We were able to import something quite special for lovers of unusual fish from India: Moringua raitaborua. This “spaghetti eel” grows to a length of 30-40 cm and is only as thick as a pencil. In fact, the representatives of the genus Moringua are not eels of the Anguillidae family, but form a family of their own, the Moringuidae, which can be found in tropical waters in estuaries worldwide. Accordingly, the species can live in both seawater and freshwater and are therefore euryhaline, as the technical term for this is. There are 15 species in two genera in this family. Due to the very wide distribution of most species, it is likely that these fish spawn in the sea and that eggs and larvae are carried by ocean currents.
It is rather unlikely that our imports are actually the species M. raitaborua, because this species has three well-developed fins on the tail: one on the back, one on the belly and the actual caudal fin. Our animals, however, only have one caudal fin; no fin is visible to the naked eye in the dorsal and ventral areas. However, as these fish are virtually unknown in aquaristics and the few illustrations and care descriptions that show the species imported by us always use the name Moringua raitaborua, we have also given the animals this name. In addition, the species that looks most similar to our animals, namely M. multidentata, is currently listed as a synonym of M. raitaborua despite considerable deviations from the text and illustration in the original description of M. raitaborua.
Ultimately, however, it doesn’t matter exactly which species they are, as there is no difference in terms of care. It is important to provide these fish with a sandy bottom at least 4 cm high, as they dig themselves in from time to time. They usually only leave the end of their tail sticking out of the sand. The strangely shaped tail fin makes the tail look like a fish head. A potential predator is thus deceived: it attacks the head, but only catches the tail and the spaghetti eel can escape. It can cope with the loss of a piece of tail, but not the head. Sometimes, however, the spaghetti eels look out of the sand with their heads and then look like the well-known garden eels (Heterocongrinae) from the sea. We recommend keeping them in brackish water (5-10 g salt per liter). Spaghetti eels are completely peaceful animals. They prefer to feed on worm food and (frozen) bloodworm, but will generally accept any animal food as long as it fits well in their mouth. Very small fish are certainly also eaten, but we have not observed this.
For our customers: the animals have code 436473 on our stock list. Please note that we only supply the wholesale trade.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
