eels in the tank

[deuceb]

i was pondering the possibilty of aquiring a snowflake moray eel for my reef tank and was wondering if it would be safe for the inhabitants. my tank is a 55 gal with a coral beauty, 6 line wrasse, cleaner wrasse, mandarin goby, 2 peppermint shrimp, a cleaner shrimp, a sallylight foot crab, hermit crabs, snails, and some soft corals. would the eel wreak havoc on the tank or would it be safe for the other mates? thanks!

 

[saltyrich]

nope. Eels have a certain taste for shrimp and smaller fish. I would advise against it.

 

[hollywood85]

Ells have very poor eyesight, therefore I've heard of it done in a large aquarium and by kepping him well feed. I wouldn't try it in that size tank.

 

[supercichlid]

Actually, SFE rarely eat live fish. Maybe if one is wounded, injured or ill..but they will very rarely hunt them down.
The shrimp will be food.
SFE will not eat corals, but sometimes they do dig, and "slither" over the corals, and some people have had them knock corals over...

 

[jake22]

The cleaner shrimp would be fine but the peppermint would not.

 

[blondenaso1]

I was about to come home and post this same question. I was just at the LFS and saw that they had 2 ribbon eels in their 65g reef. A asked them if it was reef safe and the guy told me that they eat shrimp, but they won't bother anything else. Is this true? Are SFE similar in behavior to ribbon eels.

 

[katara]

I had my sfe for about seven months and it never ate any of my hermits but I think this was an exception to the rule.He did however constantly knock over my lr and corals before one day jumping out while I was at work

 

[blondenaso1]

So is it best to have eggcrate or a glass top with eels? Does anyone have a ribon eel in their reef?