The message below I had taking much time to type it to my exact specifications and this message will from now on appear at the beginning of any future responses that im with great difficulties to type and reading. Im with a lost of vision with the addition that im with a number of different disabilities, specially after following a stroke so that if it takes me the next few days or more to respond, it would be understood why. It would also help me direct those better if someone here was to email me when there is an eel question. Email: OldManOfTheSea38@msn.com so that I might start a response to assist in their quest.
Buddy
AquaOwner871, I been working on a response to your topic a little at a time until I completed my response to your line of questioning. You first need to know this, I kept eels for a great number of years and also I kept through the years a large different number of eel species. You would find if you researched a lot through the years your in the hobby that there be a great number of mis acknowledgements of the identities of many of the species to what is to be their natural normal behavior.
It was like one other I think it was at some other forum link that he wanted another spotted moray in his tank. He had no idea of the natural aggression of the species for I told him that the spotted moray will prey on another spotted eel, specially if one is smaller then the other, for not too many eels pair up and stay with one another.
But what you have there is a species that when they do pair up, they mate for life.
You will not be able to have small to medium size fish in its tank, the wolf eel even thought isn't a true eel its still an amazing species to watch. There happens to be four different species of wolf eels with the largest one with your wolf eel being the two known main wolf eels and I can tell you that the larger species when it wishes to change its lair, and it finds a new lair with another wolf eel living there, if the eel on the move for a new lair is much larger, it will bully the other out.
One of the other wolf eels is the Lycenchelys verrillii that grows a maximum of 10" but at most will grow to 6" and is confined to considerable depths, normally at 30 fathoms but is known to be much deeper at 600 fathoms. Little to nothing else is known about this species other then its color that is light brown above the lateral line, white below it, with a series of 8 to 10 irregular dark brown patches which the lateral line bisects, the belly is blue, its lining jet black.
Congrogadus subducens is of the Dottyback family and is or will be aggressive, but also, a larger tank is most defiantly required here, your eel as long is healthy will venture into the open. Also your tank top must be secured with no possible escape routes.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-04/fm/feature/index.php
The article above is an opinion of another person, but much of the data told in it is very helpful for people like yourself. However there be one thing mention in that article I not agree with and that is where it states that a wolf eel not require much space, for even that its not a true eel, it will grow large enough to be to big in a 29 g tank for please note that I a long time ago with my first single dwarf moray, a golden moray that grows 10" and in a matter of time for many with the feeling and waste, water quality can become very damaging in a smaller tank. I quickly upgraded with the idea of having a pair to a 70 gallon tank and water quality was never better for all the more then 14 years I had the dragon eels, the two tanks system never had any traces of nitrates, never.
The skimmer you be using, im no experience with such, I only hope that for the long run of this small tank, it does well for you, you need to keep an eye on your water conditions and if you see that your tanks nitrate level are slowly rising and your making water changes as you should, then you either upgrade the tank to a larger one as I would do right from the start too a 65. And you can do a little better to a 70 to house a mating pair, but that be your decision.
RiVerfishgirl, one thing I always noticed, it take just one person too agree with what one is doing that for the long run it will become well known to him at some much later date that he should had a larger tank, but also HOB equipment can leave this eel openings to crawl out from, your eel has gone carpet surfing. Also with small species such as these, when one has a overflow box, its best to cover it so the eel note escape out from that route, for many eels died in home aquarium by doing this and gotten grinded up in their return pumps.
I will keep all of above so I not have to take so much time to type again much of this when another wolf eel question comes up, I was typing this since the day you first posted.
Buddy