Eels

[dcoop]

Wanna get some feedback from some people here about Eels. I have decided I want to add an Eel to my current 100g tank, which now only houses a Picasso Trigger, and a Niger Trigger which both are about 4 inches long. I know an Eel would be fine with those, but I am curious about what the best woudl be to get. I really like the Zebra Moray, Snowflake, and the Tessalata, can anyone here help me out with this and also feeding habits and how easy is it to get them to eat.

Lastly I have heard all Eels are great at escaping from tank that are not totally closed off at the top. I have heard though that it is bad to have your tank completely closed up at the top because you want the gas exchange from the air. Please let me know, I appreciate all the hlp

[VL]

Zebra Moray Great eel, and very doscile Rarely eats any fish flesh. Mostly crab, shrimp, scallops etc..

Snowflake Another very nice eel, a bit more agressive will eat fish if bored or hungry.

Tessalata, I would absolutly stay away from this one. With a potential length of over 5 feet it will require cinder blocks on the tops to keep him from getting out.

[kurplunk]

Dcoop, I have almost the same set up right now. I have a FOWLR 80g with a picasso, niger, and a naso tang. In my 55g I have a large 2 foot long Tessalata. I was also considering combining the two. I have 3 damsels in with the eel, that he hasn't eaten, and I used to have a stars and stripes puffer in there with him also. I feed him krill from a feeding tube. The only problem has been his strength to move around the few pieces of LR I have in there. I just got a 125g that I'm starting up to combine them all in. I have not experienced any escape attempts but I did have a smaller yellow head eel that got out. Let me know how things go.
kurplunk

[gearhead]

check this article out -
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-12/fm/index.htm

[pisces77]

Originally posted by VL
Tessalata, I would absolutly stay away from this one. With a potential length of over 5 feet it will require cinder blocks on the tops to keep him from getting out.

Max is actually about 8ft (250cm according to Dr. Burgess and others), not to mention that they become VERY aggressive. Tesselatas are a very irresponsible purchase. There are plenty of interesting eels that do not get over 5ft to choose from. Check out the Jeweled moray, Guineafowl moray, fire coral moray, and the viper morays (family). Buying a tess is about like buying a Great Barracuda, nice fish if you have a pool or a roundabout.

[dcoop]

Thank you all for your info, and I do agree with you on the tessalata, I have decided to go with the Zebra Moray.

[Dan Thrash]

dont mean to bust in on your thread, but the article given by gearhead seems quite informative. i'm just wondering though, i'm considering a snowflake for a reef tank. the author mentions that they are "reef safe" or the most reef safe, but he only seems to mention that they wont hurt fish. i'm assuming they'll probably leave corals and anemones alone, but what about your cleanup crew? will they most likely get devoured?

thanks,
Dan

[castor]

An eel can make a really cool tankmate.

I just got a snowflake eel and love him. He took to frozen food right away. I used half of a 1/4" rigid airline tubing (same as in the article, and again I foolishly thought I had an origonal idea) but I sharpened the end to a little bit of a point to skewer the meat. He took a small silverside the first night I got him. The next night I got him to take a small piece of shrimp. After two feedings he already knows where the food is coming from as the second time I came to the tank he popped out of his hole and came right up to me and the moment the feeding tube hit the water he struck at it and actually ended up latching onto the tube before he found the food.

I did make a big mistake though. Had a larger arrow crab and thought that it would be too big for him to eat. Wrong, very wrong. Watched him as he struck it and devoured it. Yeah, don't let their smallish heads fool you, they can fit a lot through that small mouth. I wouldn't think any of the common crabs would be safe such as sally lightfoot or emeralds either, maybe a really really big one. I'm still wondering about hermits. Have yet to see him go after any and there are still quite a few crawling around so I'm hoping he will leave these guys alone.

Can anybody say what these guys will usually go after and won't?

[dhoch]

Having kept snowflakes in the past and currently having a chain link (close relative fo the snowflake) in my tank here is what I can tel you about them:

Crabs are these eels main diet in the wild so don't expect to keep any crabs with them (arrows, sally light foots, etc) The crab will be a meal early on (my sally light foot experiement lasted all of 3 days before a violent ending).

Hermits... I have never seen one of these go after a hermit crab. Not sure why... weather the crab retreating into it's shell protects it (don't belive this see snails below) or these eels just don't eat them.

Snails... Turbos (which are a bit larger) tend to be snacks. I find my turbo population has a fairly steady drop off and I have found my eel with his head buried in a snail shell twisting to get all the meat out so while they are meals they can survie and not being that expesive I tend to keep them around. (I also have other snails that he does not have a lot of interest in).

