The fire eel
(Mastacembelus erythrotaenia) is a large freshwater fish found in Cambodia,
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Description
The fire eel is not a true eel, but an extremely elongated
fish with a distinctive pointed snout and underslung mouth. It is part of a
group of fishes called spiny eels that also includes tire track and peacock
eels. The group gets its common name from the many small dorsal spines that
precede the dorsal fin. The body is laterally compressed, particularly the rear
third, where it flattens as it joins the caudal fin and forms an extended tail.
The fire eel's base coloring is dark brown/grey, while the belly is generally a
lighter shade of the same color. Several bright red lateral stripes and spots
mark the body, and vary in intensity depending on the age and condition of the
individual. Usually the markings are yellow/amber in juvenile fish, changing to
a deep red in larger ones. Often the anal, pectoral, and dorsal fins have a red
edging.
The fire eel can grow to a considerable size in the wild
with specimens often exceeding 1.2 meters (3.9 ft) in length. However, due to
limiting factors in the captive environment they usually reach a maximum of
around 55 centimeters (22 in), even in very large aquaria.
Wild populations
Fire eels inhabit river environments with slow to briskly
moving water and fine sediment. In the wild they occur across a relatively
broad area covering a large part of Southeast Asia including Borneo, India,
Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), Sri Lanka, Sumatra, and Thailand. They are
bottom-dwellers that spend large portions of their time buried in the riverbed,
often leaving only their snout visible. However, they are voracious predators
and when hunting will visit all depths.
Diet
Wild fish are omnivorous and consume a variety of smaller
fish, aquatic invertebrates, plant matter and detritus. Prefers meaty foods
such as prawn, krill, and lancefish. Live and frozen foods can also be fed,
however these foods alone are unlikely to be enough to sustain larger fish.
Some specimens will also accept vegetable matter, although this is fairly rare.
Behaviour and Compatibility
Generally peaceful community fish, although care should be
taken to ensure tankmates are too large to be considered prey as this species
does eat live fish in the wild. It is recommended to only keep one fire eel per
tank as they may be aggressive to conspecifics. This can sometimes be avoided
by keeping the fish in groups of five or more individuals.
Notes
A member of the spiny eel family, which range across
tropical Asia and Africa, Mastacembelus erythrotaenia is one of the more common
species available to the hobby, along with the peacock eel (Macrognathus
siamensis)and the tyre-track eel (Mastacembelus favus). These species are all
from Asia but there are some members of the family from Africa that are
occasionally seen for sale. These majority of these species are from the
Afromastacembelus genus, with the most common representative being the
Tanganyikan spiny eel (Afromastacembelus tanganicae
The family is named ‘spiny eels’ due to the presence of
spines running along the back of the fish. These are harmless to humans.The fire eel is also a food fish in its native countries.
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