First time eel Owner

otter

otter

Member
Howdy,
I am now the proud owner of a 16" snowflake eel. He came with the 60 gallon saltwater tank I got for Father's day. The tank came complete. I even got all the cycled water. There were some small hermit crabs and a couple snails, but no other tank mates. Thank you for all your previous posts about SFEs. I have gained a lot of knowledge. I own a nano reef setup and have had aquariums for many years. I am humble and ask people who know more for some sage wisdom. My setup goes like this
60 gallon acryllic tank
90-100 lbs of live rock ( I added LR from the 20-30 lbs the tank came with)
3"-4" sand base
protien skimmer
bio wheel
large heater
3 power heads
96w power compact
I setup the tank. An hour after putting the eel in, he started exploring his new diggs. I think he is acclimating well.
What do eels look like when they breathe? Do they expand a little or a lot?
I would like to feed him frozen shrimp. What else is good?
What is a good water temp for eels?
What I would like to do is add more lights to add some coral, anemone, and a few fish.
What do people suggest for livestock?
What would you stay away from?
I will post pics soon.
Thanks,
Otter
 
fyrmn14

fyrmn14

New Member
Hey Otter. First off congratulations! I have been fascinating about the snowflakes. Which is why I am going to leach on your post here. Noticed you had mentioned about placing corals in your new tank. I myself have a 90 gallon reef tank. Have some tangs, couple damsels, a clown and a couple anemones, mandarin dragonet and a coral branded. Tangs are of adult size, very large. Damsels are all only about Nickel size. Was also wondering if a snowflake would be an acceptable addition to a tank of this sorts.
 
salt210

salt210

Active Member
I have a zebra moray in my 210 and love it. The snails and or crabs that you have in there might not last. eels are pretty hardy when it comes to parameters, if you get it set for your fish you should be ok. eels also tend to know stuff over when moving around when they are alittle bigger its in their nature. im not sure about the sfe's but there are eels that like to chomp on some fish every now and then too. make sure the tank is completely secured as well
 
kjr_trig

kjr_trig

Active Member
Congrats, sounds like a good set up...I had a SFE for 5 + years in my previous tank, they are great eels. As far as food, table shrimp, scallops, krill, silversides all make good food, and invest in a set of feeding tongs if you haven't already. I typically feed mine every other day. Breathing, they expand a fair amount around the gills, as long as it doesn't look fast or labored...It is tough to kill a SFE. As far as stocking suggestions, you are a bit restricted by the small size of your tank, the fact that you want some corals, and the size of your eel. I would avoid really small fish as he may eat them, I would avoid large reef safe fish like Tangs as your tank is too small, I would avoid Angels as they are not typically reef safe.
Here is what I would add based on what you have and what you want...Maroon Clown and a couple of Pink Square Anthias maybe a Fuzzy Dwarf Lion.
 
95harley

95harley

Active Member
Originally Posted by otter
http:///forum/post/2653167
What do eels look like when they breathe? Do they expand a little or a lot?
I would like to feed him frozen shrimp. What else is good?
What is a good water temp for eels?
What I would like to do is add more lights to add some coral, anemone, and a few fish.
What do people suggest for livestock?
What would you stay away from?
I will post pics soon.
Thanks,
Otter
Congrats on your new tank and eel.
Yes they expand and contract at the neck when they breathe...but typically only largely when stressed.
I feed mine, raw uncooked shrimp chunks, squid, silversides, krill typically.
I like shrimp the best as silversides tend to make a mess of the water. they love to hunt grass shrimp too even though they have not much nutrictional value.
As for temps...typical range 74-80. Eels are pretty hardy.
Eels typically like darker tanks, and more lights could drive your temp high. Remeber with an eel you shoudl not leave the top uncovered and this holds temps in.
For a snowflake you can go with just about anything as they are typically timid and not fish eaters. As it sounds like your more a reefer I assume you would not do a trigger or large grouper. Those are the only one's I'd be concerned with an eel.
Congrats again.
 
otter

otter

Member
Thanks to everyone for your input. Keep 'em coming. Here are some pics of "Frosty" (get it?) and the tank I took with my cellphone this morning. We just moved an I can't find anything including my digital camera!




 
mgutierrezff

mgutierrezff

Member
feed vitamin enriched supplements
vary the diet everything from silversides,clams,mussels,squid and octopus,shrimp,etc. also you can train them to eat from a stick i use a bamboo skewer so he doesnt ever come afet my hand during maintenance. VERY very important to ensure that all meals are vitamin soaked. also remember that if you dont vary their diets chances are that one food will lead to gi problems have heard many tales of liver problems or refuseal to eat if they are only fed sliver sides or shrimp
also posted above in concern for fish unlike most eels snowflakes teeth are more for crushing not tearing never seen any attempts at any fish from either of mine during feeding they have bad eye sight and may seem to be going after fish but its just that they have bad eye sight
fresh is always best for foods
congrats on the Eel theyre a blast!
 
otter

otter

Member
Thanks for the tip on vitamins. I had not thought of that before. I fed him for the first time last night. I waited two days before feeding him. He ate three small raw shrimp. It was sooo cool to watch!
On a different note, we are experiencing a heat wave and keeping the water temp down is really hard. I just lost my Zoos in my Nano tank because it was in a closed room. Literally cooked them!
I have changed the light schedule and turned off my heaters. I hope I don't need to buy a chiller. I hear they are expensive.
 
slackjawed

slackjawed

Member
Originally Posted by otter
http:///forum/post/2656575
Thanks for the tip on vitamins. I had not thought of that before. I fed him for the first time last night. I waited two days before feeding him. He ate three small raw shrimp. It was sooo cool to watch!
On a different note, we are experiencing a heat wave and keeping the water temp down is really hard. I just lost my Zoos in my Nano tank because it was in a closed room. Literally cooked them!
I have changed the light schedule and turned off my heaters. I hope I don't need to buy a chiller. I hear they are expensive.
add ice insted of water when u need 2 top off the tank
 
otter

otter

Member
Thanks for the idea slackjawed. I did some reading on wetweb and found some good information on cooling my tank. I took a small fan blowing across the water. It dropped the temp down to 78.

Is a blue throat trigger really reef safe and compatible with a maroon clown and SFE?
 
kevintheshrimp

kevintheshrimp

Member
Originally Posted by otter
http:///forum/post/2656575
Thanks for the tip on vitamins. I had not thought of that before. I fed him for the first time last night. I waited two days before feeding him. He ate three small raw shrimp. It was sooo cool to watch!
On a different note, we are experiencing a heat wave and keeping the water temp down is really hard. I just lost my Zoos in my Nano tank because it was in a closed room. Literally cooked them!
I have changed the light schedule and turned off my heaters. I hope I don't need to buy a chiller. I hear they are expensive.
where I am we are having some pretty high heat aswell so I removed my heater from my tank now the tank stays a steady 75.5-76.3 degrees for the greater part of the day. but does the fan trick really work? I just got a 8 inch baby moray eel from a friend I am only holding it for him, but its so neat watching them :)
 
otter

otter

Member
Originally Posted by KevinTheShrimp
http:///forum/post/2659013
where I am we are having some pretty high heat aswell so I removed my heater from my tank now the tank stays a steady 75.5-76.3 degrees for the greater part of the day. but does the fan trick really work? I just got a 8 inch baby moray eel from a friend I am only holding it for him, but its so neat watching them :)

The fan has worked perfect. We have had three days in a row of 104 degrees! The fan has kept my tank at a balmy 77-78. I run it when the lights are on. I have also changed the light schedule for very early in the morning and a few hours at night, so they stay off on the hottest part of the day.
 
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