Eel

[buttered loins]

Hi again
And i was just wondering if a zebra eel are good for a reef tank. will it eat my red banded coral shrimp, proving my shrimp is 5cm and the zebra eel is 13cm. and what foods will they expect other than prawns.
Thanks again

 

[Almondsaz]

BL: most of what I have read says that these are one of the more passive of the eels but require a tank of at least 100 gallons as the reach lengths of up to 60". One site calls them a "monitor" for reef compatability. Hopefully someone can chime in that has kept one and tell you their feeding habits.

 

[Miss my puffer]

My zebra is a big baby. It doesn't bother anything from the small chromis to the large red legged hermit crab. The crab is not afraid of him at all, it will even grab food away from the eel. That being said, I would not say that the eel would not take out the shrimp, after all thats what they eat in the wild and shrimp are easier targets than hermits (at least in my eyes). Also realize that the eels can grab and tear so even though the shrimp is good size, if the eel gets ahold he can thrash it into smaller pcs so he can swallow it. My eel is about 24" long (I think that that is as big as they get in captivity) and I don't think it has grown much in the last 3 yrs in my 150 gal. I would agree that at least a 100 gal. would be needed to keep them happy, although I have heard of them being kept in smaller tanks. I feed mine freeze dried krill soaked it selcon and raw, uncooked shrimp cut up from the supermarket (2-4 times a week depending on how heavy I feed him each time). Sorry I can't give you a yes or no on whether or not it will get along with the shrimp, there is just no way to say yes it will for sure or no it won't for sure.

 

[-KDCarey-]

ummm it will pik off tht coral banded shrmp

 

[OldManOfTheSea]

buttered loins, the most aggressiveness that the Zebra might display is munching on any shrimps and craps and what not that you might have in your tank. Unlike the SFE that is known to take a small fish when hungry, its mot to say that the Zebra never would do this, but it is however less unlikely for it too happen. Still the same, the Zebra can be fed chunky bite size pieces of fish, as well as crab and such. One should always widen their eels (fishes) food varieties in their diet.

Miss my puffer, you are having a great deal of success, this is always a good thing for the many hobbyists who wishes to keep any eel species.

My eel is about 24" long (I think that that is as big as they get in captivity) and I don't think it has grown much in the last 3 yrs in my 150 gal. I would agree that at least a 100 gal.

Young lady (I assume this from your screen name), Many eels grows a good deal in a matter of a few years, but still their bone structure is growing for many years. Eels will not die in a matter of 15-20, but live rather a very long time. But I can not however say the same for the dwarf morays. But on the idea of growth, what if it be out in the wild or a home aquarium, a persons eel can grow to it maximum if that person gives it everything to the best interest for its long term health. Myself in keeping a Zebra would gone with a larger tank, I seen but a few who zebra had grown 4' or more and many were at 4.5'

Let me cover with you some facts behind this> One of the major problems in feeding any home aquarium eels is, most people really feed all to often. Still, you need to know that these eels out in the wild not feed hardy and all too often, each any every week and most times their next meal not comes for weeks or longer. So in saying that, most or all eels in a home aquarium aren't all as healthy as we truly think them too be for they are building up through the years of fatty tissues and this however do take its toll in the years to come.

Buddy

 

[Horchata]

Are u talking about the hawiian zebra eel? They pretty much only eat invertabrets in the wild. Commonly hard to feed in captivity.

 

[OldManOfTheSea]

Its to do within all the species of eels, and not just one or so. For how many hobbyists do you know who owns a SFE or Zebra? And in within the most of these, their eels never grow to what is anywhere near too their normal maxium growth.

Why is that? At most, I can only make known of what is from my understandings in all this. Like I said so many times before, that if I were to want to own a Zebra moray, I would have a holding 30 gal tank with live crabs as other natural foods which it preys upon.

There were but a handful of other hobbyists who owns either of these eels that has grown to what so many others figured to be shocking or rather perhaps, unbelievable. For do know that if a that certain eel isn't getting its normal diet that it would as if still in the wild, this will tamper with its natural growth rate.

Horchata, what many might consider difficult to feed isn't really all as what it appears to be, but rather what is, hard to understand is within all the times so many other said that eels are known to go on hunger strikes, that its all to often something which happens and within all honesty, this hunger strike can be triggered by any number of reasons.

One of the most in what I see is if your a rapid Ph change>
And what affects many eels within their diet are high nitrate levels>

Eels by far are the easiest marine animals we can maintain, and they will live far longer then any fish you care to think of. But if we are to feed much to often these animals, their life span will be shortening somewhat, but not by just living a few years. That either if its a SFE or Zebra morays, they still should live greater then 20-30 years to what can live as long as even 40 to 50 years.

The exact age of an eel is difficult to tell, unless one can examine them after death. The current techniques used to age eels as well as most marine animals is to cut a cross section of one of their teeth or a vertebrae, they have growth rings similar to trees that can help you decipher their age a bit more accurately than an educated guess. In bony fish many people extract the otolith, or ear bone, which also exhibit growth rings.

Myself, I plan to still have in my reef tanks after well enough stock with a number of coral and fish, will have two pair of dwarf eels.
Buddy