Spiny Eels

[Struggle]

Someone (My lovely wife) came home with a fire & zigzag eel. Can anyone with first hand knowledge provide any recommendations on how to properly care for these (tank size, filtration, possible tank mates, etc.) I’ve looked on the web and there is a lot of conflicting information on how to care for the good ole spiny eels. Please see below for more info.
 

We have a dedicated fish room that I was in the process of building a rack for shrimp tanks, so we can do almost any tank size that will fit through a standard residential door / hallway.

We use and like HMF sponge filters on everything but I’m thinking that’s not going to work with these guys.

Beyond that I can answer any questions you have. Thanks for the help!

[Kristianmunn156]

From what I know fire eels get fairly large when they're young I believe a 55 would be fine if they're by themselves but they get a lot larger than tiger tracks

[Kristianmunn156]

They are also Escape artists  so I  recommended a lid

[Kristianmunn156]

The zig zag eel probably will fit in smaller tank they do have spines which are poisonous so as long as nothing is messing with them he should be able to put some stuff in with them they are sociable we feed  our tire track blood worms because they tend to have small mouths we keep ours in with an Arowana a few tinfoil barbs a couple of plecostomus 2 rope fish and two of the smaller breeds of shovelnose cats and the tire track is fine as long as you have hiding spots they like to go underneath and digging

[Struggle]

The fire eel is doing well in QT and can eat more krill than I would of ever guessed, that fish can EAT! I think I’ll use this thread to keep track of our journey with our new wet pet but please feel free to jump in with any concerns, questions, advice, etc.

Below will be a ongoing/evolving list of thoughts for housing, filtration etc. that will be updated as we go along

180G aquarium, located on either the bottom or middle row.

HMF for filtration on one side and a power head to get a little water movement on the opposite end.

Fluval 3.0 lighting.

Glass tops, need to figure out how to lock them down so little homie can’t get out.

Fine black diamond blasting sand for substrate.

Possibly a background with a integrated tunnel system from they who will not be named. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to make the hide out of either 4 or 5 inch pvc but I am drawing blanks on how to make it look like its apart of the decor and not pvc pipe sitting on top of the substrate if that makes sense.

Heavily planted with swords, crypts a couple of Crinum Calamistratum and one or maybe two other plants.

Two or three nice big pieces of drift wood, probably two so that the middle is open for the rainbows.

For tank mates we’re thinking of a single species of rainbows and a larger sized species of corydoras.

One thing I didn’t realize is how personable fire eels were or this one is anyway. Every time we go by his tank he’s out begging for food like a puppy dog or watching you curiously. If anything is placed into his aquarium he likes to go over and inspect it and he loves to be hand fed, well, “loves” may be a strong word but he’s definitely eager. 

If you’ve made it this far you’ve made it further than I ever would of on this long post and please, if you have any suggestions, advice, concerns or comments please let them fly.

[Struggle]

Here’s a little video from hand feeding earlier today. This is my first video and I should of cleaned the glass and other things but thought some of y’all might enjoy it.