Brazilian dragon moray eel

DamnPepShrimp

DamnPepShrimp

Moved On
I am considering picking up a 32" Brazilian dragon moray eel for $50, is that a good deal? Are these eels similar to the Hawaiian version? I couldn't find much about the brazilian version. How are their tempermants, hardy, eat smaller fish? Just looking for more info on these guys. He was housed with a 5" male bluethroat trigger, no problems. I will put him in with a 6" passer angel, there is also a 3" damsel in the tank as well, may remove him so he doesn't get eaten? Thanks for any help and advice you can give. I've had eels before, I know the feedings with them and how they are escape artists etc, just don't know the specifics on the Brazilian dragon.
 
I'd say $50 is very good. JustRareFish has 12" and 24" for 150. Beautiful eel. LukFox has one that is amazing. Hopefully he will see this thread and respond.

Bo
 
That's a crazy good deal. Go for it. It's not related to the Hawaiian dragon, though. I believe it's Muraena pavonina, but some of the fishbase info is incorrect as a warning.

They're pushy eels and potentially aggressive if it's the dominant fish. It should be fine with a 6" angel, though. The damsel is food if it's left in there... I only had my Brazilian for a week and a half when he ate my 3" male maroon clown. The eel was only 17". Their mouths LOOK small, but they really stretch. Took him a few minutes of thrashing to be able to swallow the clown, but he did it all right :/.

I've found mine to be hardy. They eat a ton, and it's better to have too much food unfrozen than not enough because it'll strike at anything that moves if it smells food. I also had to stop feeding a frozen blended mixture of mysis/tuna/salmon/squid/and whatever else daily because it would drive the eel insane. The other fish are now on a pellet and flake diet for their daily feedings. I felt really overwhelmed for the first two months of having him. The kind of "What have I let loose on my poor fish? This was a huge mistake!" feeling. Once I switched to pellets and flake and got a feel for how much the eel eats in a sitting and how often, things got a lot smoother. I know you said you know about feeding, it's just this is my third eel and it still -really- surprised me.

Mine is out in the open a lot, isn't shy, and is friendly enough when he's full. A good eel if you know what you're doing.
 
Melanotis has the pattern from the body continue onto the head without fading. They also seem to be more black and white from the photos. Pavonina has the darker head which is what I've seen on every "Brazilian dragon" offered, with yellow mixed between the spots on some specimens (spot density can vary quite a bit...). M. pavonina is the closest match I've found so far, though. Could be something else, but I've looked hard lol. Fishbase has quite a few max size errors, too, so just because they're wrong on the pavonina profile doesn't convince me it's not the same eel.
 
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Sounds good, thanks for the help.

Luke, what do you feed your eel and how often? I feed my fish pellets but also a mixture of emerald entree, mysis/brine shrimp, clam and other frozen mixtures. Ive seem people feed there large eels whole pieces of shrimp. Is it ok to freeze a bunch or best to keep it fresh? I eventually plan on upgrading to a 240 and adding a sohal tang, clown trigger and maybe a lunare wrasse. The eel was previously kept with a blue throat trigger and some sort of wrasse so I'm assuming this eel has been kept in captivity most of its life and may be pretty tame. I'll post pics on Monday when I get it. Also is it full grown at 32"? What's minimum tank size for it? Any other helpful hints/advice you can give is greatly appreciated. Btw I think the passer will be fine, I'm more worried about the eel, the passer is ridiculously mean and aggressive, definitely lives up to his name as the "king" of all angelfish.

Here are some pics that the current owner put up, hopefully they come out. Apparently he bought a setup that came with all the fish, so he just wants to get rid of them. What's a going rate for a 32" Brazilian dragon moray? Ive only seen one site carry them and they had juvi's for sale for $300-400.

IMG_3153.jpg


IMG_3127.jpg
 
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I feed him 10-15 prawns or the equivalent in other foods like fish/squid/etc over the course of two feedings in a week about. I buy two pounds of prawns and half pounds of various fish every couple months and just freeze it. He also gets left over sushi which is okay to freeze, too. Doesn't need to be fresh so long as you don't leave it sitting out at room temperature.

Mine is about 30-32", too. I don't think it could really get much bigger than 3 feet comparing it to other species in the genus. The fact that yours is about that size and who knows how old is comforting lol. I think if it doesn't get over 3 feet, a 120g would be a good minumum.

I don't know the price for a 32" one. I would guess about $200-400 depending on the site/store... Some places charge a ton for any of these eels, and some charge less. I saw 10"ers once in a LFS for $150, so I don't think price is as dependent on size so much as the seller. Then there's LiveAquaria who consistently misidentifies them and only charges $130...

