L8 2 RISE November 20, 2009 Share November 20, 2009 A week or two ago I traded some frags for a snow flake eel from someone on the boards (blanking on his user name now). He's about a foot long, and now that he's settled in, I LOVE him. SO much fun! I'm big into reptiles and snakes, and take any advantage to go out and catch snakes (just for fun, I let them go). Any way, I'm starting to find that eels don't just look like underwater snakes, but they are pretty similar in a lot of ways, and IMHO, a lot cooler pets. A snake as a pet is often hidden, motionless, etc. apart from when your feeding and then depending on whether it's live or dead food, it can get a little fun, but that's pretty much the only time you see the snake truly being really active in the captive environment (exactly why I like finding wild ones not keeping them as pets). With the eel, yes he's usually hiding the day after I feed him (I feed every other day), but he's already learned that when he's hungry, he moves to the other side of the tank and pokes his body out and is very alert for me to feed him. Also, my favorite part of my aquarium right now is feeding the eel. It'll chace the shrimp on my feeding stick all over the tank and that's when you really get a sense of how fast and how powerful these guys really are. It'll curl around the stick trying to get the food and is just plain fun to watch. Yes, he is in my reef tank, and when I first put him in, he and my yellow eyed kole had quite a few disagreements and he ended up with a little scrape down the side of his face and my tang ended up with a messed up tail. They're both fine and healed now and tend to ignore each other for the most part. Anyways, I'm just posting this because I've now fallen in love with eels (at least this one), was just sharing, and hoping to hear other's experiences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDiver November 20, 2009 Share November 20, 2009 i had a golden dwarf moray that ate 2 of my favorite fish(helfichi pair) and i still loved it.. he's in eel heaven now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8 2 RISE November 20, 2009 Author Share November 20, 2009 I would give mine a plaque if it at my fire clowns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesprite November 20, 2009 Share November 20, 2009 Even I myself have thought it would be cool to have an eel, but I don't know enough about them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesprite November 21, 2009 Share November 21, 2009 I would really like to know if other people have them in reef tanks & what types of other livestock are with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDiver November 21, 2009 Share November 21, 2009 Well I learned that although they advertise the golden dwarf morays as reef safe, they are not...they Are oportunistic and will eat anything that can fit in it's mouth if not fed often..I fed mine big chunks of shrimp every other day and it still ate my 2 helfrichis but if u have big fish then I don't see any problems with keeping one in a reef tank...the one thing I worried about was going on vacation and having to worry about who is gonna feed it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Garrison November 21, 2009 Share November 21, 2009 I never had a problem with my dwarf golden moray, he was the greatest. I could hand feed him and it was one of the most enjoyable things to watch him move about the tank. He is one of my greatest losses from the tank crash back in August.I fed him every 2-3 days and he was always content, but I had no small fish the size of helfrichis in the tank. Smallest fish in the tank was my Dilectus Pseudochromis whom I also miss as he was one of the last fish I got from Aquaco before it closed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Garrison November 21, 2009 Share November 21, 2009 (edited) Opps managed to hit reply twice. Edited November 21, 2009 by Kevin Garrison Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygote2k November 21, 2009 Share November 21, 2009 You'll go through the eel phase and pick up a few here and there, then you'll start feeding them by hand because they are docile, then the day one latches onto your thumb, the phase will be over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8 2 RISE November 21, 2009 Author Share November 21, 2009 You'll go through the eel phase and pick up a few here and there, then you'll start feeding them by hand because they are docile, then the day one latches onto your thumb, the phase will be over. Haha, I was actually just thinking that that would probably happen to me one day... only I doubt the phase will end. As I said, I've been into reptiles, especially snakes for a LONG time and have taken a couple HARD hits... never ended for me . As for my eel, though I haven't had it for long, it's in my reef, very easy to care for, and apart from when it first went in, has completely ignored my fish and visa versa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flowerseller November 21, 2009 Share November 21, 2009 I had a snowflake eel in a tank in my flower shop, until it managed to get through the smallest of small holes in the tank cover. It was a lot of fun to have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 November 21, 2009 Share November 21, 2009 Most snowflakes will eat a fish if it gets in the way. They are active hunters and despite the fact that they are designed mostly to eat invertebrates, they will in fact eat fish if the opportunity is there at the right time. We often see this behavior at school exhibited by snowflakes (we have had several over the years and the one in my tank currently I've had for about a year and moved into class this year - it had never eaten a goldfish until last week to illustrate the point). I have seen them as they are searching out food, typically raw shrimp, latching onto fish in the tank and attempting to pull them in. We typically see this with triggers and eels as the triggers quickly pick up the scent of what they're eating and then the eels latch onto them because they smell good. A hungry eel is also opportunistic, so it'll eat what it can get its mouth onto. We've seen several times in my current tank where the trigger is facing the eel and the eel springs forward and grabs the trigger by the face to try and eat it. FYI, I wouldn't feed the eel as often as you do. They say 2' is the maximum for them, but we had one that died over the summer that over the years (this was the one donated by PhiSigs/Chris years back) grew to over 30" and was thicker around than anything out there - all from eating just 1-2x per week, sometimes not even that often. If you allow it to eat every other day, while this might prevent it from currently eating the fish in the tank, you'll cause it to grow too quickly for what you've got tank wise. This guy was cramped in a 72 bowfront... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lancer99 November 22, 2009 Share November 22, 2009 I had a snowflake eel in a tank in my flower shop, until it managed to get through the smallest of small holes in the tank cover. It was a lot of fun to have. Yep, they're fun pets until they crawl out of your tank two weeks later and die. -R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wfoxfox November 22, 2009 Share November 22, 2009 Sam, enjoy your eel. I had one for 2 years and had a great time. He did take a fish or 2 :-) I got to see him wrestle a 2" in clown.......... Was worth the money lost on the clown :-) It was a 5 minute fight. Moved most everything in the tank. I got rid of mine once I started getting a lot of coral. The eel will move, break, destroy most things that can be moved or broken :-( If I can find a little snowflake, I may get one for my 20 Gallon tall. I strongly suggest you cover the tank. and, of course, to keep the eel in cuts down on the light for the coral......... always something :-) PS To get my 24" eel out of the tank. I used a fish hook and line tied to a toothbrush. I wish I had a video of that :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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