Full grown individuals have well developed lips for an eel. Only small eels can be considered as pets. Because of their size and constant activity, the eel's tank should be twice as long, and half as wide as the length of the eel itself. For aquarium furnishings, rocks, and gravel work well. For food, the eel prefers live invertebrates with worms, shrimp, krill, crayfish, and other crustaceans being at the top of the list.
Young eels eat plankton, brine shrimp and other small forms of life.
Older, larger eels eat large invertebrates and live fish. All eels will also except dead food such as meat and sinking carnivorous fish pellets, but they will not thrive on this. Eels are active and reclusive, nocturnal and physically extremely hardy. They are notoriously difficult to catch. Keep the tank absolutely sealed without a single hole uncovered.