# Forgotten eel dies.



## bubforever (Oct 17, 2007)

Yeah so as ya'll know i gots a fish tank. So today i wake up to discover my large spiney eel dead! Odd thing is, i forgot i even had it cause it buries itself in my gravel. Weird.


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## Mantis Keeper (Nov 1, 2007)

Yeah, I did that once. We had a fish tank and got an eel to go in with a couple oscars. It immediatly buried itself and soon we forgot it was even there. Actually just stumbled across it while cleaning the tank one day (luckily ours wasn't dead). We don't even know what it could have been eating. The oscars got live food, not pellets, so there wasn't even anything that may have drifted to the bottom.


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## Malnra (Nov 1, 2007)

sorry to hear that, thanks for the note about them burying themselves ... i dont want a pet i cannot see .. hehehe


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## AFK (Nov 24, 2007)

sorry about your loss. i get teary-eyed over dead fish too.  

burrowing fish/eels are actually healthy for the tank by the way. they aerate the gravel, which help inhibit the growth of anaerobic bacteria in the gravel that release harmful chemicals and gases.


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## Mantis Keeper (Nov 26, 2007)

Just make sure you don't forget to include some sort of food that they will eat. It is surprisingly easy to forget about something you can't see.


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## spawn (Jan 7, 2008)

My sandfish skink buries in the sand 99% of the time, and I forget I have it everytime I walk into the animal room. I feel bad sometimes, because nobody wants it, and it won't die! I've had the darn thing for almost 8 years now? It's really a cool animal (quick moving, and swims through the sand with its smooth scales).

A buddy of mine had bad luck with an eel when he setup a fish tank as well last year. The biggest problem seems to be getting them acclimated to new tank water, as the water at the petstore is definitely funked up with bacteria and it probably had Ich or something else to begin with. The transition probably pushed it over the edge.


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