What is this eel doing in my tank?!

[Sharkie]

I came home this evening after a long day of shopping with my mom and grandmum and went to feed my fish and I walked in to find my dad saying "Look what I found!" I looked and instantly regretted his purchase... I love my dad to pieces but.. He gets a little too gung-ho about fish and bought this 8in' snowflake eel from petco because he was "in with fish that were attacking him" (blue damsels, grammas, and a tang D;)

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7GUUvFUTFA[/ame]

He is a cute little guy but I don't think I'm ever going to catch him, whatever his last meal was he spit it up and out (it looked like a guppy) and went straight under my button polyp rock that I cannot move... i said a little prayer and told him while pointing at him (my fish seem to know that means they are doing something bad because i do it when they start chasing someone) and told him to leave everyone alone and be a good little eel.

woke up this morning to find that not only had he been sitting in the same spot, but that everyone is okay and he seems scared of all of them... AND during feeding time (tried feeding him some guppies, he did not like/want them plus i hear its bad to give them those so i am going to try and get him some silversides today) one of those stupid little pesty hitchhicker crabs came out and so i put some shrimp over his head and the eel got the crab instead!! hehe. no more pesky crab!

so my question is, I know he is going to grow VERY rappidly, he seems to be very healthy despite coming from our dirty as all getout petco (they constantly are having problems with their fish, they say its a "bad batch". they need to check their levels and put things in with other compatable fish,) and he hasn't gone after any of my fish and is tucks right back in his hole when the gramma or coral beauty come around. my 50gl is all setup and is just cycling right now to move all my other fishies in a few weeks...


what should i do about the $30 eel? so far hes show no threats but i know that they are escape artists (have a completely covered he will never get out lid! lol) and that hes just been put in but, do you think he will get more adventerous and try to attack the fish? all my fish are larger than his mouth...

any and all tips would be great

 

[PufferGuy]

I have a White Ribbon Eel that is about 1.5 feet long and he has never attacked any of my fish. He might have ate my shrimp since i havent seen him for a few weeks but has never gone after fish and he has never tried to escape. For about 2 months I didnt have a lid on my tank at all because i wanted my corals to get better light and even so i never had a problem with the eel trying to get out.

granted that my eel is not nearly as aggressive as snowlfakes are and he will never grow as big as a fully grown snowlfake eel, i think you should just leave him be for now and if he starts causing problems try to get him out then. Eels are really interesting and fun to watch so i think you will enjoy having him in there.

 

[ndepratt]

god i hate eels... i have a nice scar on my hand from a Hawaiian moray eel... it was a gnarly bite... they've got some sort of toxin...

 

[ZOOT098]

i have a snowflake moray
i dont think hes agressive at all
the get a little pugnatios at feeding time if they are hungry but thats about it
get some frozen silversides and feed him a thawed out small one every day or so and he will leave your other fish alone
he wont waste energy trying to catch something if hes got a full belly

 

[freshreef]

wow i would bug out if that happend to me lol! dont you have a mandarin? thay are pritty slow i might worry about him but it may be fine if you keep him fed vary well

 

[Sharkie]

i do have a mandarin but Marley tends to stay on the top of the rockwork and he jams when he swims around

 

[ndepratt]

Snowflakes are supposed to be most docile and gentle of the morays.... but it's still a predatory creature, and it will eventually go after your fish. I would get it out of your tank if you want to keep docile community fish such as the mandarin. And i'm not just saying that because of my hatred for eels...

 

[dustin_P74]

snowflakes wont eat fish, they eat crabs and snails, their teeth arent sharp enough to get fish

 

[ndepratt]

snowflakes wont eat fish, they eat crabs and snails, their teeth arent sharp enough to get fish

I've only seen them grab fish but not eat them, so you're probably right. I still hate eels :P

 

[ZOOT098]

my snowflake eats two fish every other day
when he takes them off the feeding stick he rips them in half with one bite

i will say this, i doubt their eyesight is good enough to catch a fish thats swimming

 

[Sharkie]

my snowflake eats two fish every other day
when he takes them off the feeding stick he rips them in half with one bite

i will say this, i doubt their eyesight is good enough to catch a fish thats swimming

what are you feeding yours?

 

[Bifferwine]

Since you have a tank set up and ready to go in a couple weeks, you are in a position to keep the eel if you decide to do so. If you find yourself getting attached to him and liking him, you'll have to re-evaluate the plans for your other tank... If it were my fish, I'd be afraid of him attacking my fish eventually. I've never heard specifically that they do not eat fish, they are to be kept with caution with any other animals.

 

[Sharkie]

thats what all my research has shown, i guess because i had mentioned to my dad that eels were cool so I guess he thought it meant I wanted one LOL. so far he hasn't shown any aggression towards anyone and he ate a bit of shrimp today so i will just closely moniter him over the next few days..


anyone on here interested in a snowflake eel? LOL

 

[ZOOT098]

what are you feeding yours?

frozen silversides
keep his belly full
you wont have any problems

 

[parrotchute]

I'd take him if he could kill my Damsels!

 

[ZOOT098]

he probably couldnt catch them parrot
they have horrible eyesight
i put ghost shrimp in my tank to feed my sea goblin
my eel can barely catch them

 

[parrotchute]

Yeah, I Know, NOTHING can catch them!!!! (see multitude of posts about trying to get them)

 

[Sharkie]

LOL Parrot, I had this ONE damsel that ruined the whole bunch.. Bluto. and because of him I had to tear apart my entire tank... it ended up killing quite a few fish... my royal gramma, sixline wrasse, nemo, and my cleaner shrimp and my purple psuedochromis D: we finally caught him and stuck him in a little 2.5 gallon tank and none of the stores will take him... my sister decided because hes scared to death now and always hides that she was going to get some clownfish to stick in there with him and now hes super friendly and not mean at all... stupid fish! LOL.

my other damsels are fine tho, in fact, sunny my yellow damsel smacks burton (thats what i decided to name the eel) in the face with her tail

 

[yote]

There is a reason snowflakes dont usually go after fish.Their almost blind.They rely on water scent in the water to find their meals.And as long you keep him well fed,he'll probably never go after your other fish.Shrimp and crabs are another story though.
I also think you should keep him:D

 

[Sharkie]

well today he finally ate!! while i was doing my morning checks and feeding he came up and snatched out the mysis shrimp from my fingers!! :O he took off with the whole thing so i quickly ran and defrosted another cube and... he took that one too!! LOL. so 2 1/2 cubes later i think he is finally all settled down and doing great :) hes really cool to watch and everyone who has seen him is like "WOAH YOU HAVE AN EEL?!" so i think i forgive dad ;) I knew they arent good with their vision, today he almost bit my giant blenny instead of the shrimp lol... I think i shall keep him for a while, and then maybe get him setup in the tank by himself when the big one is all ready :)