Snowflake eel lfs treatment question

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psychoticpengwn

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Apr 7, 2008
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Hi guys i have a question about the treatment of a snowflake eel at one of the local lfs I went in today to get some crickets and new bedding for my pacman frog and decided to take a look around the fish section I came to the area where they are keeping the salt water fish and noticed that what appeared to be a hamster ball in the bottom right tank when I got to looking at the ball i noticed a snowflake eel in it and didn't see any way for it to get out. It wasn't a big eel maybe 3-4inches at the most but I didn't think it should be kept that way. There was other fish in the tank with it i don't know if its a common practice to keep him from eating the other fish or not and i didn't want to say something about it if it was.Thanks for the time
 

mandy21

THE REEFER GODDESS
May 16, 2006
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never seen that or heard of it. I've always seen them roaming around the tank, either with fish bigger than they could possibly eat or by themselves. The only way I would find this acceptable is if it were temporary for some reason that I can't think of.
 

psychoticpengwn

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Apr 7, 2008
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The other fish in the tank with it where bigger than it so I wasn't quite sure ill go in tomorrow and see if i can get them to take him out of it and if they wont listen to me ill call there corporate I had a few concerns with there pacman frog to I don't think that they are trained to well with these guys :S
 

journey0820

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Jan 31, 2008
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Could it be for the protection of the eel? Like the fish were big and aggressive? Still, they shouldn't get in shipments they can't properly house...
 

lferg

We Play Well With Others
Dec 26, 2007
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Alabama
Normal.. well I guess that is relative.. It is so they can get him out. I assume there is a lot of cover/LR in all the tanks? you can have a real time getting an eel out, have to break down a whole tank and pray he isn't inside a rock to get him out! I just went though this so I can atest to the HUGE pain it can be and my fish can too. My LFS keeps Sally light foots and other crabs in individual balls. They have the eels set up in their own tanks though. But it's kinda mean. If the eel were larger it would be plain cruel.
 

psychoticpengwn

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Apr 7, 2008
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This tank dose not have any live rock in it just a few rubber anemones and thats about it and the other fish in there weren't that aggressive there was a large one and a little bit smaller fish in with it not sure what they were i wasn't paying attention so i don't know what it was for bad part is its a large chain to so they should know better than to do that. Although this may be a good excuse to get a 125 gal and get a eel
 

mandy21

THE REEFER GODDESS
May 16, 2006
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I'd definitely question why they were doing it.

even petco (which all the stores around here i despise) does not keep their snowflakes in containers, just by themselves or with lionfish.

haha I like your thinking though. I find any excuse to get more/bigger tanks :)
 

psychoticpengwn

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Apr 7, 2008
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Its funny you say petco because thats the store I am referring to I tend to stay away from that place but petsmart was out of crickets so I decided to get them and some bedding there when i saw it ill definitely go in and talk to them tomorrow and call corporate if they wont listen just wanted to make sure I wasn't over reacting or anything having only a little knowledge on these guys. Thanks for the quick replies :)
 

7faces

Noob DIY'er
Mar 22, 2008
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St.Louis
my petsmart doesnt even carry SW fish....
 

TropicalNorth

Bligh..The Demander Of Attention..
Jun 9, 2006
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North Queensland, Australia
I can't comment on the quality of your lfs, but I do know keeping eels in containers is standard practice in my lfs and its an excellent shop with very knowledgeable staff (one is a Marine Biologist). A couple of reasons, escaping, threat to other fish, other fish are a threat to it and ease of catching when its bought or needs to be moved. Any eel that doesn't get sold relatively quickly is moved to a larger tank and kept by itself or kept with stock that it'll be okay with. I've also noticed usually only smaller eels are kept in containers. I've also seen it done with octopus and some types of fish.

On a larger scale one of wholesale collectors (hand caught) in Australia, Cairns Marine, keeps many of its fish in clear containers with holes in them. This is because they have hundreds of fish and need to prevent fighting, jumping (open top holding tanks) and because they have to move the fish from one tank to another during the sorting process. Instead of netting the fish to move them they can just pick up the container with the fish in it, the water drains out slowly so by the time they're put into the next tank they haven't actually left the water. Much less stressful on the fish overall, they have a very low death rate. Groups of schooling fish and larger fish are put in one tank and not moved around. It looks a bit odd seeing hundreds of tanks filled with plastic containers, with a fish in each but I understand why they do it.
 
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