Electric Eel Tankmate

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Update: just saw that there was a 2nd page to that thread which I hadn't seen before. On it, there is a report of several Synodontis coexisting with an electric catfish and even piling up with it, which could conceivably have caused it to discharge out of desire to not be piled up on.
So if the electric catfish in that scenario did do that, it may be that Synodontis do indeed have tolerance for prey-killing shocks. Even though we can't know for sure what happened.

Of course, there are no hard and fast rules. Electric eels may or may not work out.

Edit: might be worth mentioning.
Electric catfish can't be shocked (https://www.newscientist.com/articl...nnot-be-shocked-and-scientists-dont-know-why/), so that could also apply to Synodontis. Would explain what I wrote above.
 
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hmmm you should probably relocate dat redtail soon, it’s gonna outgrow the 75g quite soon since it’s 1 foot
 
[QUOTE="MultipleTankSyndrome, post: 8402134, member: 182206"

Edit: might be worth mentioning.
Electric catfish can't be shocked (https://www.newscientist.com/articl...nnot-be-shocked-and-scientists-dont-know-why/), so that could also apply to Synodontis. Would explain what I wrote above.
[/QUOTE]

That's quite astonishing if true. But then, an electric fish couldn't and wouldn't have evolved in the first place if it didn't have some mechanism to protect it "from itself" so to speak, and such a mechanism might be a protection from electrical shock caused by other sources as well, even though in nature the fish would not normally be subjected to shock from anything apart from others of its species.

How would a Synodontis evolve such protection, not being an electric fish? As an adaptation to survive with electric fish? If such is possible, there still must be a limit; this is a natural adaptation, not a superpower. A Syno cuddling up with an electric cat a few inches long...with a correspondingly small electric potential...is one thing. Another fish getting cozy with an electric eel a couple feet or more in length is altogether something else.

Living together in the Amazon and living together in a tank that is 6 feet in length are not remotely comparable. We are talking about confining living creatures in a tiny environment, where close contact or actual contact will be an ongoing and constant factor...and one of the critters is generating up to 600 volts at up to 1 amp. Not might be doing this, but rather will be doing this.

Why is this even a topic for debate? Why on earth would anyone insist on experimenting like this? Is merely overcrowding fish in tanks that are too small no longer sufficient? Must we stoop to this?
 
Constant electricity is a factor I didn't consider. You're right that it's not the best idea, with that alone.
 
wait till it grows so big it doesnt see guppies as food and try guppies.
 
neko1 said:
wait till it grows so big it doesnt see guppies as food and try guppies.
Click to expand...
Bro the guppies will get knocked out HAHAHAH

The electric eel still produces small amounts of voltage even when not hunting, and when it does use it’s shocking ability, the guppies would still die even when not hunted
 
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