudos to you for giving this fella a good home.
Yes I'm surprised nothing has been done about protecting this fish too.

He took nightcrawlers from tweezers yesterday....so cool :D
 

GiantVinegaroon

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
1,389
Oh yea, here's a video of him swimming around!

[YOUTUBE]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/xnHBQo2BqtU&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/xnHBQo2BqtU&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/YOUTUBE]
 

GiantVinegaroon

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
1,389
Today marks Eli being in my care for one month! He took food from my fingers this morning!
 

Bigboy

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 18, 2004
Messages
1,234
You probably realize this, but you need a much much bigger tank, think 200-300gallon range and way better filtration than you have now. Those leaves are also just going to break down and cause your water parameters to crash into lethal levels.
 

GiantVinegaroon

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
1,389
You probably realize this, but you need a much much bigger tank, think 200-300gallon range and way better filtration than you have now. Those leaves are also just going to break down and cause your water parameters to crash into lethal levels.
I'm aware a larger tank is needed. I didn't have sand at first, so I tossed in leaves as a temporary substrate to allow him to hide and feel comfortable.
 
Top