watertight
Member
New addition - very hard to get hold of where I am, guy at LFS assured me he'd be fine with grouper and lion - hope He's right! Anyone know what he officially is?
Anyone ID my new eel?
- Thread starter watertight
- Start date
redman1221
Member
I think it is a Tessalata Eel if it is it will get real big about 5ft long. How big is your grouper?
nigerbang
Active Member
Its a Tessalata...Or one of the other 5 names for it...How big is your tank and what kinda filter you got going...Eels are rather messy eaters and with a grouper and a lion thats a rather large Bioload...It might eventually eat the grouper..Some Tessies are real aggresive and some are KINDA passive...I noticed your profile said you have a 10 gallon...Surely that thing is not in a 10, esp not with a Lion and Grouper..
watertight
Member
Grouper's fully grown, about a foot long or so. I've got the grouper, lion and eel in a 240 gal tank - 8' x 2' x 2'. Running 2 cannisters, 1 x 2400 l/h and 1 x 1200 l/h. No more additions planned! I've got a 55 as well, with a HT and a few damsels - 10 gal was eons ago! So you think I may have probs with the eel?
watertight
Member
Maybe i should get rid of him then - I don't want to lose the grouper...
nigerbang
Active Member
Originally Posted by Lucky45
Lol
I know your just giving your opinion but you come off as a killjoy
I tend to lean towards PSU and AWx2 when it comes to eels....
I made an impulse buy of a Green Moray...I know that it will become way to large from my 180, I have made a deal with an aquarium to take it when it gets to large...Right now its only 24"
Lol
I tend to lean towards PSU and AWx2 when it comes to eels....
I made an impulse buy of a Green Moray...I know that it will become way to large from my 180, I have made a deal with an aquarium to take it when it gets to large...Right now its only 24"
watertight
Member
Originally Posted by AW2x3
Eventually, as PSU said, the Tess will kill and eat the other fish.
Why keep them together, now and just risk a confrontation sooner?
I'd decide which fish you want to keep more and get rid of the other(s).
I don't want to lost the grouper. I broke my own golden rule on never believing LFS owners! I would have come here and asked first (And SHOULD have!) but I didn't know what type it was. The LFS owner had a "Mental blank" and couldn't remember its exact name either. So I've really only got myself to blame. I'll have to catch him now somehow and take him back. At least He hasn't killed anything yet. Just gotta try and work out how to catch him without pulling my tank apart!
Eventually, as PSU said, the Tess will kill and eat the other fish.
Why keep them together, now and just risk a confrontation sooner?
I'd decide which fish you want to keep more and get rid of the other(s).
I don't want to lost the grouper. I broke my own golden rule on never believing LFS owners! I would have come here and asked first (And SHOULD have!) but I didn't know what type it was. The LFS owner had a "Mental blank" and couldn't remember its exact name either. So I've really only got myself to blame. I'll have to catch him now somehow and take him back. At least He hasn't killed anything yet. Just gotta try and work out how to catch him without pulling my tank apart!
watertight
Member
OK, is there ANY possibility it's not a Tesselata? I spent over an hour at the LFS, talking to the owner, and he went through all his books - we found a tesselata and he looked different to this one. The one in the book had black and goldish color markings, this one is just plain black and white.
The eel was in there on consignment, another guy had him for a fair while, in a 4 foot tank, but He'd outgrown it. The guy at the LFS knew about my tank and thought He'd be ideal for it.
Anyway, bottom line is, I'm keeping it for now, trying to get a definate ID (Not that I don't believe what you've all told me, just that I'm considering the possibility of maybe a bad pic, etc)... The other thing that seems a bit odd is that this eel would almost certainly have come from Northern Australian waters - is that the habitat for a Tesselata? Or do we have a similar looking eel here that's not as aggressive? This one doesn't seem overly aggressive
Anyway, thanks again for your inputs, and I certainly respect the knowledge of the ppl on this site. I'll try and get some more pics and post on here, so you can have a real good look at him, and if you're all still certain it's a tessalata I'll get rid of it...
The eel was in there on consignment, another guy had him for a fair while, in a 4 foot tank, but He'd outgrown it. The guy at the LFS knew about my tank and thought He'd be ideal for it.
