New Tesselata eel

[lilgator]

My tesselata eel arrived yesterday morning from saltwaterfish.com and it was love at first sight. I was leery from ording online because you dont have any choice in the selection of what animal you get... basicly buying in the blind.
I recieved a specimen better than I could have imagined!!! He's 16" with a ton of white, looks like all white body with black spot pattern just like I wanted, but it gets better. He acclimated well, and even accepted 4 silversided from tongs his first day here.

My question to the board is do you guys keep any corals with your eels? I have a reef tank with some inverts a tang, blue jaw trigger, and emporor angel.
Also what are some steps to keep water parameters right with the extra bioload of an eel? I have 175lbs of live rock with split between the 90gal display and 40 gal sump. octopuss protein skimmer, and 2 X 250w halides w/ 25w blue actinics.
Saltwaterfish.com sent the most beutiful eel I've ever layed eyes on, and I want to provide an enviroment he can thrive in, and keep my corals

 

[puffin04]

That is awesome i think i am next in line ordering one since i have a HAW zebra eel and just love him to death. I am pretty sure you are safe of keeping any type of coral with eels. I have a few mushrooms and polyps. I have a friend that has a zebra in his decked out reef and he is huge and thick. As far as inverts i think it is a hit or miss. I have heard a lot of accounts them eating them but have also heard of cleaner shrimp cleaning there face with no problem. Thanks
Steffen Sparks

 

[lilgator]

So far he isnt interested in the inverts, and I dont have anything special, just cheap crabs and snails, nothing that I will loose sleep over IF he decides to eat one. I know that the tesselata is not interested in the coral, but my concern is keeping my water quality good.
As of now the water is on the money, my nitrates are even near zero because of the refugium I added a month ago. but I dont want the extra bioload of the eel to throw off my water parameters, and I wonder what you guys do to keep water quality high with an eel. He's only 16" so I have time to prepare a plan to accomodate growth.
The tesselata is a beauty and I'm surprised I've never seen on at the LFS. Mine is just all out awsome with a very outgoing attitude, not at all skittish, and seems to enjoy his new home.
I will post pics later

 

[lilgator]

Heres a pic of his head poking out... a little out of focus, and doesent do this guy justice... We love this new addition!!!

 

[kjr_trig]

I hate to sound harsh, but I hope you know what you have gotten into to. Tessys are known to get to 6 feet long and are notorious fish killers, the guys at WetWebMedia don't recommend this fish in anything less than 300 gallons and only with huge fish like full grown angels and Groupers...Good luck.

 

[lilgator]

Were looking forward to watching him grow and getting a larger tank. A LFS has a 450 gal custom built acrylic tank that we were looking at. We will have to select different fish for tankmates as he gets older, but he wont get 5' long over night. IF he becomes a problem in the near future I have a 110 gal to put him into by himself
Thanks for the concern, but I've kept exotic animals of all kinds for a long time and never jump into anything that my wallet wont cover, I knew what I was getting into
I'm a responsible 35yr old with children of my own THAT ARE KNOWN TO REACH A HEIGHT OF 6' when grown, and are NOTORIOUS for getting in all kinds of messes when growing up.... LOL!!
The eel wont cost but a fraction of the money it takes to raise a kid, and not NEARLY stress.

 

[lilgator]

Heres another pic for the Tessy lover out there... a little out of focus again.

 

[fishpeep101]

Originally Posted by kjr_trig
http:///forum/post/2557394
I hate to sound harsh, but I hope you know what you have gotten into to. Tessys are known to get to 6 feet long and are notorious fish killers, the guys at WetWebMedia don't recommend this fish in anything less than 300 gallons and only with huge fish like full grown angels and Groupers...Good luck.
UMMM.... Not everyone just runs out and buys an animal without doing the proper research. Someone always has something negative to say and tries to spoil somebodys excitement. The Tessy is gorgeous! I love him!
Jennifer

 

[kjr_trig]

Originally Posted by fishpeep101
http:///forum/post/2558231
UMMM.... Not everyone just runs out and buys an animal without doing the proper research. Someone always has something negative to say and tries to spoil somebodys excitement. The Tessy is gorgeous! I love him!
Jennifer

Ok, so lets look at your proclamation Jennifer...The original poster has 4 fish in a 4 foot tank, none of which should be in a 4 foot tank long term (how much "proper research" went into that?)....Least of all the beautiful new Tessy...In the original post they say nothing about upgrading in the future (a 110 is hardly an upgrade for a 5-6 foot eel).
Some people actually come to this site to learn....How about you?

 

[brianbeme80]

Originally Posted by kjr_trig
http:///forum/post/2559487
Ok, so lets look at your proclamation Jennifer...The original poster has 4 fish in a 4 foot tank, none of which should be in a 4 foot tank long term (how much "proper research" went into that?)....Least of all the beautiful new Tessy...In the original post they say nothing about upgrading in the future (a 110 is hardly an upgrade for a 5-6 foot eel).
Some people actually come to this site to learn....How about you?
LOL.... so you are saying that everyone who post about a fish/eel has to also post their future plans for upgrading to new tanks? Really?

