American eel (Anguilla rostrata)

I currently have one specimen that is still quite small in spite of being over 2 years old. Since feeding live blackworms more frequently the fish is more visible (used to hide in the substrate all the time and I would go for several weeks to a month without seeing it). I've kept this species before, but they were larger individuals.

Definitely an interesting fish, and I've taken up an interest in other Anguillids as well (currently keep the short-finned eel, Anguilla australis too).

Just wondered if anyone else was keeping this species and what your experiences were with these fish. Their (catadromous) life history fascinates me, and the fact that they still don't know where exactly (somewhere in the sargasso sea) they spawn is intriguing.--
--solomon

I had a couple small ones all but one of which climbed out of the tank. They were small individuals and I fed them live guppies. The remaining one I donated to heidelberg college. Who knows they may still have it alive.

I know a friend who has a young american eel and I know a place that sells american eels
http://aqualandpetsp...erican Eels.htm and has a page or so on captive care

I used to keep some in a 20 gal. tank in my graphics office in Boston years ago. We'd catch them in minnow traps where the Fenway runs into the Charles River near Kenmore Square. Usually we'd keep 2 or 3 at a time, with a glass lid heavily weighted with old phone books. Our initial interest was using eels to liveline as bluefish bait but we kept a few just for the spectacle of it; many of our customers were so repulsed by a tank of eels that we were strongly encouraged to keep doing it... We'd do twice-weekly feedings of small golden shiners that we caught in the same location. They were always moving, it was an interesting tank that way. I've never kept elvers, though.