kcobain111
Member
Was wondering if anyone had a Snowflake eel in a community tank. I figure if it's not big enough to eat any fish it should be fine? Anyone disagree.
Anyone have a Snowflake eel in a community tank?
- Thread starter kcobain111
- Start date
motohead
Member
bad news about eels is they can topple your rockwork.i have an engineer goby that i got when it was about 2 inches long.now it is a 8 inch monster and burrowing everywhere.i do not know if an eel constantly makes new homes for itself.but might be a good idea to peg the rock together and start epoxying coral.
A
andretti
Guest
I can tell you from experience that a snowflake eel is not a good choice. That is unless you have around a 100 gallon tank with EVERY fish being at least four times as wide as the eel's mouth or else...? Damian (my eel) and most others get hungry when they see something swimming in front of them, just like they do in the wild. For this reason alone, they are not a good choice for a community tank. Yes they are beautiful and awesome to watch, but they will wipe out your entire tank and then some, unless you have adult triggers or something. So please learn from my mistake and put it out of your mind, even though you feel you just have to have him.
:happyfish :happyfish :happyfish :happyfish
kcobain111
Member
How about a banded Snake eel...anyone ever have one of those i hear there not nearly as bad and look much better?
mn1467
Member
I have had my SFE for about a year now first it was a fish only tank I have been slowly adding some soft corals to my tank he has been great only thing is once in a while he will go after some shrimp and snails. I had to replace some snails and my peppermint shrimp every once in a while But he is worth it he is about a foot long and pretty thick he has not eaten any of my fish. He also has a shrimp friend my blood shrimp or fire shrimp which ever you want to call him. the shrimp usually hangs out in front of his cave and plays around with his head pretty cool to watch
rstiles
Member
Have one in 55 with some rock that he hides in ,I feed him 2/3 times a week till he loses interest in the food (cut up scallops,krill,strips of fresh fish)in the same tank I had a few green chromis,large maroon clown ,marine betta,he has not bothered any fish,snail just keep well fed ,by the way he's at least 18" long head about the size of thumb good luck.
coastie55g
Member
i have had good luck with these eels as well.. mine was about the size of a finger.. was awesome to watch come feeding time
F
flashzg
Guest
I have a snowflake that is about 8 inches. He eats anything that is meaty. He ate 3 of my crabs!
I
italianwjt
Guest
get a blue ribbon eel, those look friggin cool
nicetry
Active Member
Originally Posted by Andretti
I can tell you from experience that a snowflake eel is not a good choice. That is unless you have around a 100 gallon tank with EVERY fish being at least four times as wide as the eel's mouth or else...? Damian (my eel) and most others get hungry when they see something swimming in front of them, just like they do in the wild. For this reason alone, they are not a good choice for a community tank. Yes they are beautiful and awesome to watch, but they will wipe out your entire tank and then some, unless you have adult triggers or something. So please learn from my mistake and put it out of your mind, even though you feel you just have to have him.
:happyfish :happyfish :happyfish :happyfish
Snowflakes, and other pebble toothed eels are not piscivores (fish eaters) by nature. The risk to any fish in a tank with a SFE is during feeding time, when the near blind eel is trying to latch on to some food and a fish gets in the way. These eels do not intentionally hunt fish and eat them. Keeping the eel fed regularly via a feeding stick will condition it to feed predictably and reduce the risk to any fish. I kept a large (20+) inch SFE in with small clowns, chromis, etc, and he didn't bother them. This uis not to say it can't happen, but to say a SFE will wipe out an entire tank is misinformation. The problem with keeping them in reefs is their digging, and as mentioned they can topple a rock structure pretty quickly if they decide to burrow under it for shelter. They also move pretty indiscriminately over the reef so knocking corals off is another drawback.
I can tell you from experience that a snowflake eel is not a good choice. That is unless you have around a 100 gallon tank with EVERY fish being at least four times as wide as the eel's mouth or else...? Damian (my eel) and most others get hungry when they see something swimming in front of them, just like they do in the wild. For this reason alone, they are not a good choice for a community tank. Yes they are beautiful and awesome to watch, but they will wipe out your entire tank and then some, unless you have adult triggers or something. So please learn from my mistake and put it out of your mind, even though you feel you just have to have him.
Snowflakes, and other pebble toothed eels are not piscivores (fish eaters) by nature. The risk to any fish in a tank with a SFE is during feeding time, when the near blind eel is trying to latch on to some food and a fish gets in the way. These eels do not intentionally hunt fish and eat them. Keeping the eel fed regularly via a feeding stick will condition it to feed predictably and reduce the risk to any fish. I kept a large (20+) inch SFE in with small clowns, chromis, etc, and he didn't bother them. This uis not to say it can't happen, but to say a SFE will wipe out an entire tank is misinformation. The problem with keeping them in reefs is their digging, and as mentioned they can topple a rock structure pretty quickly if they decide to burrow under it for shelter. They also move pretty indiscriminately over the reef so knocking corals off is another drawback.