Snowflake eel safe for reef?

[bk_market]

anyone have snowflake eel in their reef? Are they okay with coral and other fishes? anything i should watch out for? Thanx

[modelrr]

I seem to remember seeing one in a reef tank a while ago...

 

although from what I read, they'll probably eat ornamental shrimp and some other inverts

[SteveM]

I had one in my tank. They say that they only need to be feed 2-3 times per week but I had to feed mine just about every day. I would feed him one med-small silverside per feeding. He was pretty cool but I noticed that he was coming out "hunting" for food more and more often even though he was being feed every day.

 

One evening I was at work and was on the phone with my wife. She was looking at the tank and we were talking about the eel. She said that she though she saw him go after one of my Firefish but as I told her, I thought the Firefish were much to quick to get caught by the eel. I also had 2 skunk shrimp, 2 peppermint shrimp and a good size Sallylightfoot crab in the tank. Just after I finished telling my wife that the eel wouldn't go after anything since I was feeding him every day, she screamed. I was like "what the heck is going on?" She starts yelling that the eel has the Sallylightfoot crab and is thrashing around in the tank with it in his mouth. As I get the blow by blow from her I felt like I was listening to an episode of Animal Planet.

 

After that incident I decided I wasn

[bk_market]

but to the coral he wont harm them correct?

[jamal]

i wanted one in my tank but i guess the question is are you prepared to replace your inverts several times during his tenure. they wont bother corals from what i read but what are you going to do about a clean up crew

[SteveM]

but to the coral he wont harm them correct?

 

No, mine never did bother corals. Do keep in mind though that at night they swim all over your tank. Mine never hit anything but I didnt have much in the tank at the time.

[dandy7200]

I've had my snowflake 4 years. Hermits live in his cave with him no problems. I feed him whole shrimp daily (he's big ) and for that reason I don't have shrimp in the reef. No aggression shown towards any fish. They do kick sand up quite a bit and thats the only damage to corals you would ever have to worry about, I counter it with massive flow (40x turnover in a softie tank).

[JC Pollman]

I have had these guys several times. From my experience:

 

1. I collected my first one when I was living in Hawaii. I netted him, and when I dumped him into my collection pail, he jumped right up out of the the pail, about groin high, and snapped! darn thing got my undivided attention!! Anyway, got him home and put him in a quarantine tank with a large crab. I was feeding the both of them shrimp when the crab jumped in front of the eel and grabbed the shrimp. The eel went nuts and grabbed the crab and they went round and round in the tank - pretty impressive fighting with water splashing everywhere. Eventually I got the crab out, but the eel did not eat for 3 weeks. Eventually he did eat, and eventually I put him in my main tank, and he never bothered anything. But, he did grow about a foot in a year's time.

 

2. I bought one on line. Lived for about 2 months - eating very well - and then went carpet surfing.

 

So:

1. These buggers will jump!

2. They can go a long time without food.

3. Also, they have really nasty crud growing on their impressive fangs - do not ever ever ever hand feed them! From what I have read, they will not knowingly go after your hand, but they have very poor eye sight and could snag your finger by accident. But fif they do nick your finger, you are probably going to have to see a doctor and get some very powerful antibiotics to stop the wound from turning into gangrene - no joke!!!!! Feeding using a chop stick is the preferred method.

4. A moray eel in the tank, especially during feeding time, is a real crowd pleaser.

 

If I could cover my tank better, I would get another one.