a rule the fish is timid and it ignores its tankmates, if it can’t eat them; they will eat small fishes though. Fire eel shows aggression towards its king and that’s why it’s not recommended to keep a fish couple in one tank. Moreover, there is no point in it, since it is very difficult to obtain the fish eggs.
Mastacembelus erythrotaenia can be hand feed by its owner, whom the fish starts to recognize rather quickly. The fish should be fed with any live food (for example, tubifex, bloodworm, small fishes), dry and frozen food as well. In the wild this fish is a predator and it preys on insects larvae, worms, snails and even small crabs.
Unlike the male fish the female one has paler coloring and she is larger than the male fish.
Fire eel is a very challenging species to breed in captivity, so it is quite a troublesome thing to do. You should use some special hormonal injections, but even after this it doesn’t guarantee that you achieve the anticipated results.
The fish becomes reproductive at the age of two years old. To breed this predator fish in captivity you will need a tank (of 400 liters and more capacity) with a ceramic tube in it or a net stretched over the tank bottom.
The following tank water parameters are optimal for the fish breeding: temperature 28-29°С, water hardness about 10°, рН from 7 to 7,2. To create powerful aeration and filtration in the tank you should put four sprayers in different tank corners.
The breeders should be fed with live food: bloodworm, tubifex, insects larvae.
The male fish haunts the female all over the tank and then catches her near the ceramic tube and squeezes up to 50 yellowish eggs (3 mm in diameter) from the female. In general through the whole spawning period the female fish lays from 700 to 1000 eggs.
When the spawning is over the fish is removed from the tank. One third of the tank water is renewed with the fresh one, lighting is decreased to its minimal value and the eggs are processed with methylene blue.
The egg stage lasts about 48-72 hours. Fire eel larvae except their yolk bag also have a gular sac (presumably in case of oxygen deficiency in water).
In 12 days the larvae starts feeding. Brine shrimp can be used as its first food. Small portions of food should be put in several places of the tank 5-6 times a day.
The juveniles grow fast – during the first month they grow to be about 4.5 cm long and at the end of the second month that are about 7 cm long. When growing fire eel juveniles you should turn of the filter to prevent them from getting injured if they get there.
Daily water renew (up to 10%) is a must. As a precaution you should disinfect the water with methylene blue (1-3 mg/l), antibiotics (up to 10 mg/l). Metabolic byproducts as well as food leftovers have to be removed as fast as possible. That’s why tanks without any bottom substrate will be a good idea in this respect.
Fire eel juveniles can be also put into ornamental tanks with bottom substrate layer that doesn’t exceed 3 cm. At that you have to turn the bottom substrate at least once in a month.
Using undergravel filters is possible only in case if false bottom is thoroughly fitted and there are not slits. At the age of two weeks the juveniles start getting their coloring – first the spots and lines appear and then the body gets darker.
Last update on 2019-05-23 at 09:42 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API