cant find my eel

boom215

boom215

Member
i bought a sfe two days ago. he was about 6 inches long and as thick as a pencil. i put him in and havent seen him since. now some may say just wait he'll come out, but i didnt wait. i moved most of my lr to try and find him, and nothing i didnt see him anywhere. i checked all around my fish tank just in case he went kamikazee but i cant find him anywhere. any suggestions? thanks
 
boom215

boom215

Member
its a 75g tank with a yellow tang that i got at the same time, and a blue damsel. plus a clean ip crew.
 
zemuro114

zemuro114

Member
he A) died and cleanup crew finished him
or B) he jumped ship.. search the floor. under everything.. you'd be surprised how far these guys can go out of water serching for water...
 
merredeth

merredeth

Active Member
Originally Posted by boom215
i bought a sfe two days ago. he was about 6 inches long and as thick as a pencil. i put him in and havent seen him since. now some may say just wait he'll come out, but i didnt wait. i moved most of my lr to try and find him, and nothing i didnt see him anywhere. i checked all around my fish tank just in case he went kamikazee but i cant find him anywhere. any suggestions? thanks
Okay, don't laugh here but do you have a heater vent close to the tank? Look in the heater vent.
At six inches and thin as a pencil - he can slide anywhere including looping himself inside the live rock so look again closely. Also, the doors of the hutch of your tank, and check inside your live sand as they also like to bury themselves.
If you find him, throw him back in the tank immediately and cover all holes in the tank with some nylon screening you can buy at Home Depot or Lowes.
Let me know if you find him.
Denise M.
 
dougai

dougai

Active Member
Originally Posted by zemuro114
he A) died and cleanup crew finished him
or B) he jumped ship.. search the floor. under everything.. you'd be surprised how far these guys can go out of water serching for water...
well said
 
tome

tome

Member
Check your overflow. eels are known to go there because they like dark cool spots. Mine went back there all the time. Good Luck
 
tennisace

tennisace

Member
Don't just check overflow, check the filter, I had an sfe jump into my overflow, somehow find the tube that is at water level, go through it and end up in my wet/dry filter.
 
tome

tome

Member
Originally Posted by TennisAce
Don't just check overflow, check the filter, I had an sfe jump into my overflow, somehow find the tube that is at water level, go through it and end up in my wet/dry filter.
good point, mine was to big to go through the plumbing, so i did not have to worry about that.
 
boom215

boom215

Member
checked my overflow, checked my wet/dry, checked all over the floor, i cant find him for ----. any ideas. i really really wanted him cause i always wanted an eel but now i cant find him and im pretty upset. any other suggestions?
 
d0ch0liday

d0ch0liday

Member
my eel ate him!!!!!!! .......sorry that was stupid.......mine is known for eating snowflakes though......he likes 30 dollar snacks
 
misty7850

misty7850

Member
if you looked everywhere and couldn't find him, maybe he died and the clean up crew took care of him.. or maybe since he's small, he found a hole large enough to curl up inside one of your lr. :notsure:
 
boom215

boom215

Member
my lr looks like its one giant cave. theres crevices everywhere but i should havde seen him by now shouldnt i?
 
merredeth

merredeth

Active Member
Originally Posted by boom215
my lr looks like its one giant cave. theres crevices everywhere but i should havde seen him by now shouldnt i?
If you had poor water quality or he is on a hunger strike, he very well could have looped himself around the holes in the LR and you won't know it unless you move the LR around which in turn could mess up the balances on your water.
1. My suggestion is to keep a very dim light handy and do some night watching to see if he comes out.
2. Maintain the finest water quality and give it time.
3. Soak some krill in garlic and put it in the tank and see if it is messed with while doing the night watch.
Stupid question here but do you have cats or dogs? If the eel made its way out of the tank and landed on the floor it is possible that the dog or cat turned it into a snack. Has any of those animals vomited or anything? One would think an eel would be hard to digest because it is not a typical meat or fish a mammal would eat but when it comes to dogs and cats anything is possible.
Denise M.
 
J

jcrim

Guest
Sorry man, my guess is that it got out and is dried up in some hard to reach spot, ie. directly behind the tank. Eels will generally show their faces even if they hide a lot. And you've been missing yours for several days now. I would move all of the rock just to be sure, but you'll probably find it in a couple weeks/months in some obscure spot.
 
risc

risc

Member
I had a snowflake jump ship and scurry along the floor 10-11 feet and crawl under a end table - he moved that far on very thick carpeting also. The same eel swam into my overflow and back into the filter system and I've found him camped out inside my bio-balls on more than one occasion. I was lucky enough to find him each time before he had died and get him back in the tank. The smaller they are the more crafty they are at hiding. I'd suggest going over everything with a fine tooth comb. They are fast and can conceal themselves really well.
 
boom215

boom215

Member
No, no good news. i havent seen him since i bought him. checked my wet/dry here there everywhere, nothing. my amonia hasnt spiked so i dont think he died in there. he was soooo awesoime swimmin in the bag like hey where am i?!? i was like im going to love him and kiss him and hold him and take him home and gone. i miss him
 
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