First salt water tank, getting a snowflake moray need advice

[stang8689]

I really need some help, I currently have a 150 gallon fresh water tank that i've had for over a year. I have a nice spare 55 gallon tank I want to set-up for salt water and get a small snowflake moray eel. I will be upgrading to a larger tank when needed just to let you know ahead of time. My questions are what do I feed him, seen multiple answers but from experience you get the best answers on these forums. I also would like to know what you guys recommended for temp and ph level. This is my first salt water tank, I have done research but I don't know much so please any advice will help me out alot. Thanks

 

[eric b 125]

welcome to the boards! my honest advice would be to convert the 150 into a salt water tank. it will be much easier to maintain and you will have more options as to what livestock you can keep. 55 gallon tanks are, in my opinion, the worst tank for saltwater. reason being is that the 4' length gives people an unrealistic idea of size when compared to the 12" depth. that 12" depth really limits aquascaping and the type of fish you can keep.
my experience with eels (which is pretty limited mind you) is that they arent terribly active. having a tank with just an eel would be a little too laid back for my tastes. with the 150 you could add some other fish, provided they arent small enough to be eaten by the eel.
i keep my pH at 8.4 (average) and i try to keep my temp between 78 and 82.

 

[travelerjp98]

Welcome to the forums!
I love eels and other aggressive fish and I see why you want one. A snowflake moray eel needs an adult tank size of at least 75 gallons, but I'm sure for now he'd be fine in a smaller tank for now until you upgrade.
When an eels are young, they should be fed 3-5 times a week. Gradually lower the amount as adults usually need to only be fed 1-2 times a week.
Snowflake moray eels really like crustaceans, but they will also accept other meaty foods.
When they are smaller, I would start them out with live ghost shrimp, very very small minnows, silver sides, even krill, and other meaty small foods.
As they age, I would recommend silver sides and also feeder fish, fiddler crabs, and even go to your seafood market and get clams or mussels and split them, a moray would probably also enjoy that... and other meaty foods as well such as squid or scallops.
Just don't feed a moray eel feeder fish too often as they are not too good for them.
good luck!

 

[michaeltx]

agree with everything that has been said but I will add that if you plan on keeping an eel for a long period of time be prepared to have it fully enclosed because they can and will go carpet surfing. I lost my yellow headed that way. woke up one morning and there he was on the carpet. Not a very good felling at all. he was almost 3 feet long.
Mine also love love LOVED shrimp and feeder clams. he would go right after any shrimp as soon as it hit the water. so would my stars-n-stripes and porky all trying to get the same piece of shrimp all though there was 4 other pieces in the tank LOL funny thing to watch.
good luck
Mike

 

[prh123]

I had the snow flake eel and the brown model, both jumped out in time even out of a small gap. I had a separate tank with feeder goldfish, with a just a mechanical filter; feed the goldfish high quality food, then feed the eels. A few times when they would not eat; I acclimated some fresh water black molies and the eels would eat them when they got to it.
I also tried small frozen fish from the grocery store, they looked like sardines. Had to mix it up. Some of the moral eels are nocturnal predators. They seem to have a good sense of smell that they use to compensate for bad eyesight.

 

[prh123]

Same here, on jump, I was disappointed, happened twice, years later a Queen Trigger fish to a leap of faith also, they are aggressive but fun to watch also.
I got open top now for evaporation in summer to cool, you never know.

 

[travelerjp98]

prh also gave some useful information!

 

[stang8689]

ok so keep ph around 8.4 and temps between 78-82. I was also wondering about what filter to run and do I need a protein skimmer or anything else? When I clean the tank is there anything special I need to do to avoid him jumping out or trying to bite me? Thanks for all the great info

 

[travelerjp98]

I prefer a sump as a filter over anything else. They can even be DIY, and they are generally pretty easy to make.
If your only keeping one snowflake moray, I don't think a skimmer is necessary for now, especially if your going to get him small, maybe one down the road...
as to cleaning the tank, there isn't much you should have to do inside the tank as long as you have a good cuc (clean up crew) and flow...
if you have to scrub rocks or algae or something similar from inside the tank, especially when he gets bigger, wear gloves (because eels are eels- they bite), but it won't hurt or anything as long as you have gloves...
he probably won't see the time when your cleaning your tank as a prime escape time, but you never know with those eels... LOL!

