The Spiny Eel

The spiny eel, from the family Mastacembelidae, is a group of freshwater eels which are in fact not true eels. They are interesting eels which have a snout, long elongated scaleless body and a small finned tail. The interesting swimming motion they make whilst swimming makes this fish an interesting species to view in an aquarium.

Spiny Eels have become quite the escape artist in tanks so a closed off lid must be accompanied with a tank the eel is in. The minimum tank size for eels is 30 gallons, however bigger eels will defiantly need bigger tanks of up to 100 gallons. 75 to 82 degrees farenheit is the eels preferred temperature in a tank. Eels are quite fussy eaters and will only accept meaty foods most of the time. Usually you should feed them live foods at first when you introduce them to a new tank as the entire transportation scene has left them stressed and demanding. Bloodworms/Black worms are the perfect food for most spiny eels, although larger ones will willingly eat small feeders and ghost shrimp.

They are also known to burrow in the ground once in a while. They are a reclusive fish most of the time, so hiding areas are quite necessary. Tank mates for Spiny Eels are most non-aggressive fish like bala sharks or clown loaches, however smaller fish are not recommended. A life span of a typical spiny eel can range from about 5 to 10 years.


A few common spiny eels

To Be Updated

I recently aquired a Mastacembelus plagiostoma "Tanganyikan Eel" that I've found breaks the general rules of "spiny eels"...I have found this fish to be quite active, patrolling the tank and swimming in and out of the Texas holey rock...Oddly enough, it took to flake food the first week in my aquarium (this is a wild caught fish) despite being fed plento of brine shrimp and blood worms....I strongly recomend this fish for larger Tanginyikan Cichlid community setups...

seedy, the one at the shop, a giant elipsefir eel, rarely gets bloodworms. he eats giant pellets!

PUnky- Yes, I've heard that the M. elipsifer is also a "mold breaker" as far as spiny eels go...I think it has to do with the age of and level of adaptation found in Lake Tang. It seems like many of the "odd balls" come from that lake....

I mention that most spiny eels prefer bloodoworms. Occasionaly there are exceptions. It's good that we can sort things out as questions or different experiences are added. Thanks for that seedy+punky. B)

It's not that I disagree with you regarding spiny eel care. Your advice is right on for spiny eels..I'm fairly sure that my eel does actually prefer bloodworms to flake...however he won't turn his snout up to either. ^_^

I think the Tanganyikan spiny eels are the exceptions and not the rule to the complex. In my opinion they have all the charm of the other members of their genus and may prove to be a bit more practical to care for to the average hobiest. Their main draw back however would be their cost, as they are not as commonly imported as some of the other spiny eels.

A question for you Eelzor, do you know if any one has had any sucsess breeding any of these "eels"? I see "peacock" and "tiretrack" eels available fairly regulary, are they tank raised or wild caught? Their price leads me to believe that they are tank raised, but I have never been able to find any information on breeding them.

It is possible to breed them, however it is highly recommended that they be in a species only tank and also kept in groups (maybe 3, 4, 5?). Usually the ones in the stores are wild caught (or at least the ones I have seen).

Other than the usual luxuries you should give when breeding fish (live food, good water quality and the like) that's just about the best you can do to breed them.

As I said in the first sentence, group of eels, species only tank and perhaps a darker lit tank can raise the chances of breeding spiny eels.