ATKINSON

I have a variety of gouramis, several neon tetra,and 2 upside down cat fish and I am wondering what i should add or take away so that I can purchase a fire eel? Please help?

Amanda

The eel may try to eat the neons, they will eventually eat anything that can fit into their mouths. I would keep SA cichlids, medium sized catfish, etc.

ATKINSON

Ok, will move neons to my other tank, also will gouramis be alright?
Is it fine if I use fine gravel as a substrate?

Amanda

Fine gravel is what they need, they like to burrow.
I would move the gouramis to be safe. The eels get very large (14 in+) so the gouramis may become snacks during the night.

ATKINSON

Ok, thanks,will do. Good night

ATKINSON

I am planing on getting a fire eel and am wondering what sort of cichlids or other fish i should put with it?

cichlidsmad

they can be kept with medium sized or large african cichlids

ATKINSON

Would it be alright if I put it with parrots, greshakei, lombardoi, red zebra and convicts??
All are over 7cm so no chance of being eaten

cichlidsmad

you shouldnt mix AM cichlids with African cichlid as their water parametres are way different with american they have soft acidic water where africans have hard alkaline water and noone would co-operate and there would be fights and if your unlucky deaths

ATKINSON

I have had all of them together for over a year!! Anyway what African cichlids do you suggest would be compatible with my fire eel out of the mentioned above??

cichlidsmad

maybe the kenyi as the aggression is alot from them, defentily the ice blues as they can get to 13.5cm , not so sure on the red zebras but id say they would be fine.

this is a half guess i have looked it up quikly and might have missed something you could ty and look it up as well as that would be easier

JD

x leper x

i have no idea atkinson - i did a quick google search and found this.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/fo...ad.php?t=86375
i hope it helps.

sirdarksol

Yes: None.
African cichlids need a very hard water of a very specific type. They tend to prefer rocky bottoms.
Fire eels come from Asian rivers, and prefer softer substrates.
They have absolutely different requirements.
As was said in the link x leper x posted, some of the SA cichlids would work well (anything that grows large enough to not be eaten), since they live in similar rivers to fire eels.

aquarist48

Do a search near the top of the page for Fire Eels. There are a lot of threads about this species. Can't help you myself because I've never kept them. Good luck!

Angela_96

With africans the ice blues, red zebras and kenyi are not compatable with each other htey are all from teh metriclima species and will fight between them and interbreed (causing hybrids).
The eel would be fine with any fish that can stand its parameters that is big enough not to be its lunch.

ATKINSON

Thanks, so would gouramis be compatible?? I would really like to keep my 3 spot gouramis with it as I am planning on putting them all in a display tank. Also I have parrots, can I add them?

ATKINSON

thanks alot

ATKINSON

Just kidding about the need part but I would love a fire eel. Since I have never kept any eel like fish apart from coolie loaches, I dont know much about them. I know I must use a sand subtrate. What should I feed them, what scenary should I put in, and what pump should I use? Please could anyone help me??

sirdarksol

Sorry about any hiccups in this thread. I had to merge three identical topics (not to mention deleting a fourth that had no answers in it.) Atkinson, please only start one thread for a topic. It makes it hard, both for you and for other members, to keep track of a discussion.

I wouldn't put gourami in with African cichlids any more than I would put fire eels in with African cichlids. Neither creature is made to tolerate the extremely hard, alkaline water that the cichlids have adapted to. Likewise, blood parrots likely should not go in with Africans, I think, since they are spawn of Central American cichlids.
In the end, there isn't much of anything that I would put in with African cichlids except for other African cichlids of the same lake.

sirdarksol

Pool filter sand or EcoComplete are going to be your best bets, since the fire eels like to bury themselves. Don't get the Tahitian Moon sand, as that has sharp edges that can hurt the fish while it's burrowing.

They can uproot plants and move driftwood around, so don't count on rooted plants, and don't stack anything that can fall on them while they're shifting around.

Any filter (I presume that's what you mean by pump) should work fine.

"Fire eels will take a wide variety of food including tubifex, fish, brine shrimp, mosquito larvae, bloodworms, mussels etc." (Wikipedia)

They also need a tight-fitting lid, as they are escape artists.

aquarist48

Blood Parrots are a peaceful cichlid. They have no way to defend themselves as other fish can due to the deformity of the mouths. They cannot bite. I think his life could be at risk in with Africans.

ATKINSON

Sorry about all the threads, still getting used to everything. So is it alright to put adult gouramis with a fire eel??

aqaurist48, would I be able to put parrots with gouramis and a fire eels or are the pH too different??

sirdarksol

Adult full-sized gourami likely would do okay with the fire eels.

aquarist48

Check this link Atkinson:
http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_M...throtaenia.php

My stocking list for my tanks with Bloody Parrots is either below or in my aquarium profile. Those are the only ones I can safely say will be fine with Bloody Parrots.

ATKINSON

Thanks alot. That really helped. I know they get big so what size tank do you recommend?

ok. would loaches and corydoras be alright with fire eels?

FL CommunityFans

1 adult sized fire eel is going to need 150 gallons easily... 2 fire eels can be kept in a 300 gallon but still aggression can be an issue between the species.

sirdarksol

Cories would end up being lunch, I think.
Loaches would depend on the species.
However, because loaches and fire eels take up the same spot in the aquarium (the substrate), you may want to consider looking at fish that range the upper levels of the tank, instead.

FL CommunityFans

Arowana's <3

ATKINSON

I am thinking of getting 1 fire eel, 2 three spot gouramis, 1 kissing gouramis, 2 pearl gouramis and perhaps a common plec or 2 synthodontis. Would that be alright or do you suggest anything else??

And what scenary would be good for that combonation of fish above?? What plants should I get, got 2 amazon swords and 1 java fern.

boogie

Hi. I had my 24 inch huge fire eel alone for a very long time and then I put a bunch of very small fish with it even after everyone said he'd eat everything. Well, he only wants bloodworms and enjoys the company. Fire eel are cool and sweet fish. The only one who said I'd have no problems with the fire eel and new baby fish was my fav. LFS and he was right. Go for it!