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200 litre tank for my T. natans ceacilians and neon tetras

#the worms the worms #ceacilians #rubber eel #Typhlonectes natans #neon tetras #freshwater

Day 65#: Rubber Eel

Today's animal of the day is the Rubber Eel (Typhlonectes natans)!

Photo credit: Dr. Paddy Ryan

Also known as the Rio Rauca caecilian, this strange species of amphibian is native to the rivers and wetlands of Colombia and Venezuela. Unlike some other species of caecilians, Typhlonectes natans is fully aquatic are rarely ever found on land. However, they will often venture out into flooded grasslands and shrublands during the rainy season. Though they will

Photo credit: Sibylle Stofer

Despite being called rubber eels, they are not fish, and like I said before, they are actually a type of limbless amphibian. They typically grow to around 18 to 22 inches in length and have smooth, dark gray or black skin. While these caecilians do have eyes, they are covered by a layer of skin, making it so they can only detect light and can't actually see what's in front of them. So, they primarily use their sense of smell to locate prey.

Photo credit: AJC1 on iNaturalist

Unlike some other types of amphibians that lay jelly-like eggs, caecilians are ovoviviparous, meaning that their eggs remain inside the female's body and she gives birth to live young! Caecilians also don't go through a tadpole stage, and when they are born, they resemble smaller versions of the adults. However, like all other amphibians, they have very sensitive semi-permeable skin that they breathe through. Though they will occasionally come up to the surface to breathe through their nostrils, but they still mostly breathe through their skin.

Photo credit: Dr. Paddy Ryan

Also, fun fact: many caecilians don't have tails. It might look like they do but that's just because of their long eel-like bodies. There's actually a video on YouTube of a rubber eel giving birth at the Tennessee Aquarium and it looks super weird because the caecilian doesn't have a tail so the babies are just coming out of a hole on what looks like what would be the tip of her "tail". Here's a link if you want to watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lAfOTR9tY4

Photo credit: Tennessee Aquarium

Another fun fact about baby rubber eels is that they're born with massive external gills but lose them shortly taking their first breath of air.

Photo credit: Tennessee Aquarium

Rubber eels are commonly kept by aquarists and are often sold as pets. Though commonly they're often mislabeled by pet stores as "fish" instead of amphibians. From what I can tell, they're pretty easy to care for if you have some experience keeping both amphibians and freshwater aquariums. They need a minimum tank size of 55 gallons, though a larger tank is encouraged, and they'll need both a filter and a water heater. You'll need to make sure that you keep their tank fairly clean since the high temperatures and humidity levels that they need can cause a bacterial buildup if you're not careful. They also need plenty of places to hide and the substrate should be deep enough for them to burrow in. The pet trade has also caused these guys to become invasive species in (you guessed it) Florida after enough people released their pets into the wild for there to be a stable breeding population.

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