Scientific Name: Mastacembelus armatus
Common Name: Tire Track Eel
Adult Size: 36 inches
Life Expectancy: 10 years
Habitat: Southeast Asia - Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam
Minimum Tank Size: 125 gallons
Ideal Tank Conditions:
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Temperature Range: 75 - 82°F
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pH Range: 6.0 - 7.0
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Water Hardness: 5 - 12
Temperament: Aggressive; highly predatory and will kill any fish smaller than themselves. Generally peaceful community fish, although care should be taken to ensure tankmates are too large to be considered prey. It is recommended to only keep one eel per tank as they may be aggressive to conspecifics.
Diet & Nutrition: Tire Track Eels are nocturnal carnivores in nature, where they forage for insects, insect larvae, various species of worms and other similar meaty fare. They should be fed a varied diet of foods ranging from live earthworms or black worms to frozen or pellet foods ranging from krill, plankton, tubifex worms, brine shrimp, frozen bloodworms, cyclopeeze or krill.
Breeding & Spawning: Breeding these eels in captivity is very challenging due to the difficulty of reproducing their breeding and spawning conditions in the wild. In the wild, the beginning of flood season serves as the signal for these eels to breed. In addition, the lack of space in a tank makes it challenging to mimic this eel’s natural habitat. Another issue with breeding is the general difficulty to determine the sex of this eel.
Gender: Female can be fuller bodied when in breeding condition.
