low maintenance african tanganykan cichlid

On Tue, 29 Jun 2004 00:26:44 +0100, wrote:

On 28 Jun 2004 15:47:29 -0700, (Chip) wrote:


other news: my freshwater mooray eel still not eating...

thanks to all who gave me suggestions and although many of you just
said that there are no such thing as freshwater moray eels, and the
internet knowledge base also does not offer too much help, the fact is I
have one 16 inch, in my tanganykan tank since january.


Nobody is saying that freshwater moray eels do not exist. It's just
that they don't live long in freshwater. Maybe a year.

Echidna rhodochilus is called the freshwater moray eel because they
are sometimes found in freshwater but they normally live in brackish
or salt water. In the correct conditions they will live for 20 to 30
years.

What you have wildly wrong is that they do not live in Tanganyika so
why are to you keep the poor thing in a Tanganyika tank? You are
slowly killing it. They come from the coastal brackish regions of East
Asia.

If you want to keep it alive put it in a suitable tank with brackish
water and some large rocks. Feed it on live scrimps or small live
crabs. They eat two or three large meals a week. They don't like dead
food but you may be able to hand feed it on very fresh fish once you
have got it into a reasonable condition. Be careful, they can bite
hard.


Steve


Could it be that Chip actually has a Mastacemblus (spelling?) species?
Knowing the fanciful names that many species are marketed under, that
would be my guess ...

John