Shrimp... This is a crap shot. Skunk cleaners if they get established with an eel (surviving past the first week or so) will actually partner with eels. They love to clean the eels slime coat (which most eels seem to like) and they pick up after the messy eatings of the eels. I have been told that these eels will eat these shrimp but I have never witnessed it myself (I have a pair that live in and just outside the cave with my 28"+ chain link... If he wanted them as a snack he could definitly take them down and maybe some day he will). I also have a coral banded in my tank with my eel. He will actually nip at the eel and I wouldn't mind the eel taking him down (again he definitly could), but the eel tends to shake him off if he is bothered.

Fish... These eels start out with grinding flat teeth when smaller but as they grow larger the males develop sharp teeth so they can catch fish. Small fish can fall prey to these eels. In my experience though they are not great fish hunters. I have seen my eel chase my damsel (a big blue devil) around the tank, but he has never caught him. My flame angel slaps the eel in the face when he goes to explore his hiding place and has never been chased by the eel. THey can and will take fish down and I have seen behavior to support this but never seen a fish actually caught and eaten.

They are escape artists so a tight fitting top is a good idea...

Dan... What I do with my tank is actually put the top on at night (when they usually wander around) during the day he pretty much stays put so I remove the top during the day. So far no problems (going on 2+ years with my chain link)

As for other things they don't eat corals, etc, but they are clumsy and can disturb them with their bodies. Also make sure they have a good home as they will move live rock around if they can to make their home to their satisfaction.

As far as feeding I feed a variety of foods (shrimp, squid, and frozen prepared i.e. VHP, trigger formula, etc). When my chainlink was small I would feed by hand (got bit a couple of times more startling than anything when they are small), as he/she grew I started the feeding tube thing (which the chainlink caught onto very quickly), but when one time he propeled himself right out the top of the tube chasing the food (which freaked me out causing me to drop the tube) I decided to switch to feeding with a pair of feeding tweezers which works very well now.

Dave

[Dan Thrash]

thanks guys! so i get the feeling crabs may be a bad idea to keep with one of these if you actually want them to live. down the road, if i got a snowflake, i'd probably keep a bunch cheaper crabs that could be eaten if he wants, but i guess getting these guys to eat frozen food or what not from a feeding stick is probably a good way to stear his interest away a bit from the crabs, snails and such in the tank. the thing i'm most worried about are the shrimp b/c i kinda like them, but it seems they can coexist quite nicely.

just a thought....i'm not sure if putting a lid on affects lighting or evaporation or anything, but anyone ever think to put like plexi glass high sides around the top of the tank so if the eel did jump out, he wouldnt be able to jump over the walls?

thanks again,
Dan

[dhoch]

Dan,

Putting on a lid of any kind will affect lighting.

I hadn't thought of the high side idea, but it might work.

Just a quote from a book (Reef Fishes Vol 1) about the eels in the snowflake/chain link family (not quoted exactly):
Theses eels will even crawl out of the water and up the beach to pursue their prey (crabs).

Dave

[gearhead]

i've had my eel about 2 weeks so i'm no expert but here's what i've seen & read. mine comes out for food when i raise the lid of the tank.

1) if you feed your eel from a feeding stick, they will learn to wait for food to come to them. there maybe problems later when they get bigger & pick up the scent of food & mistake a tankmate for food.

2) they will knock over lose rocks.

3) my eel has not bothered either my cleaner shrimp or my coral banded (& he molted 3-4 days ago).

4) now that he is comfortable, my eel is starting to explore the top of the tank.

[castor]

For covering the top I am trying this - eggcrate/light diffuser.

I have it cut in half so I can take the front part off as needed and the canopy legs sit down on it holding it in place so it can't push it's way out either.

I am about 90% sure the holes are too big for mine to squeeze through, but if the one you get is small it could wiggle it's way through.

I see two good things about using eggcrate, it doesn't really block any light (edit: if you are using MH it will probably block light on the sides of the tank because of the angle the light will be coming down, I am using pc so I don't have that problem) and it lets the tank "breath".

[pisces77]

I have a huge scar on my hand from rescueing an eel from my bedroom floor ( nice, fat, viper about 2' long = 22 stitches. Worth the $300 for a new eel, but not my first choice of experiences to repeat.). I would not consider getting an eel unless the top was closed, and for larger species secured or locked.

[emerald chondro]

personnaly with eels if your lloking to save some money go for the snowflake or chain link. However if u want an extremely extravagent eeltry researching the Hawaiian Dragon Eel. alittle price but definatly the coolest eel around.

