# Peacock eels



## cah925 (Jun 23, 2007)

I'm in the process of rescaping a large tank and I have once again returned to the thought of getting a peacock eel. After much research, I feel fairly confident that I can take care of these fish. The only question I have is about substrate. I currently have several buckets of Flourite laying around unused, but I'm concerned this may be too sharp for the eel. Most of my reading has pointed me towards a sandy substrate, but I'm not sure what kind of sand. Is pool filter sand acceptable? Given enough hiding areas with rock, wood, PVC and plant mass, could I use Flourite?


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## Karebear (Oct 6, 2008)

Hi cah925

I would stay away from flourite, any sharp edges will hurt the eels. Any fine/medium grain sand should work. Just remember that they hide most of the time. I hope this helps


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## TAB (Feb 7, 2009)

they are also jumpers. so you really need a lid/ netting/ something. I had one for about 6 years before he jumped out  he was a great fish.


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## fishaquatics (Aug 2, 2009)

I have a peacock eel and so far it did not eat any of my small fish. I have to say one of its favorite meals are small earth worms. It is amazing to watch him fight it in the water. If you are going to give your peacock eel a worm, make sure its ont to big.


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## cah925 (Jun 23, 2007)

Well, I just did a major overhaul of a larger tank of mine and I have plenty of Aquasoil for the 75 gal tank. Would this be a suitable substrate for the eels or should I stick with sand? I figure since it's more soil based, it should be softer for the eels. Any thoughts?


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## mountaindew (Jul 22, 2007)

cah925 said:


> Well, I just did a major overhaul of a larger tank of mine and I have plenty of Aquasoil for the 75 gal tank. Would this be a suitable substrate for the eels or should I stick with sand? I figure since it's more soil based, it should be softer for the eels. Any thoughts?


I have 3 peacock eels and 1 tire track eel in a fully planted jungle tank with flourite substrate. " 2 large ones are 8+ years old, 2 smaller ones are 4+ years old" They don't dig into gravel much when the tank is fully planted. They must be one of the toughest fish I have ever owned. When trimming large amounts of stem plants I always need to check the trimmings in the bucket before throwing out! They hide very well and have made it to the backyard many times in the trimmings.  I keep around 20 platys in the tank breeding all the time and that supplies food for the 2 biggest eels that are about 8" long. Again they do like to hide, and at times I don't see the large ones for months at a time. Many times I thought they had died, but to my surprise "not often" they all come out at night and chase each other around and or I would find one of the large ones in the bucket of trimmings just before throwing them away. The 2 smaller ones eat with the other fish and are out every morning waiting for food.  IMHO very cool fish to observe in a planted display, and imho most any substrate would be fine.

hth
MD


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## mountaindew (Jul 22, 2007)

Looked around and found some pics from a year or so ago.








Not very easy to take pics of 
md


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## cah925 (Jun 23, 2007)

That's a cool pic, and thanks for the info.


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