 

[prh123]

This will keep you busy for a while:
You are making me think, congratulations, I think eels like caves you can make with live rock, I always run a skimmer, hang on, or in the sump, it just removes waste from the water before it pollutes it. “But” you can run cheap with even a under gravel filter, or a sand bed which I don’t understand, and a mechanical filter.
It just strikes a nerve you replace all of that with a good skimmer when you get tired of changing water, the point, after a while you just buy a skimmer, a Prizm from Red Sea is about 100 dollars online good for up to a forty gallon tank.
Technically you are creating a healthier environment. The water is normally RO or distilled for evaporation and water changes. If you want to forget all that,...
The public water supply is alright. They have to spike the water with chloramine and chlorine once and awhile which you can remove with carbon, or an additive, get it to the right temperature something like 78-82 degrees, salinity 1.22 to 1.24 (fish is 1.22, reefs most go 1.24 and above). If you have animals from the right Ocean (Pacific for example) 78-82 is good. There are some salt water species from the Atlantic Ocean which from experience "never" gets past 72 degrees.
I started before wet/dry sumps where created, just had mechanical filters and under gravel filters, they were cheap and got the job done. Did not know what RO was. So it could be as simple as a mechanical filter with some type of biological filter (bio wheel for example), any light, and water changes with at least chorine removed. You can use any kind of lava rock, instead of live rock, eel with love all that.
Almost, forget, everyone agrees you have to cover the entire tank, anything that does not rust, "and" you need to add a "cycle" product to build up your biological filter in 2-3 days. Google "Nitrification Cycle".
So you have:
[*]
Light
[*]
Tank
Salt mix
Biological filter
Mechanical filter (which is replaced by a skimmer)
[*]
Salt water test kit
[*]
Heater
[*]
Hydrometer (measures salinity)
Something to monitor temperature
Place for the eel to hide like a cave
Or:
You buy live rock you need better lights (10K and Actinic 03 very common), I want purple Coralline Algae I did 20000K and Actinic 03, You should have a skimmer, use should use RO or distilled water (it adds up fast).
Consider what it cost to do the setup twice, in a pet store, and on the web.

 

[gemmy]

Quote:
Originally Posted by prh123 http:///forum/thread/387184/first-salt-water-tank-getting-a-snowflake-moray-need-advice#post_3404680
I had the snow flake eel and the brown model, both jumped out in time even out of a small gap. I had a separate tank with feeder goldfish, with a just a mechanical filter; feed the goldfish high quality food, then feed the eels. A few times when they would not eat; I acclimated some fresh water black molies and the eels would eat them when they got to it.
I also tried small frozen fish from the grocery store, they looked like sardines. Had to mix it up. Some of the moral eels are nocturnal predators. They seem to have a good sense of smell that they use to compensate for bad eyesight.
I would NEVER recommend feeding SW fish FW fish. Goldfish are fatty no matter what you feed them and can lead to fatty liver disease. Also, eels need a varied diet or else they can get goiters.

 

[prh123]

Read it again, it wasn’t, it looked like one, pet store owner told me to buy them, can’t remember name, it was like a 100 years ago.