Anyway, bottom line is, I'm keeping it for now, trying to get a definate ID (Not that I don't believe what you've all told me, just that I'm considering the possibility of maybe a bad pic, etc)... The other thing that seems a bit odd is that this eel would almost certainly have come from Northern Australian waters - is that the habitat for a Tesselata? Or do we have a similar looking eel here that's not as aggressive? This one doesn't seem overly aggressive
Anyway, thanks again for your inputs, and I certainly respect the knowledge of the ppl on this site. I'll try and get some more pics and post on here, so you can have a real good look at him, and if you're all still certain it's a tessalata I'll get rid of it...
nigerbang
Active Member
Heres another Pic of a tessie....What do you think.
Tesselata Eel, Gymnothorax favagineus, is one of the largest members of the Eel family. Also known as the Lace Moray, its nearly-white, cream color body has dark brown or black spots that create a honeycomb appearance over the entire body and head. Its maximum captive length is considered to be around five feet (yet over nine feet in the wild), so it should be kept in only the largest of home aquariums. Largely a nocturnal feeder, the Tesselata Eel will often be visible during the day, even if only when peering out from under or between any decorative rock provided. Eels are hearty eaters who also produce a great deal of waste. Because of this, a well-established aquarium and excellent water filtration is highly recommended. Larger Tesselata Eels are notoriously aggressive and may attack humans if provoked. Its natural home encompasses the Indo-Pacific from the Red Sea down to the Australian Coast. Larger specimens are ciguatoxic as they secrete a toxin, making their skin poisonous to eat. This Eel is undoubtedly a carnivore who prefers meaty foods including silversides, krill, clam, and carnivore preparations. It may be kept with other aggressive fish, as long as the fish do not fit into the Eel's mouth. As with all Eels, an aquarium with a tight-fitting cover must be provided to prevent escape.
Tesselata Eel, Gymnothorax favagineus, is one of the largest members of the Eel family. Also known as the Lace Moray, its nearly-white, cream color body has dark brown or black spots that create a honeycomb appearance over the entire body and head. Its maximum captive length is considered to be around five feet (yet over nine feet in the wild), so it should be kept in only the largest of home aquariums. Largely a nocturnal feeder, the Tesselata Eel will often be visible during the day, even if only when peering out from under or between any decorative rock provided. Eels are hearty eaters who also produce a great deal of waste. Because of this, a well-established aquarium and excellent water filtration is highly recommended. Larger Tesselata Eels are notoriously aggressive and may attack humans if provoked. Its natural home encompasses the Indo-Pacific from the Red Sea down to the Australian Coast. Larger specimens are ciguatoxic as they secrete a toxin, making their skin poisonous to eat. This Eel is undoubtedly a carnivore who prefers meaty foods including silversides, krill, clam, and carnivore preparations. It may be kept with other aggressive fish, as long as the fish do not fit into the Eel's mouth. As with all Eels, an aquarium with a tight-fitting cover must be provided to prevent escape.
watertight
Member
Yep...I think so...How long have I got? It would have to be pretty big to kill a grouper that's over 12 inches long, right? Or not??
psusocr1
Active Member
i dont mean to be a "killjoy" i just try to give opinion.. i dont evan tell peopl ethey should or shouldnt do anything because they get mad.. Ive learned people will do whatever they want with this hobby no matter what you tell them so i dont try to "tell" anyone anything , i just try to give my honest opinion based on my experience more than anything and then let them make the final decisions.. and no matter wehat the final decisions are in any situations i try to give people the benefit of the doubt and hope there happy..thats all that counts
crimzy
Active Member
Just to give you the other side of the opinion, I think you got a beautiful eel that should be fine for a LONG time with your fish. Lions and groupers are much less likely to be food for an eel like this until the eel gets to be about the thickness of a softball (depending on how big the lion and grouper are). This may take 10 years or so.
I love that eel. Keep him and post a lot of pics.
BTW, if you feed moderately and keep a cooler water temps it will grow slower.
I love that eel. Keep him and post a lot of pics.
BTW, if you feed moderately and keep a cooler water temps it will grow slower.
psusocr1
Active Member
Lions and groupers are much less likely to be food for an eel
im not worried about the tessy eating them.. tessy's kill for territory , for no reason, and are usually unprovoked attacks..
there was a guy with a tessy and a tank full of random tankmates awhile back, groupers, damsels, tangs etc. he had them in i beleive a 480 for about 5 or 6 years together,they were all very large fish. one day he came home to only the tessy alive...
its a roll of the dice..
im not worried about the tessy eating them.. tessy's kill for territory , for no reason, and are usually unprovoked attacks..
there was a guy with a tessy and a tank full of random tankmates awhile back, groupers, damsels, tangs etc. he had them in i beleive a 480 for about 5 or 6 years together,they were all very large fish. one day he came home to only the tessy alive...
its a roll of the dice..