Malawi spiny eel

Care at a glance

Overview

Keep the Malawi spiny eel singly, as it is solitary and territorial toward its own kind, and it fits the hard-water community better than most eels. It stays near the bottom, burying in sand and threading rock seams, and comes out to forage as the tank quietens. It is peaceful with tankmates too large to swallow but will eat small fish, which makes it a fair match for medium-sized rift-lake cichlids rather than tiny species. Feed meaty foods such as earthworm, mussel, prawn, and frozen bloodworm or mysis. A tank of around 250 liters with sand, rockwork, and a firm lid suits it.

In the wild

The Malawi spiny eel is endemic to Lake Malawi and the connected upper Shire River, living over sand and along rocky shorelines. Unlike its soft-water relatives it needs hard, alkaline water: a pH around 7.5 to 8.5 and warm temperatures near 24 to 27 C. Give it a sand bed to bury in, piled rock with crevices to thread, and the clean, stable, well-oxygenated conditions of the great lake.

Good to know

Mastacembelus shiranus, a member of the spiny eel family Mastacembelidae, reaches about 26 centimeters. It is the only spiny eel described from Lake Malawi, sand-toned with fine marbling, and it feeds on invertebrates and small fish along the lake's rocky margins. A brightly marked form known informally as the rosette eel also turns up. Captive breeding has not been recorded.

Did you know

Lake Malawi is famous for its hundreds of cichlid species, yet it holds just a single spiny eel: Mastacembelus shiranus is the only member of the family known from the lake, the whole local franchise in one fish.

Common questions

Related species

• Tanganyika striped spiny eel

  Mastacembelus plagiostomus

  Freshwater

  13.8 in (35 cm)79 gal (300 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Liberian spiny eel

  Mastacembelus liberiensis

  Freshwater

  15 in (38 cm)79 gal (300 L)73–82°F (23–28°C)
• Greshoff's spiny eel

  Mastacembelus greshoffi

  Freshwater

  15 in (38 cm)79 gal (300 L)73–82°F (23–28°C)
• Brichard's spiny eel

  Mastacembelus brichardi

  Freshwater

  6.7 in (17 cm)53 gal (200 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)
• Tanganyika spotted spiny eel

  Mastacembelus ellipsifer

  Freshwater

  17.7 in (45 cm)79 gal (300 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)
• Tin Win's spiny eel

  Mastacembelus tinwini

  Freshwater

  17.7 in (45 cm)106 gal (400 L)73–82°F (23–28°C)