EELS : Protogynous Hermaphrodites ??
 

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:rolleye1: Hello everyone ! :rolleye1:

I was wondering if anyone out there has experience in breeding Moray Eels, particularly Snowflakes. I have adopted two specimens that are 20" + each and I was thinking of isolating them if they could be a breeding pair.

Everywhere I have read has said that no one knows how to sex these animals, even that they are suspected of being ' protogynous hermaphrodites '. If that is the case, then one or the other should change to adapt to the situation.

If anyone knows about this, please let me know !

Not sure about protogynous, but they appear as hermaphrodites. At least on 2 occasions w/ 4 different animals, my zebra morays are

Okay--- sorry about that last post. It reads like I was quoting Yoda.
What I meant to say is...
I'm not sure if they are protgynous hermaphrodites, but some morays are definately hermaphrodites. I 've had on 2 occasionsn 2 pairs of zebra morays, where i had an established larger animal and purchased a smaller eel. W/in 6 months they were paired up and I saw breeding activity.

Now i'm not sure if this holds true for all morays, considering "moray" covers alot of species,

Frank,

Were you starting the New Years celebration early? :D

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Thanks for the response !

The new eel has been in the aquarium for less than 24 hours, and there has already been wrestling at the very least. I woke up today to find the aquascaping completely destroyed, and the two eels stay on opposite sides of the enclosure.

I read that Snowflake Eels can be sexed very loosely by the positioning of the teeth. If they appear to be longer on the top, then it's a specimen on the male end. If they are longer on the bottom, then it's more female. I don't know if this theory holds water, but I'm hoping that they don't dismember each other before I get the chance to find out ! :mad2:

Snowflakes are usually pretty tolerant of having other eels in the tank, so they should settle down once the pecking order is established ;)

I woke up yesterday to find that the New Eel that I introduced into the situation had bitten the older one really bad. Serrations along the whole midsection, but no blood.

At any rate, I'm not taking any chances so I corralled the older one to one side and put in a makeshift divider made out of egg crate. It's working so far ... I plan to let them talk through the bars for a month or so, and then I will remove the divider. If the fighting starts up again, then I'll have no choice but to take one of them out and adopt it out.

The bigger eel seems like the female though, because she is so violent and has to be in control at all times. No insult intended ladies... :rolleyes:

Get that eel some zoloft ;)

Luckily eels are pretty resilient and usually heal well.