All About Spiny Eels - Mastacembelids!

[satan_gal]

First and Foremost…. Spiney Eels are NOT TRUE EELS.
And NO! Electric Eels are NOT eels, they belong to the knifefish family!


Species currently found in Singapore LFS

Macrognathus siamensis (Gunther 1861), the Peacock Eel.
Grows to 1 ft in length.
http://fishbase.org/Summary/speciesS...name=siamensis


Mastacembelus armatus (Lacepede 1800), the Zig Zag (often sold as the Tire Track) Eel.
http://fishbase.org/Summary/speciesS...s&lang=English
Brackish to freshwater.
Grows to 3 ft in length.


Mastacembelus erythrotaenia Bleeker 1850, the Fire Eel.
Grows to 3 ft in length. http://fishbase.org/Summary/speciesS...=erythrotaenia



Mastacembelus zebrinus (Blyth 1858), the Zebra Spiny Eel.
Grows to 1.5 ft maximum length.
http://fishbase.org/Summary/speciesS...s&lang=English
Rare in cap.

http://www.arofanatics.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=367363


I missed out the Orange Spotted eel...
Mastacembelus alboguttatus

Very expensive, Very Rare....



http://www.arofanatics.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=294690

http://fishbase.org/Summary/speciesS...s&lang=English

Max length : 49cm

(P.S. Thread started on spur of moment.. so might b abit messy... pls bear with it)

[Bjur]

Too bad Ben cannot remember where he got the Zebra Spiny Eel. Would love to add that to my tank. Anyone else knows where to find this?

[satan_gal]

From

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebI...nyeelsmonk.htm

Two different genera of spiny eels are exported from Asia, Macrognathus and Mastacembelus. .

The one species that can’t be misidentified is Mastacembelus erythrotaenia, a stunning animal known as the fire eel. This fish is charcoal grey in colour marked with red and yellow stripes and spots. Typically, there are yellow stripes on the face, becoming red a short way behind the head. On some fish the red stripes are continuous and run all the way to the tail, but on others the stripes are broken into shorter sections or turn into large round spots along the flanks. The dorsal and anal fins are edged with red. Mastacembelus erythrotaenia is the largest of all the spiny eels, getting to around 100 cm in the wild. An aquarium specimen might not even get to about two-thirds that size in captivity, but it will still need a tank with a volume of at least 300 litres to do well.

Moving on from the fire eel is where things get complicated. The tyre-track eel is usually identified as Mastacembelus armatus in aquarium books, but in fact a different species, Mastacembelus favus, actually seems to be the one that gets imported most often. Both are light brown with dark brown markings, but on Mastacembelus armatus the markings are concentrated on the top half of the body, leaving most of the belly bare, whereas Mastacembelus favus is marked right down to the belly. Otherwise, the biggest difference between the two species is size, with Mastacembelus favus reaching up to 70 cm in length, but Mastacembelus armatus up to 90 cm.

Within the genus Macrognathus, three species are regularly kept as aquarium fish. Of these, Macrognathus circumcinctus is probably the most easily identified. It is basically light brown covered with creamy speckles, but with a series of roughly vertical bands along the flanks. As its common name, the half-banded spiny eel, suggests, these bands are incomplete, and only appear about halfway down the side of the flank. From there, they taper towards the belly where they join with the corresponding band from the other side of the fish. The dorsal fin is light brown, and though it has around ten faint eyespots where it joins the body, these are much less prominent that those of the other commonly traded Macrognathus.

Macrognathus aral is sometimes called the one-stripe spiny eel, though this name is somewhat misleading. Its basic colour is olive to light brown, and while there is certainly a single band running horizontally along each flank, there is also a dark band along the dorsal surface. These bands are rather irregularly coloured, often being speckled or being darker on the edges and lighter in the centre. The dorsal fin bears a few (typically four) eyespots that are light brown around the edge and dark brown in the middle.

Macrognathus siamensis is known as the peacock spiny eel. In some aquarium books this fish is referred to as Macrognathus aculeatus and Macrognathus pancalus, but these are quite different species that are rarely, if ever, traded as aquarium fish. Macrognathus siamensis is light brown in colour with a thin, cream-coloured stripe running from the eye to the base of the tail. The dorsal fin is embellished with about six eyespots, but otherwise this fish is much less dramatically coloured than any of the other Asian spiny eels. Nonetheless, this species has proven to be hardy and adapts readily to aquarium life, and at no more than 30 cm in length, it makes a good choice for someone trying out spiny eels for the first time.

[satan_gal]

Another link.. tks Schmike

http://spinyeels.org/

Would all Eel Owners kindly come in to talk about your eels?

I do notice that Eels are pretty much hardy

They Climb, they Jump, they hide and they're prone to Ich.

I've been told... one problem that kills them easiest is Ich.

Little white spots on their skin on the smaller one might result in loss of fishes.

The other common cause of death is from jumping out of tanks, getting stuck in sumps, swimming into filters and areas they're not supposed to go

[Bjur]

Currently have 1 Fire, 1 Tire-Track and 1 Peacock in my tank. I find they are pretty good vaccum cleaners. Initally it was just the Fire Eel and it refused to eat anything for the 1st week. After introducing GS, it became more settled and pretty much whack anything that is left behind. Then recently got the other 2. Was all "skin and bones" when I got them. Other than the head that is like a hump, the rest of the body was really flat. Thankfully they did not reject any food and within a week or so, they are back to what they are suppose to look like.

[titan power]

wow interesting thanks for sharing

[satan_gal]

tat tyre track eel is my own pic. Sorry for the lousy picture.. but I just wanted to keep away from copyright issue as much as possible

Currently have

2 x ard 1ft+ Fire Eels
1 x ard 6-7" Fire Eel
1 x ard 1ft+ Tyre track Eel

HAD (gone MIA)

3 x Peacock eels - I started out with these lovely babies


I do notice that eels tend to LOVE shrimps.
No matter how they want to be starved, they simply can't resist ghost shrimps.

And some CAN go for long periods without food too.

I had a Fire Eel gone missing for ages. and only appear 1 month later during feeder feeding day

He was happily living away in his condo OHF (Which he can't fit into now)

Currently all of mine are on MP. Love it when they suck the food in.. be it feeders or mp..

[Schmike]

i only have 2 fire eels now.

used to have 3 fire n a peacock.

[satan_gal]

From Elindra...

She's too bz to post, so I'll b her hands...

Lake Malawi's spiny eel


http://malawicichlids.com/mw11030.htm

Tanganyika Spiney Eel


http://www.seriouslyfish.com/profile.php?id=667

Found more pics for EL...
http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/v...162825#p162214





Both which are very rare these days in the hobbist market..
Look at the patterns!!~~ WooHoo~~


DROOL Guys~~ DROOL~~~~~~~`
(And i'm poisoning myself all over again)

[Schmike]

Tanganyika is nice.