any eels reef safe

[aanthony]

so i have my 90 gallon, and right now i have 1 small hippo tang, one clownfish, and a mardarin, along with 5 cleaner shrimp, one cbs, 2 decorator crabs, 1 tube anemone, 4 feather dusters, and an arrow crab, safe to say i have alot of inverts, now i want an ell, are any of them invert safe

 

[rykna]

Not really. If you did try a agressive tank with an eel, you'd nee 200 plus gallons

 

[fishyfrenzy]

Originally Posted by Rykna
Not really. If you did try a agressive tank with an eel, you'd nee 200 plus gallons
I disagree.
A Snowflake eel can easily live in a 90 gallon.

 

[fmarini]

the ultimate reefsafe eel is a G melatremus, the dwarf golden moray, very expensive and hard-to-find.
But you can easily keep a snowflake or zebra eel in a 90 gal. Zebras have no interest in fish, SFE, sometimes they do. But the crabs may disapear
If you do a google search for "reef safe eels", the first hit is a nice article on them

 

[rykna]

Originally Posted by Fishyfrenzy
I disagree.
A Snowflake eel can easily live in a 90 gallon.
Very true...but would be much happier in a 200

 

[srfisher17]

Originally Posted by Rykna
Very true...but would be much happier in a 200

I never could figure out how to tell when a fish is "happy". When they are healthy, not stressed,& eating, I think that is about as "happy" as a fish is going to be.

 

[alix2.0]

Originally Posted by srfisher17
I never could figure out how to tell when a fish is "happy". When they are healthy, not stressed,& eating, I think that is about as "happy" as a fish is going to be.
well i know im happy when im healthy, not stressed, and eating.

really, what else is there?

 

[rykna]

Originally Posted by srfisher17
I never could figure out how to tell when a fish is "happy". When they are healthy, not stressed,& eating, I think that is about as "happy" as a fish is going to be.
Oh they'll let you know, especially seahorses.
my first seahorse, Valiant
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/268841/what-fish-do-when-they-think-youre-not-looking
A few weeks ago my, oldest dwarf seahorse male, Titan, gave me a very clear message.
Getting on in seahorse years, Titan prefers to sleep on the sand bed, instead of hitching. The first time I saw him doing this I was very worried. It was still very early and the tanks lights were still off. I knelt down and lightly tapped the tank glass right next to Titan. He gave a small twitch, and his head came up for a few seconds and then rested back down on his chest. Even more worried I tapped harder on the glass. This time Titan was startled awake. He turned and faced me eye to eye. He gave a defiant snap of his fins at me and then swam off to a more private area to sleep.
The message: "Good grief Woman!!!! Can't and old man get any sleep around here?!?!"

 

[jmick]

A good option could be an engineer goby, when they mature they look like an eel and are safe with fish.
I tend to agree that fish don't feel emotions like happiness and sadness and when people read these things into their fish or seahorses it's just plain weird and creepy.

 

[sk8shorty01]

I have a SFE in my tank and he doesnt bother any of the fish I have. Early on he did eat one of my firefish I believe (never saw him do it but the firefish disappeared one day) but after weening it to frozen foods I have had no trouble. I have cleaner shrimp and he lets them clean his teeth and everything. There is also a very small scopas that tends to inhibit the same hole the eel does. They tend to sit side by side, and the scopas is probably only 1 1/2 maybe. I would get a SFE or a zebra, you have good chances with those.

 

[srfisher17]

Originally Posted by Jmick
.
I tend to agree that fish don't feel emotions like happiness and sadness and when people read these things into their fish or seahorses it's just plain weird and creepy.
I couldn't agree more; and there are folks who would have us stoned to death for even thinking such a thing.

 

[sk8shorty01]

Originally Posted by srfisher17
I couldn't agree more; and there are folks who would have us stoned to death for even thinking such a thing.

I hear ya!!! I agree with the two of you, I dont think fish are happy or sad, I think they are more worried about being hungry and safe. I dont think they have any time to think about happiness, they are too busy just trying to survive a day on the reef (jaws theme comes to mind haha).

 

[shinobi69]

I Have A Barred Eel In My Reef Tank For About 8 Months Now. Which I Think Would Go Nice In With Your Reef Tank. I Think It All Depends On The Eel If It Going To Eat Anything In Your Tank. Who Knows Maybe You Could Get Lucky With A Less Aggressive Eel. Just Keep It Well Feed

 

[rykna]

Originally Posted by shinobi69
I Have A Barred Eel In My Reef Tank For About 8 Months Now. Which I Think Would Go Nice In With Your Reef Tank. I Think It All Depends On The Eel If It Going To Eat Anything In Your Tank. Who Knows Maybe You Could Get Lucky With A Less Aggressive Eel. Just Keep It Well Feed

I'll second that

 

[saltn00b]

some eels are ok, but you may risk losing decorative shrimp / crabs.
i know somebody who has a beautiful Banana Morray in a 90 Bow SPS tank.

 

[sk8shorty01]

They tend to leave cleaners alone but they will tend to snatch up any decorative inverts (CBS, sexy shrimp and such). I would just be wary of that, and also make sure that you ween the thing to only frozen foods ASAP so that it doesnt get into the habit of hunting for its food.

 

[chilwil84]

i have never heard of any eel that eats coral, so in theory all are reef safe, it depends on the size of the tank, the waste it can handle, the types of mobile inverts you want, and even fish you want. most smaller ones eat mobile inverts and most bigger ones eat fish

 

[nygel]

arent those blue ribbon ones reef safe? not suggesting, its more a question, and i do know they are hard to care for, but im pretty sure i saw one that a guy had had for a long time that was in a reef.

 

[aanthony]

i would love a blue ribbon eel, but i thought they were over 200 dollars, and they also get huge dont they

 

[jmick]

Originally Posted by AAnthony
i would love a blue ribbon eel, but i thought they were over 200 dollars, and they also get huge dont they
They aren't that expensive. I would not recommend one for your system, they have a super high mortality rate and are likely to starve to death in a month or so.
Again, what's wrong with an engineer goby? They are super hardy, cheap and as adults they look just like an eel and to top it off they are great tankmates.