The eel looks good :). Wait till you see its dorsal up... Very pretty.
 
Sounds good. I'll most likely feed him chunks or whole shrimps, chunks of fish etc, I guess every few days, atleast twice a week. Man, this is going to get expensive! Glad I can freeze the food tho, I'll have to buy it in bulk to save money. I'll keep an update when I get him Monday night, see how he does over the next week or so. Thanks.
 
It's actually not that bad if you buy from the grocery store. $20 in food can last 2-3 months. Considering how big of an eel it is, I don't think it's terrible :D.
 
Yeah and considering the "cool" factor he brings, it'll be worth it! Do you have any pics of yours? What else do you house with him? I heard theyre active swimmers and live to dig in the sand? I don't have a sand bed in the tank he'll be in for now. Is that ok? If he's that active and almost 3 feet long, I'm going to need that 180-240 sooner then later!
 
Mine is only active when he's hungry/at feeding time. He'll come right up to the glass, stare me down, and swim to the top when he begs for food. It's his warning that if I don't feed him in the next few hours, he'll start looking for food elsewhere. When he's fed he just spends his time laying around and being a fatty lol.

Should be fine without sand. Mine has cleared away the sand to reveal the glass in his most frequented areas, but it's not like he sleeps in sand caves.

I have mine with a harlequin tusk, two yellow tangs, a purple tang, and a polleni grouper.

I have lots of pictures :). I haven't tried to take good ones recently, so I'll post new and old.

feedingdragon5.jpg


I have some food right above the surface which is why he's swimming.
feedingdragon4.jpg


fatttt.jpg


oblivion.jpg


Back when he was smaller, awww.
dragon1.jpg


Okay I'll stop :D. It's interesting how his spots have gotten more spread out with age! Never noticed that before.
 
Wow he's huge! Cool shots though and nice eel. I'm anxious to get him, maybe that's why I can't sleep tonight haha. I'm really going to have to look for some used bigger tanks for sale though to support such a monster! Thanks for all your help. I'm really interested in how mine will turn out, since every fish is different.
 
Mine is like the ones pictured. $50 is a very good price. Mine was over $100 and I felt it was a good deal. IMO anything under $200 is a good price.

It's always hungry, and can put away an amazing amount of food. Defnitely the most aggressive feeder in the tank. I keep it with a zebra moray, porc puffer, dogface puffer, emperor angel, blue spot rabbitfish, and black tip grouper. It hasn't bothered my fish, which are all over 4", but I need to be careful to feed it from a stick. Loose food gets it in a feeding frenzy and it could bite the fish - it'll try to tear food out of their mouths.

Mine is out a lot, even when not eating, compared to the zebra moray, which I hardly ever see.
 
Thanks for your experience lisa, do you have any pics of yours? How big is it? Do you feed a mixture of meaty foods to your fish? I did that to my old FO setup, fed the fish a mixture and it would drive my snowflake crazy, he'd chase the damsels around the tank trying to get food. I'm worried about feeding time, when I'm only feeding the fish a meaty mixture, the eel maybe go crazy and attack the angel. Also when I feed the eel, I know the passer is going to go after the eels food. I can't restrict the passer to just pellets, especially when I add a trigger and other fish.
 
This was an awesome deal! I was actually going to purchase this eel from him, but was afraid that it would consume some of my smaller fish. Good luck with it!
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13171513#post13171513 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by aqua180
can a dragon handle a undy for a tank mate????
Click to expand...

I doubt it....the horns would be very tempting for an undy....

pepshrimp, that is a sweet eel! You are getting a steal, and I am very jealous :D .

LukFox, nice pics again. You're setup is really nice.
 
Why can't you restrict the passer to pellets/flake? I bought 3 different brands, and for the spectrum pellets I bought two sizes because the grouper and tusk can eat a larger size than the tangs. They seem to be doing well. Also, nori doesn't send the eel into a frenzy either. Feed as much of that as you want. A lot of fish seem to really like nori that you wouldn't expect. I've heard even triggers go for it. My tusk absolutely loves the stuff, and I wouldn't have expected that. And remember, twice a week you can feed the meaty foods after you feed the eel :).

On the passer trying to steal food from the eel, I've had luck with luring the eel to the surface and quickly feeding him 3 largish pieces. This makes him happy and sort of calms him down. I quickly slip in a smaller piece for the grouper (He's the only one who would dive into the eel's mouth to get the food. The other fish know to wait), and then quickly feed the eel another piece to get it's mind off of the grouper. You just have to be fast. See what works for your eel. It's tricky for the first couple months, but you get a system going and it gets a lot easier.

I agree with Grouper that I wouldn't risk the undy combination (for the same reason).

Thanks, Grouper :).
 
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