I'm getting about 30 odd eels in a month.
Breeding - you'd be VERY lucky. Japan spent a million dollars and successfully raised 1 eel from spawn, no shit.
A local scientist has since bred short-fin eels and is travelling the world spreading the love. Takes a facility with many fancy gadgets and boys with mums who can't spell - what kind of name is Paulphdmd???
In the wild our NZ eels get to about 20 years old, swim to TONGA!.... and spawn and die there. Ocean currents bring the spawn home.
Some landlocked eels spawn, but we have absolutely no idea how.
They were my staple diet when I lived in the bush. Anyone who says they're awful has eaten a yellowbelly. a yellowbelly is not a breed, it is a dirty eel.
Caught from a mountain stream the bellies are silver. In culture they flush them before processing. Eels have a heavy duty slime coat, when bushwhacking and planning on eating an eel, get grass that isn't easy to run hands up - you know, got little grooves running horizontal type stuff - and strip the slime off by coiling grass round and running down the eel.
Another thing of definate note
EVERY single eel farming story I read, the eels escape, then they modify the tanks. Will thrive in rich water, mans ruination of other species and waterways via farming has made for nutrient rich eel grounds where they prosper. BUT, they must breed, leave the biggest ones alone. Well, if you saw a real big one you'd leave it alone anyway unless you're a crocodile hunter lke Jaymie. Divers won't go down the bottom of our dams. Maori call them Taniwha. A river demon. The grandaddys get bone nubs on the head - horns....
And they hiss. YIKES!
