my freshwater moray eel ate my african cichlid!

I have a 10 gal. freshwater tank. It was initially occupied with 12 feeder
minnows. After about 2 weeks, 8 have died and 4 survived. I put it a 2"
African cichlid, the aggressive type. The cichlid doesn't seem to be too
interested in the minnows and they lived together for about 2 weeks.

One day I found freshwater moray eels for sale at Petco for $5. I couldn't
resist the temptation. After all, the eels have always fascinated me. So I
brought one home and put it in. It's about 12" long. The eel immediately
settled down at the cichlid's home - poor cichlid, it has worked quite a
while on its home and now it has to find another place. The eels doesn't
seems to be interested in the cichlid and the cichlid doesn't bother the eel
either - they seems to be quite at peace with each other, at least when the
light is on...

Then comes the next morning. At first, I was a bit puzzled when I couldn't
locate the cichlid. It doesn't take long to point all the suspicion toward
the eel. It's still curling under the rock, as usual, but breathing a little
more frequently than before. When I take a closer lock, I can see in the
middle of its body, there is a section that is bloated, and doesn't curl as
well as the rest - It's instantly obvious where the cichlid is!

This really came as a shock to me. I remember at the shop, I was talking
with others about how to feed the eel. One thing people seems to agree is
that eels are slow and shy, and the cichlids are fast and aggressive! I
never dreamed that the eel will ate its tank mates for dinner.

After that incident, the eel spent couple of days resting and enjoying its
dinner. The tank became peaceful again. Until one day, a minnow was missing.
In the 2 days following that, all the minnows were gone. Well, the shy, slow
eel has accomplished something the famously aggressive cichlid hasn't. Now I
know who the real hunter is.

It's been 2 weeks after that and the eel seems to be doing fine. It just ate
half of a prawn, which I dangled in front of its mouth.

Most people seems to agree that freshwater moray won't last long in
freshwater. Well, my eel is doing well so far. I'd like to point out one
thing, however, a lot of fish can survive and live well in both freshwater
and saltwater, and eel is certainly a very hardy fish! I'll continue my
experiment.

I wonder whether anyone has seen anything like that? Any experience with how
long freshwater moray eels can survive in freshwater?

Michael Gu

Did you say 10 gallon tank? That's a pretty small tank for the occupants
you HAD in that tank. Perhaps if you had all of those fish in a 40 or 55
they might have lasted.
"Michael Gu" <mkjyg.TakeThisOut@intergate.com> wrote in message
news:10duinsag0k3gce@corp.supernews.com...
> I have a 10 gal. freshwater tank. It was initially occupied with 12 feeder
> minnows. After about 2 weeks, 8 have died and 4 survived. I put it a 2"
> African cichlid, the aggressive type. The cichlid doesn't seem to be too
> interested in the minnows and they lived together for about 2 weeks.
>
> One day I found freshwater moray eels for sale at Petco for $5. I couldn't
> resist the temptation. After all, the eels have always fascinated me. So I
> brought one home and put it in. It's about 12" long. The eel immediately
> settled down at the cichlid's home - poor cichlid, it has worked quite a
> while on its home and now it has to find another place. The eels doesn't
> seems to be interested in the cichlid and the cichlid doesn't bother the
eel
> either - they seems to be quite at peace with each other, at least when
the
> light is on...
>
> Then comes the next morning. At first, I was a bit puzzled when I couldn't
> locate the cichlid. It doesn't take long to point all the suspicion toward
> the eel. It's still curling under the rock, as usual, but breathing a
little
> more frequently than before. When I take a closer lock, I can see in the
> middle of its body, there is a section that is bloated, and doesn't curl
as
> well as the rest - It's instantly obvious where the cichlid is!
>
> This really came as a shock to me. I remember at the shop, I was talking
> with others about how to feed the eel. One thing people seems to agree is
> that eels are slow and shy, and the cichlids are fast and aggressive! I
> never dreamed that the eel will ate its tank mates for dinner.
>
> After that incident, the eel spent couple of days resting and enjoying its
> dinner. The tank became peaceful again. Until one day, a minnow was
missing.
> In the 2 days following that, all the minnows were gone. Well, the shy,
slow
> eel has accomplished something the famously aggressive cichlid hasn't. Now
I
> know who the real hunter is.
>
> It's been 2 weeks after that and the eel seems to be doing fine. It just
ate
> half of a prawn, which I dangled in front of its mouth.
>
> Most people seems to agree that freshwater moray won't last long in
> freshwater. Well, my eel is doing well so far. I'd like to point out one
> thing, however, a lot of fish can survive and live well in both freshwater
> and saltwater, and eel is certainly a very hardy fish! I'll continue my
> experiment.
>
> I wonder whether anyone has seen anything like that? Any experience with
how
> long freshwater moray eels can survive in freshwater?
>
> Michael Gu
>
>
>
>
>
>