Well, you made me angry, so I thought of it, was called a "smelt". Did that stuff young years ago, 1980.
I bought plastic thongs and tried to entice them to eat, literally rubbing food on their nose, they can't see very well.
"Smelts resemble salmon in appearance, but are smaller, usually reaching only around 20 centimetres (7.9 in), although some species can reach as much as 70 centimetres (28 in).[sup][1] Indeed, smelts are a food source for salmon and lake trout. Like salmon, many species are anadromous, living most of their lives in the sea, but travelling into fresh water to breed. However, there are a few exceptions, such as the surf smelt, which spend their entire lives at sea.[2][/sup]
Smelt roe is bright orange in color, and is often used to garnish sushi."
In Connecticut they sold small ones 1-2 inches in the frozen food section, could not afford prices at the pet store. First job, apartment, all the drama. But, hey I kept those eels fat, dumb, and happy for a long time.

 

[gemmy]

Quote:
Originally Posted by prh123 http:///forum/thread/387184/first-salt-water-tank-getting-a-snowflake-moray-need-advice#post_3404852
Read it again, it wasn’t, it looked like one, pet store owner told me to buy them, can’t remember name, it was like a 100 years ago.

Well, you made me angry, so I thought of it, was called a "smelt". Did that stuff young years ago, 1980.
I bought plastic thongs and tried to entice them to eat, literally rubbing food on their nose, they can't see very well.
"Smelts resemble salmon in appearance, but are smaller, usually reaching only around 20 centimetres (7.9 in), although some species can reach as much as 70 centimetres (28 in).[sup][1] Indeed, smelts are a food source for salmon and lake trout. Like salmon, many species are anadromous, living most of their lives in the sea, but travelling into fresh water to breed. However, there are a few exceptions, such as the surf smelt, which spend their entire lives at sea.[2][/sup]
Smelt roe is bright orange in color, and is often used to garnish sushi."
Is this comment directed to me???

 

[prh123]

Anyway, the real question is “what do you cover a tank with so that it’s sealed” if you have mechanical filter, skimmer, and heater, off the back of the tank. Hey, I’m real proud of myself for thinking of the term “smelt” that was thirty years ago, they were like 2-3 inches, smelled, which the eel is supposed to be able to do well to compensate for bad eye sight because they are nocturnal. Well some of them, brown one I had was like a bat, you could tell, it could not see anything.
I had that "Angler" salt water fish which was hard to feed also, very cool. Had to put small live fish in the tank, let him pick them off, they could eat something there own "body" size!

 

[travelerjp98]

anyways, stang8689, I hope I answered all your questions... if you have ANY more please FEEL FREE to ask them!

 

[stang8689]

very helpful so far, first off I decided to custom build a canopy for the tank so it will be sealed, and yes I will still seal the top before the canopy which is added insurance. I was thinking of going with live rock to make his cave. Now if I want to use sand does it have to be live sand or can it be Carbisea stuff like I did my fresh water tank? How often do I do water changes, is once a week 20% water change ideal? I still am unsure about the filter, I was wondering if a external canister filter such as a Fluval would work or is that for fresh water only. Sorry for my delay on checking the boards as I am in the process of moving Thanks

 

[travelerjp98]

what are you going to use on sealing the canopy? glass top or eggcrate? or something else?
You can use mostly the caribsea stuff, but roughly 1/5 of the total amount of sand should be live sand, and then it can be mixed in with the caribsea stuff, to get it "seeded" with the beneficial bacteria...
once a week 20% would be more than great... you might get tired of that though... but make sure that you use RO/DI water or at least water conditioner for your water changes and top-offs.
the fluval would work but a sump would be better.
and no worries on the time it took you to respond!

 

[calbert0]

Seriously, if you just sit at your computer and research saltwater aquarium basics for a few hours, all of your questions will be answered and you will have a much better understanding of whats really going on in your tank, because you figured it out for yourself.
Look at the archive threads and beginner articles on this forum., Google basic terms, maybe get a book or two... you'll figure it out.
MOD EDIT * this area is called new hobbists for a reason it is a place for the folks to get some basic answers and yes hopefully do more research but its not acceptable to come to a post and just post basically go look it up. that is not helping the poster in anyway shape or form so please refrain from doing this. MTX

 

[travelerjp98]

look at the article I wrote, It's called "easy tips for new hobbyists", I think it might help you...