Eel

[pace507]

Well, my snowflake eel didnt adjust correctly to my tank. He passed away this morning, by means of jumping and drying up to his death :( I have never had a problem with him in the past, but the new tank, he was in the overflow the first day and was fine for a week now but still hated it I guess. Was eating, acting normal. He was one of my favorite, he will be missed. Had him for almost 2 years.

My question - Are there any eels that dont jump out?? I like having a eel, but if they are gonna jump then no way. Unless I rig a netting so they dont get out.

Let me know


http://fish.myprivateoasis.com/details.php?image_id=12
RIP

thanks

[OrionGirl]

All eels are escape artists. Some will go for years without even trying, but all can escape from a tank that isn't securely covered or has a low enough water level. Unlike fish, eels don't jump out, they climb out. If the surface is far enough away the lip of the aquarium, they will stay inside.

You should have tried putting him back in water. I've heard from many people who found them within 12 hours of escape and succesffully rehydrated the eel, even though it seems dead on discovery.

[pace507]

Thanks for the info, the eel was hard and the dog found him first :(

[MonoSebaelover]

Yep, just like Orion said all eels are escape artists. I have had my 3ft Zebra Moray for over a year now and just two months ago, he decided to climb into the filter of my 209G tank. Needless to say it was a pain in the rear to get him out but luckily he couldn't have gone any further than the overflow. I have heard stories of reviving eels but have never been successfull (had a couple jump at the lfs I work at). Have you checked water quality. Generally an eel that trys to escape/escapes is not happy with something in the tank. I think my eel that is least likely to go anywhere is the Zebra (but if they want to they can put a lot of blow into one push- I have heard of Zebras pushing off tops that had several bricks on them!). BTW, I also have a 1 1/2 foot Snowflake (had for about 5 months), and a Ghost Ribbon Eel P. brummeri (had for about 7 months) close to 3ft long as well. Basically if an eel wants out they will not stop till they get their wish.

[VoodooChild]

How would you grab a 3 ft moray? Do you have thick construction gloves or what? I also thought that morays could do some serious damage to a hand....

[OrionGirl]

I actually use a large tupperware bowl when we move our eel. We herd it into the bowl using nets, cover the bowl, and then move it. Ours is about 2 foot right now.

While I have no doubt that a moray could do some serious damage, most are fairly shy. They don't see your hand as food, and so aren't aggressive. If you regularly hand feed them, you can change this opinion and maybe get bit. Most morays hunt more by scent than by sight, though, so even then I think you'd have to handle food, then tick it off.

[pace507]

Thanks for the replies. I know he wasn't totally happy in his new tank, its bigger, but just like people they too probably hate change. the parameters were pretty much the same, but new substrate, rocks moved added some live rock, probably made him unhappy. I will probably hold off on a eel then, they are so fun to feed but not very social.

I will think of something else to get. Any ideas for a 110 gallon tank with lionfish, scopas tang(big 4-5" round), maroon clown with sand and live rock.

I redid my website with pictures posted of present and past fish

http://www.myfishtanks.com - I plan on having sections for other fish fanactics to post pics of their own

thanks

[OrionGirl]

Nice website. Still have the shrimp that's pictured? Surprised the eel didn't make a snack of him if so.

When we re-did out tank and moved the eel, we made sure we had lots of rocks for him to clinb around in. Before he had a little hollow under the rocks, but now he has lots of caves and nooks/crannies he hides in.

If there aren't any inverts, look into the groupers. I love the spots on the panters, but they need a big tank--they grow into massive lunkers. Another eel would probably be able to be comfie, if you made sure there was a cave he could take over.

[pace507]

Still have the shrimp, one hardy shrimp. My old eel, didnt touch a thing, he was the nicest in there. The shrimp is about 6 months old now. I had another but he passed away. The shrimp is buds with the Lion. I had a ich breakout with the lion and tang when I introduced the tang, I bought the 2 shrimp to help with the cleaning of ich along with garlic. garlic did ok, but that shrimp loved cleaning the fish. I wish I had my digital camer to take pics of the shrimp cleaning the lions, mouth, gils, everything. It was a site to see. I think the fish respect the shrimp now and dont ever bother him. The shrimp comes up to my hand to feed off of it every once and a while.

I have some pics of the shrimp with tons of balls in his stomach (no its not those balls) not sure if it was pregnant or what, if you look at it let me know, I posted and never got a reply a long time ago. I am no shrimp expert

http://www.myfishtanks.com/details.php?image_id=86

thanks

[OrionGirl]

That does look like eggs, and I can confirm that is where most shrimp will carry eggs. Here's a SeaScope article about peppermints shrimp--you can see how similar your pic is to the egg carrying one pictured.

http://www.breeders-registry.gen.ca.us/Reprints/SeaScope/v11_sumr/shrimp.htm

And this one is scarlet cleaner shrimp. I think we have a match!

http://www.breeders-registry.gen.ca.us/Reprints/FAMA/v17_aug94/scarlet.htm

[pace507]

awesome, too bad I didnt have a mate for her, actually when I bought both of the cleaners after a while they both got the eggs.

thanks for the article, I figured they were eggs, when I get ghost shrimps I get shrimps with green eggs all the time so figured it was the same.

[OrionGirl]

I think that many shrimp are actually hermaphrodites--they can play both roles, so any pair will be able to mutually fertilize eggs and raise them. Biggest problem is usually feeding the larval stage and preventing them from being snakcs--filter feeders as well as fish and filters.

Might be cool to try, but would require a large, subdivided setup, I think!

[MonoSebaelover]

Well long story but I will make it short. I went to work at the lfs, and the eels was happy under his little hideout. My mom calls me about two hours later in a complete panic cause she couldn't find the eel and found him in the built in overflow. So I left work to rush home and save the eel. The problem is the overflow is about 10" long and 6" wide with two one inch pipes going into the tank. There was barely any room to move. Luckily the Zebra is extremely friendly and didn't mind me touching him. It took me 3 tries to get him out, the first two I got him 90% up and then he slithered through my fingers. The thrid time I finally got him and he has never tried it again. I will never forget his expression-he looked pretty pissed, he also looked totally confused as if he were saying "Where did my tank go?". I had to go back to work immediatly after but he was happy to see me when I got home and he got some fresh scallops due to the fiasco of the morning! Other than that time I get the eel in a net and corner him into a bucket then move him that way. Just thought for those of you who were curious about the ordeal.