Eel swimming in output!!

travcoe

I think I almost just had a heart attack... something caught my eye as my tank is right next to my monitor, so I looked over and saw my tiretrack eel wiggling his way into my filter output! He managed to squeeze all the way into the output. He disappeared for a second and I thought he was a goner, then I saw him wiggling back out tail first. It's the first time I've seen him do it, I just felt like I had to tell someone lol... I guess I'll have to find some nylon or something to stick over the output, as I'd imagine it's not the best idea for him to swim in there.

Whew.

onefish2fish

im not sure for freshwater eels (id imagine its similiar if not the same) but saltwater eyes are escape artist. they get down overflows and out of the smallest holes from what ive heard.
lucky you were sitting right there

Twistersmom

Yes, if they can find a way out they will! My tank with peacock eels is completely sealed. I took aquarium safe sponges and filled every hole. Fabric stores have net looking material, I cut a hole in it for the intake tube, then wrapped the rest around the filter and held it in place with a large rubberband. The eel willl soon grow to large to fit into the filter, then you can do away with the netting, but still keep all other holes sealed.

travcoe

The only holes I need to worry about him getting into are the filter input and output. He's too big for the input, but the output has adjustable pieces in it to control how the water flows and they move quite easily. I've got it covered now though, I'm glad I caught it before I lost him