Tesselata Eel

crypt keeper

Active Member
My local LFS has had a Tesselata for about a year now. Its kept in a 75 gallon tank. I understand that this fish must be kept alone. Its close to 3 feet long and is stunning. I want it. I have found a 150 gallon with all hardware to get started. How long will this fish be okay in that tank for?
Any special care? Are they as hardy and easy to take care of a SFE
 

hammerhed7

Active Member
they are hardy, and aggressive. I am assuming the 150 you found is a 6 foot tank? If so it should house the eel fine. I believe these guys top out at 4' in captivity. I have never owned one but there are a few tessie owners here that would be able to give you more info.
 

95harley

Active Member
Sweet another eel lover in MD. Where are you at CK? Tessy's are my favorite, but that max of 5.5-6' has kept me away. I went with a DME instead. Mine is about 30" and lives in a 75g by himself.
Simple to take care of.
 

crypt keeper

Active Member
I have always liked them. I just bought a house. I had to wait for the house purchase because I didnt want to set up such a huge tank then have to tear it down when I moved.
I live in Damascus, Montgomery County
 

crypt keeper

Active Member
Well the deal fell through on both the tank and the EEL. The eel was sold and I really want an acrylic tank. I have decided to get a smaller one in the near future. Somewhere around 12- 15 inches. Im going to put it in a 90 gallon for the time being. Can this be kept with any tankamtes until it gets bigger or even at that size it will eat what I put in there? I was thinking a Angel or two or a trigger of some sort. Will the trigger nip at it? My Humu Humu leaves my Snowflake alone. They are both very mall the Humu is not even 3 inches and the Snowflake is about a foot.
Im going to upgrade my current set up to an in wall 125 or 150. I sign the papers on my new home this week. I will post pictures fo the process. I plan on keeping my Humu Snowflake puffer in there along with a few more fish. I havent decided. That will a fowlr set up.
I have a 30 gallon long that will be my Black Clown set up with my some corals.
 

unleashed

Active Member
the only fish that can be kept with a tess are damsels if you dont care if they get eaten.. special housing for this eel is a life of solitary confinement .. they will kill anything in your tank eventually no ifs ands or buts about it.. be it fish inverts etc..
i suggest minimal amounts of rockwork with use of pvc pipe for it to hide in.. lower lighting as they dont really care for bright lights..I kept mine for close 3 yrs this past summer i made the mistake of adding more rocks and he tumbled one onto his head and passed away( a large heavy rock) he was 3 1/2 ft ... they dont tend to be very active unless they are hungry or feeding ..i fed daily... its not really a species I would advise any hobbiest to get .. dont get me wrong i loved mine very much but it was very aggrivating knowing i had a 125 gal tank for one single fish the urge to add more was very hard to fight.
 

crypt keeper

Active Member
Im okay with this animal living alone. I have 2 other tanks for my pleasure. I used to have a 14 foot reticulated python. Nothing is more sweet than to walk into a persons house with an animal that can take your breath away and you can stare at. I have my coral tank. I have my fish only tank. Ever since I saw the big one up at the store I have been in love. Just doing the research before.
Thank you for the information sorry about your loss.
 

small triggers

Active Member
awww idont think thats enough space to hide :( Anyways, my lfs has a 500g with a tessie and a white tip reef, great combo, if you have the space, lol
 

jcarroll

Member
I just sold my tessy last weekend. I had him in a 180 with a SNE that was about 18" long. My tessy (Max) was right around 4 feet long. He was not aggressive, but that may be because I fed him about every 2-3 days. If you feed them less, you can actually make them become aggressive because they see everything as a potential dinner. He and my SFE were buddies. When I first got my SFE he was only about 10" long and he would literally go up to massive Max and stick his little head inside Max's head and Max never tried to get him. He was very happy and active too. If I was going to keep him, I was planning on getting another 1 or 2 SFE's to go with them. How much were they selling him for? I know the guy I sold mine too said he'd been trying to find a big one, but couldn't find one for less than $300. I sold my big guy for $200
 

crypt keeper

Active Member
Hot mom with a badass eel. Nothing sexier. hahahaha. Its $500. He wont budge on the price. He has another one. The picture I took as my avatar. Its a little bigger. Same price.
 

jcarroll

Member
WOW! $500!!! I practically GAVE that guy my Max then!! Lucky little SOB! They are definitely very cool. At first, mine was very shy, but after a couple of weeks he was out swimming around the tank all the time. Used to freak people out when they came over cuz he was gigantic! Ate full sized filets of tilapia fish! Kinda miss that guy.....BUT I am LOVING my new fowlr +sfe tank....
 
R

rcreations

Guest
My LFS has a beautiful Tesselata moray for sale for $200. I see it every time I go into the store, it's stunning! Guess they just can't sell it because it's so agressive. They also ship fish as well, if anyone is interested.
 

salt life

Active Member
one of the fish stores I go to has one that is around a foot long for $400 dollars, most expensive one i've seen especially of that size, my main fish store sells them for around $120
 
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