EELS, leaving tank??

[beanie]

I heard eels will crawl or jump out of tanks, has this happened to anyone, i dont have a lid or cover for mine yet and am thinking about getting an eel...? 80g tank

 

[irenicus]

If you have an eel in your tank and it is uncovered, it will most likely escape. I just remember reading a post where someone beloved snowflake eel escaped his tank that just had a minor opening. Play it safe and make sure everthing is secure.

 

[mmplance]

I have a moray eel that is now just over 9 years old. Thanks to uncareful movers the top of the tank was broken almost 5 years ago. There have been times, usually during feeding, that my eel has come up out of the water level of the tank. Once he did also manage to throw his whole body out of the tank and on to the floor. Luckily for us we were home at the time and heard the "thump". Other than that one ocassion, which was quite some time ago we have had no trouble keeping it in the tank. I would imagine that if the one you got was young enough and raised without having a lid you shouldnt have to many problems.

 

[katara]

If you want to keep an eel you must have a lid & a very secure one at that.Any openings you may have must be sealed or I guarantee you will one day find your eel on the floor.It's just not worth the risk IMO.

 

[beanie]

so what kind of lid would it take?

 

[hairtrigger]

I have never kept eels in a tank with a closed top. Granted, I have had a couple jump out before I think I figured out the key. This is definitely not scientific fact, but it has worked for every eel Ive had since. And that is many.
I simply create a nice deep, dark cave out of the rock work and make it their home. As long as they have an established, safe territory they seem ok. The other part of this is keeping them well fed too. They tend to roam more when hungry. So I kept them fed nicely. Coupled with their safe haven, there was never any problems. I had several eels make it into the overflow box to explore. but, I fished them back out and they never returned. Conditioning I guess you can call it. They are actually smarter than people think. Most predatory aggressive fish are.

 

[conogre]

I have to agree.....in five years, we've had one eel climb out (a ribbon eel that had done fine for over a year in one uncovered tank, but left his new home within two days of being put in the new, deeper tank)
It's been our experience that if they are in a roomy enough tank with plenty of food (very good point made there, by the way) they are more than content to "stay home".
We currently have a SFE (6 years old and huge), an occelated morey (going on his 2nd year...about 27") and a green wolf eel (not a true eel, but try to convince visitors of that) that's 18" plus.
The single most important factors seem to be sufficient food and plenty of LR.......if underfed or in a relatively bare tank, the liklihood of the eel leaving is astronomically high, even with a good cover (in a shallow tank where they can get leverage, they are surprisingly strong and capable of lifting more than many imagine)

 

[irenicus]

On the other side of the coin, i've seens eels that have been well feed and have had plenty of room to hide escape from their tanks. I think they just have an inquisitive nature.

 

[coorsxman]

Ive had one jump out of my bucket at the fish store and started to scoot down the walkway lol...but its very rare to see a eel to jump out of a tank

 

[justchillin]

it might be rare to actually watch it happen, but it definatly isn't rare for an eel to jump out of a tank...ive heard countless stories on this and other bb 's about people finding their eel on the floor....
so why take the risk...just cover the tank...i use one of those glass tops with the plastic attached to the back (so you can cut out openings for skimmers, heaters, etc) you can find them at any LFS...
mike

 

[midwest reefer]

Also it depends on the species of eel. I have had a zebra and a green moray that never tried to stick their head out of the water. On the other hand I had a common moray eel(not sure the exact species) and 3 snowflakes get out of my tank. The tank was an eclipse that covered the whole top, but the snowflakes still got out. I have heard taht eels are like rats, that they can squeeze through tiny spaces a fraction of the size of their width. I would never put an eel in a tank w/o a canopy at the least.

 

[adam13]

My snowflake escaped twice. The first time he swam up the flow of my aquaclear filter, and I thought he had crawled under my dresser, I found him in the filter. So I made a grate that covers the filter return completely. The eel somehow found an opening big enough to get out. I woke up to him flopping under my bed. (Quite annoying at 5 am.) Thankfully he was out for less than a few min, he didnt get damaged at all, and ate today. I have caves made which he hides in and also pvc pipes. I feed him daily, so he isnt looking for food. I think it is just in his nature. I went to the dive shop and got this hard plastic mesh dive tank cover. I then cut it and ran it over the entire tank. The water runs through it. In addition I lowered the water 3" below the top of the tank. In my opiniopn low water level is the only surefire way to keep an eel from escaping. Seal your overflows or he will get up in those too. Goos luck and have fun,
Adam

 

[adam13]

Consider lowering your water level a few inches, then having a canopy made that hangs down below the tank lid to meet the low water level, giving the allusion that the water goes to the top of the tank.
Adam