CaptainAquatics
- #1
Hi! Some of you may be looking for a cool fish to act as a centerpiece for your large aquarium. I would like to introduce the tire track eel: in this thread I will be going over the care of the tiretrack eel (as well as a few photos of the one I own). Understand this is based off of personal experience and what I have read on multiple websites
Tank size- tire track eels get big, sometimes reaching over three feet long. I personally would say minimum is a 100 gallon aquarium, preferably bigger like maybe a 125+
Eel size- tire track eels can grow over three feet long however it is more common for them to only reach about 2 and a half feet in length
Diet- tire track eels can be fed a variety of things from live to frozen however they can be picky at times. I have found my tire track to like freeze dried krill. Freeze dried krill is high on protein and allows to fish to grow quickly. My eel eats 1-3 prices of jumbo freeze dried krill daily
Tank Mates- As some may have guessed this eels is not community friendly. This eels gets large enough as to where it will eat your community fish. There tank mates should be fairly large and be able to hold there own if the eels decided to be mean. Generally though eels won’t bother big fish. I once had a large 10” tire track eel in QT. He later died due to jumping (which I will talk about later) however let me tell you this. He was in with some platys and stuff that were also in QT, he was offered food every day and even though he didn’t always eat, he got enough. One day however he ate all of the platys (there were 10 of them) in the span of 1 hour. I left, came back an hour later and all the platys were gone. Needless to say they will eventually get them.
Other things- I will start off talking about the thing that is most challenging with them, there habit to jump. Like I said before I had a 10” tire track eel jump out on me despite the screen lid that covered all exits being held down with 4 pieces of wood. Eels also like to bury in the substrate sometimes for days at a time so don’t panic if you can’t find him. Tire track eels can also be picky eaters so once you find what they like, stick with it. If you have any questions about them let me know!
I hope you all find this helpful and if you do let me know. I now have a new (smaller) tire track eel that is happily living in my 30G african cichlid growing out to eventually move to my 40G breeder with my flowerhorn, and then finally be moved to my 130 gallon. These eels are super fun to keep if done right and can be a real conversation starter. Here is my eels and I hope this helps
Tank size- tire track eels get big, sometimes reaching over three feet long. I personally would say minimum is a 100 gallon aquarium, preferably bigger like maybe a 125+
Eel size- tire track eels can grow over three feet long however it is more common for them to only reach about 2 and a half feet in length
Diet- tire track eels can be fed a variety of things from live to frozen however they can be picky at times. I have found my tire track to like freeze dried krill. Freeze dried krill is high on protein and allows to fish to grow quickly. My eel eats 1-3 prices of jumbo freeze dried krill daily
Tank Mates- As some may have guessed this eels is not community friendly. This eels gets large enough as to where it will eat your community fish. There tank mates should be fairly large and be able to hold there own if the eels decided to be mean. Generally though eels won’t bother big fish. I once had a large 10” tire track eel in QT. He later died due to jumping (which I will talk about later) however let me tell you this. He was in with some platys and stuff that were also in QT, he was offered food every day and even though he didn’t always eat, he got enough. One day however he ate all of the platys (there were 10 of them) in the span of 1 hour. I left, came back an hour later and all the platys were gone. Needless to say they will eventually get them.
Other things- I will start off talking about the thing that is most challenging with them, there habit to jump. Like I said before I had a 10” tire track eel jump out on me despite the screen lid that covered all exits being held down with 4 pieces of wood. Eels also like to bury in the substrate sometimes for days at a time so don’t panic if you can’t find him. Tire track eels can also be picky eaters so once you find what they like, stick with it. If you have any questions about them let me know!
I hope you all find this helpful and if you do let me know. I now have a new (smaller) tire track eel that is happily living in my 30G african cichlid growing out to eventually move to my 40G breeder with my flowerhorn, and then finally be moved to my 130 gallon. These eels are super fun to keep if done right and can be a real conversation starter. Here is my eels and I hope this helps
