Electric Eel Care

[TheZman]

I am thinking about purchasing an Electric Eel about 12 inches long. Aside from knowing that I can't keep with any other fish I am not sure what is involved in care and tank size. I am hoping a 20 gal is ample & the shop told me it was. If any of you know the real deal please let me know. BTW, I am new to MF & this is my first post.

Thanks,
TheZman

 

[rottbo]

20 gallon for a true electric eel is way to small these get big up to 8 feet i have seen some large ones before and they are ugly but i want one too and they can live for 20 years by the way an electric eel is not true eel its a member of the same family as ghost knifes and there closet relative is the electric catfish you need a huge tank for one of these

 

[rumblesushi]

hahaha, 20 gallon? you know they grow at least 6 foot right?

 

[Honda12]

You need something a lot bigger to house one of those. Did the guy at the fish store tell you there fun to pet as well . Seriously if you cant provide a huge tank for one don't even consider it an option. By the way welcome to MFK. Hope you enjoy the site.

 

[rottbo]

You need something a lot bigger to house one of those. Did the guy at the fish store tell you there fun to pet as well

 

[TheZman]

Ah yes, sarcasm - what I was hoping for. That is what I was hoping for Seems lots of folks like to use the word huge around here. You know that there are some things 12 inches that are huge, if you get my drift
Is huge a 10,000 gallon aquarium that can hold a baby dophin, a thousand gallon aquarium, a hundred gallon? Help me out here (to me 125 gal is huge).


I've been able to stunt growth of South American lungfish & arrowanas by keeping them in smallish tanks & kerpt the lungfish for 7 years before selling it (in a 55) & the arrowana for 5 years in a 29, so I was wondering if a smaller tank may stunt the growth (if it gets to 2-3 ft I may go for a 55 then but no higher). Is this likely or am I just a ?

If the eel is not an option what about an electric catfish? I wants me some of that major fish current. More advice appreciated.

Later,
Zman

 

[rottbo]

dude i am sorry to sound mean but stick with the small fish stunting growth is inhumane you do not need to keep big fish and for an electric eel here's my theory on fish and tanks minimum tank sizes are atleast as wide front to back as the maximum size of the fish and three times as long atleast 2' deep or more if you cannot provide proper homes for big fish please dont keep them

 

[dacox]

dude i am sorry to sound mean but stick with the small fish stunting growth is inhumane you do not need to keep big fish and for an electric eel here's my theory on fish and tanks minimum tank sizes are atleast as wide front to back as the maximum size of the fish and three times as long atleast 2' deep or more if you cannot provide proper homes for big fish please dont keep them

You need a much larger tank, perhaps not 3x's the length of this fish, since eels are not really all that active/free swimming, but WAAAAAAAAAAAY bigger than what they told you. Look through the photos on this site. There was recently a posting with pics of a big electric eel (I wanna say it was in the Buy/Sell but it could have been the Photo Lounge). You'll see it. It will make you reconsider wanting to own one.

 

[rottbo]

seriously they have been measured at 96" that is huge and come one a 8' fish needs a huge tank and thats just my theory on keeping monsters they need room to move if you were in jail would youwant a 4x8 cell or a 6x18 cell this is my point

 

[dacox]

The link to one of the posts....

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16937&highlight=electric+eel