Baby electric eel care.

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My suggestion would be to get the 75 up for the eel. A 20 gallon tank is pretty tiny, I think you would have better success that way. Does anybody know their growth rate? It might outgrow a 20 very quickly, plus it would be tons easier to keep the water clean in a 75. Just my 2c.
I know how hard it can be to wait for an animal, I’m waiting for some of my fish to die to get a fahaka. I take good care of my fish and they live a long time. I have a gorgeous red tail shark that’s almost 11 now. They’re all like that.
 
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kzimmerman said:
My suggestion would be to get the 75 up for the eel. A 20 gallon tank is pretty tiny, I think you would have better success that way. Does anybody know their growth rate? It might outgrow a 20 very quickly, plus it would be tons easier to keep the water clean in a 75. Just my 2c.
I know how hard it can be to wait for an animal, I’m waiting for some of my fish to die to get a fahaka. I take good care of my fish and they live a long time. I have a gorgeous red tail shark that’s almost 11 now. They’re all like that.
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from what I’ve heard they could reach a foot in a year but it might not be exactly a foot. So around a foot in the first year. I’m mainly wanting to keep him in a small tank to really watch him at first
 
That’s okay, but you’re going to need bigger quarters within months, so setting up the 75 might become more of a necessity than you think. Do you know the size fish your getting?
 
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kzimmerman said:
That’s okay, but you’re going to need bigger quarters within months, so setting up the 75 might become more of a necessity than you think. Do you know the size fish your getting?
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Yeah that could be true. The fish I’m getting is going to be about 3.5 inches
 
Well that would give you 8 months until it was a foot, right?
 
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And the care. In my experience it seems that continual exposure to high nitrate levels can stunt the growth of a fish. I once saw a system that contained a bunch of 6” carp in a ten gallon tank, with no filter. It was a flow through system, so the water was cycled out constantly. Good growth, color, etc. not really practical for our purposes, but it proves a point. Keep the nitrates down! Post pic’s! Water changes are your friend! Post pics!
Btw, my interest in this is due to me living vicariously through you!
Don’t forget to post pics!
 
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kzimmerman said:
And the care. In my experience it seems that continual exposure to high nitrate levels can stunt the growth of a fish. I once saw a system that contained a bunch of 6” carp in a ten gallon tank, with no filter. It was a flow through system, so the water was cycled out constantly. Good growth, color, etc. not really practical for our purposes, but it proves a point. Keep the nitrates down! Post pic’s! Water changes are your friend! Post pics!
Btw, my interest in this is due to me living vicariously through you!
Don’t forget to post pics!
Click to expand...
Haha I like the interest I will definitely post pics one I get the little fella. Hopefully my camera on my phone does him justice
 
So I have been reading a lot, and talking with my friend that is supplying the eel, and it seems like these guys kinda live in “puddles” in the wild. Everything I read says stagnant or very slow moving water and murky muddy water at that. Should I try to make a black water type environment? Also I don’t think I’m going to use a filter on the baby I’m just going to test water parameters every day and not let nitrates get high with frequent water changes. I’ve heard that the babies will get sucked into a filter and lose their slime coat
 
Yes, they live in swampy areas, but that type of environment is hard to do in a tank. It would be best to have filtration. You can use a pre filter on the intake to keep your baby safe.
 
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