[slave-of-rock]

i haved a chainlink in a 75 who is very active and loves to swim, no attemps of getting out yet, and in my 90 reef i have a snowflake, ive had the snowflake for a year + w/o a hood on the tank, he comes up to the top of the water and sticks his head out to see me when i feed him, but he hasnt tried to jump, the reef is still new but he was in my 75 b4 i had the chainlink, and that tank did not have a hood on it until i got the hainlink, i use a feeding stick to feed both of them, and my green wolf moray, i have many hermits in both tanks and neither of them have tried to eat any of um. i also have many nassuros vibex snails that they also do not touch, but the chain link has ate one of my larger damsells of 4" in length, and the eel is only about 10"-12" long, he just got tierd of the damsell harrasin him i guess, very kool pets, and none of my eels have tried to move rock, nor escape to my knowledge, good luck with him!

[Dan Thrash]

i like the snowflake a lot. i really like the tesselata most of all, but they get too big and are too aggressive for my liking unfortunately. i'm just wondering how you go about with a hood on your tank and how you deal with lighting.

[slave-of-rock]

well i have my vhos hanging above the tank, so no prob there, and i have no glass or anything on top, no probs at all

[smy168]

I kept a Golden Dwarf for about 3 years in my reef tank with open top and never had a issue with escape though I'm sure I just got lucky. It seems like once the moray gets acclimated to feedings and the tank it was a non-issue with friends that have eels.

As far as snowflakes and chainlinks and tessalatas, I have friends that have kept them successfully and some that ended up realizing that the maintenance on these animals can be a little high. Remember that feeding and disturbing the rock structure you have in place will eventually become a issue.

Good Luck

[AMvYS]

I have had chainlinks in the past and they have always been the escape artist. From jumping out of my old 55 gal to going into the overflow and down into the refuge of my 125 gal. Now I have a snowflake and a zebra together in my 125. As stated before zebra's are ver docile. Where the snowflake is a little more aggresive. They do get along well. I actually have a stone crab in with them, which they do not bother.

[gearhead]

Originally posted by smy168
I kept a Golden Dwarf for about 3 years in my reef tank with open top and never had a issue with escape though I'm sure I just got lucky. It seems like once the moray gets acclimated to feedings and the tank it was a non-issue with friends that have eels.

As far as snowflakes and chainlinks and tessalatas, I have friends that have kept them successfully and some that ended up realizing that the maintenance on these animals can be a little high. Remember that feeding and disturbing the rock structure you have in place will eventually become a issue.

Good Luck

how big do the golden dwarf eels get? i know they are pricey. i wanted to get a little experience w/ eels before i got a golden dwarf which is why i got the snowfalke eel. i want to reorganize my rocks w/ an inner structure of PVC for the eels to play in instead of the rock.

btw, there are 2 golden eels right? the dwarfs have the blue eyes, correct?

TIA

[dhoch]

I was thinking about the PVC thing as well (I will be setting up a new 180 soon to move my 125 into. I was wondering about what happens if/when the eel dies. I knwo they live a while, but eventually this would happen... How would you get it out?

Dave

[smy168]

Golden Dwarfs generally get to about 12-13 inches, but there are a few "false goldens" that are just as nice and not so pricey. They aren't a more difficult eel to maintain either so as far as getting more experience, it would be the same as putting the efforts into any other eel.

As for the PVC set up, I tried it in my 125 and as cool as that may be you have to consider a few things...

1. sandbed size
2. current and fishes that may dislodge and or push sand into the piping.
3. length of piping that will protrude from sandbed
4. cleaning

I found the pvc set up to be more maintenance than it seemed, it's the detris that ends up floating into the pvc that started to foul the water conditions in my tank, so be ready to handle that extra work.

[Andrew]

Eel are great fish for tanks. My moray eel is fun to watch. JWTAT

[gearhead]

I've got a small(70gph PH) Maxi-Jet that i was thinking about using on 1 end to create a small current thru the pvc. just tryiing to get this thought out before i do it. I think an 12 inch eel would be about right for my 75g tank (my snowflake is only about 8 inches right now). the golden dwarf is the only eel i've heard about that meets that requirement.

i was thinking about laying out the PVC in a H-pattern on the bottom of the tank, & having 4 risers of different height, the lowest riser would probably be 2-3 inches above sand bottom. figure out some way to direct flow for small PH into PVC( flows from back of tank to front of tank to keep PVC clean).

btw, what do the "false goldens" look like & their size? thanks again.