So I was hand feeding the elipsifer eels last night. I make a loose fist, and the eels come and poke their noses in and suck out the mysis shrimp. As my very ripe with eggs female elipsifer has her head shoved deep into my fist, the aulonacara comes along and bites her on the belly, impatient for the leftover pieces of mysis to fall from my hand. The eel released a spray of eggs into the water, which promptly got eaten up. Never had this happen before. The eel is okay, I think she was just surprised.

WOW,,,,

Almost like the Aulonacara knew what it was doing huh???? Hmmmm

Would these protect themselves otherwise if they knew/felt they were in danger????? idunno


AP.

I've never seen the eels nip another fish. The two eels only squabble among themselves. I've also never seen the other fish bother them, except the aulonocara who is a pig at feeding time. The aulonacara doesn't harass the eels at any other time.

The eels react to the aulonacara mostly by ignoring him and going for the food anyway. He manages to scare them away from my hand every now and then, but not for very long as they always come right back. The eels are very comfortable sticking their heads into my fist because I think it's like sticking their heads into a shell and grabbing eggs or fry. It's how I ensure that they get their fair share of food.