Oh, I love the "original poster's" referance to having kids known to reach 6 feet

 

[brianbeme80]

Oh yea, the "original poster" said they were looking into a 450 custom tank, I read the part about the 150 to be temporay if the eel becomes a problem.

 

[kjr_trig]

Originally Posted by brianbeme80
http:///forum/post/2559565
LOL.... so you are saying that everyone who post about a fish/eel has to also post their future plans for upgrading to new tanks? Really?

Oh, I love the "original poster's" referance to having kids known to reach 6 feet

And here is a post from a new expert without any fish yet

When you put the Emperor Angel in your 90, I will

you too.

Everybody says they are going to upgrade

 

[snake_eyes]

Great looking eel.

 

[brianbeme80]

Actually, I do have fish, just havn't updated my profile.

 

[fishpeep101]

Originally Posted by kjr_trig
http:///forum/post/2559630
And here is a post from a new expert without any fish yet

When you put the Emperor Angel in your 90, I will

you too.

Everybody says they are going to upgrade

Oh yeah aren't you also a "golf expert" Look all I said was that someone is always raining on someones elses prade. All his fish are juveniles!!! I knw this guy through the local "fish club" type of thing... you know nothing about him. He doesn't procrastinate, he has the money to upgrade now if he chooses to now. Get the chip off of your shoulder.... Better yet get over yourself.

Oh and

have a nice day.
Jennifer

 

[lilgator]

Who is this guy? The fish police?

Why do you think that nobody else is capable of providing for their animals besides you? I see you just set up a new tank... but THATS NOT THE LAST 200 + TANK THEY MADE!! They didnt stop making aquariums after they made yours.
There are other people out here that can afford to buy a fish tank buddy

And we do our research also...
Anyway, I cant get over this little tesselata, and he's a blast everyday, and I'm going to enjoy watching this guy grow.
I'm not even going to stoop down anymore to explain MY future plans for MY setps, but heres a pic of what we are enjoying TODAY... hate it or love it
Thanks again Saltwaterfish.com for a PERFECT EEL!!

 

[unleashed]

congrads on your new tank member .as a tess owner myself I must fowarn you about the tess they are highly agressive and territorial species .however they dont grow as fast as everyone thinks.as for him killing all of your fish its touch and go I know mine would kill them as he has cleared 4 tanks so far before I purchased him .view my post on most agressive fish.as for your corals and fish while hes small he should be ok.however as he grows you may it nessasary to house him in his own tank they are prone to tumbling rockwork .I purchased ed about 3 yrs ago give or take,I cant remeber for sure.he started in a 90g at that time he was 2 ft long hes now aprox 3 1/2 ft and hes now in a 125g .he has plenty of room as he is housed alone .they are beautiful eels and you will find as he matures his coloring will become more bold and beautiful..please note the damsels with ed ..he ate them lol

 

[lilgator]

You have a beatiful eel!!
So far the eel hasnt bothered any fish, and has actually been put in check over territorial issues by the trigger, and emporator angelfish.
At 16" he is very manegeable, and I got a smaller tesselata to allow time to prepare, and adjust to his growing needs... each individual has their own unique personality, so I'm pretty much playing it by ear.
The most aggressive animal I've owned so far were a pair of Argus monitor lizards 4' each, housed in a 260SF custom built enclosure... they were just obnoxious.
I'm hoping that I can keep some of my current fish with the eel in the future, but at this point there are too many variables, so I'll spend hours, and hours watching the tank

and I'll see how they all interact over time too see if they will all be longterm tankmates

 

[unleashed]

you may find that while hes small he could be just fine .ed hasnt grown extrmely fast but he was larger when i got him.my jeweled (mexican) moray was fine with the fish i kept him with in the past except the lion he bugged him alot during feeding time,other than that no problems.they are fun to watch .as you can see sorry the pic is so small i had to downsize it to load it to a site.luckily i had it saved there cus my pc crashed during storage and i lost all pics except what i had plastered all over the net lol.but ed loves his tube he does this kinda alligator roll in it and when he feeds he ties himself into a knot.once i find all my camera parts ill post a video of this.its really cool to watch.dont know if it a tess thing or just an ed thing.i dont reccomend this eel for anyone but i have to admit once you get one ,you got one

 

[cafero702]

sweet looking eel i was either gonna get one of those or a snowflake lol i went with the snowflake
what was the sizes between that you chose when you bought him on SWF.com like small medium large?
i just bought a powder blue tang medium 2" to 4" they gave me about a 2" lol it was fine for a weekend then died i dunno what the problem was he wasnt stressed no one was messing with him he was eating i dunno but i had to mail him back.
i also bought a yellow tang i wasnt sure about this though cuz it is sort of buying in the blind but his colors are so bright and he is still doin strong.
and people are annoying that try to call you out on this website im sure first thing people say is your getting a bigger tank right? they dont grow 5 feet overnight or even with in a year. fish grow fast but not as fast as some people act like they do
cool eel lol !