Dwarf Golden Moray

S

slayer_zeus

New member
Hello, I currently work at a fish store and we've had this dwarf moray in for about 3 weeks now. Im thinking of settin myself a reef tank and takin him home(150 for him). Would a 20 gallon be adequet for this moray. I plan to have a dsb, figi live rock, bac-pac hang on skimmer, aquaclear 300 mechanical filter, Prolly some pc's for lighting. Now, will this moray bother any corals that i plan to get.. or clams? Will this creature be suitable for a reef tank. I only plan to have him and maybe 2 more small fish, maybe 3 TOPS such as black clowns and a blue tank. Thanks for any help, and if any of you guys have a pic of a GDM in a reef tank, that would be great.

-Vince
 
I'd say a 40 gallon minimum, especially if it's reef for the sake of clean water. They're small for an eel, but they arent that small for a fish, and a heavy waste fish at that ;) . Also, did you mean to say blue tang when you said blue tank? I'm not the tang police or anything, but if you were meaning a blue tang, a 20 gallon is far too small, even for a tiny one..
 
OK, well as far as my filtration setup, would that be alright? My co-worker is going to give me his old 20 gallon which has like no scratches at all.... so i want to use it lol. So they really do poop alot? If i just had a fish only tank or maybe very little coral for the time being for this eel, would the 20 suffice? do you have anymore pix of ur moray in ur tank bsides the ones u posted in other threads? thanks again!
 
It shouldn't bother any corals or clams, but it might munch some shrimp. After seeing the one at a LFS here I think you could keepit inthe 20, but I thinkit should be the only fish if you want some corals.
The water quality issue is a little of, they can be messy eaters from tearing food items into edible pieces, and a little of them processing more food than a normal "reef fish" and pooping more. Size wise I think you could probably gt away with the fish in a 24x12 aquarium, but their will be a faster degridation in the water quality from the limited quantity of water. So if you do put it in with corals you will need to do weekly water changes.
Filtration wise I think I would recommend an AquaC remora over the Back Pak if you are getting the moray, otherwise I think you will be fine. Personally I might get the AC50 and do one side as a LR filter and the other as a mini Fuge.
As long as the fish are comfortable and not crowded, and you are willing to do frequent water changes you can keep both corals and high poluters. Just don't fall behind on WC's or your tank will pay.
 
My Tagalong question is
How much trouble do you think a DGM would pose for a Pistol Shrimp?
Of all 4 of my shrimp, that is the one I figure would be first to get munched and is the only one I would really not be happy to lose. He pops his claw every night 1 minute after lights out, kind of like he is telling everyone Good Night.
 
At the end of the first week my GDM ate my pair of pistol shrimp.. It was pretty sad because those guys were even breeding and I had them for a long time, but I wasnt sad enough to be mad at the eel. I was more happy he was finally eating. Btw, he hasnt touched the coral banded shrimp.

If you keep him, keep him alone and with corals that can take higher nutrients. Mushrooms, polyps, propably leathers, etc. He is a bit of a messy eater, but when kept with other fish, they'll just eat every thing that floats off. In your tank, without other fish, you'll have to rely on larger weekly water changes (maybe like 5 gallons a week or so for a 25% change, shouldnt be hard) and possibly a coral banded shrimp if you want.

Here's another picture. It's not new and it's not that great, but I havent posted it yet. Even so, I'll try to get some new ones tonight.

IMG_7979_edited.jpg
 
Man, thanks for your help guys. Even my friend told me i should get a bigger tank maybe a 30.. my friend works for kirtter products and he can build me a custom one b/c i wanna use my 3 foot retrofit pc's that have been sitting in my garage for like a year lol, .. but we'll see how things go. Id really appreciate any more pics of your moray and now im really stoked to get everything together! THanks everyone for your support and if you guys have anymore suggestions for me, feel free to post away.

-Vince
 
slayer_zeus said:
Even my friend told me i should get a bigger tank maybe a 30..
Click to expand...

I would agree with your friend, when you think about it, the tank is much smaller investment than the eel. I might even suggest using the 20 as the sump, that would increase you total water volume, but it would up your costs because of the pump.

If your planning on purchasing a tank that is 36" you could look at a 40 breeder, I believe they are 36 x 13 x 20.

By they way I am looking for a pair of dwarf golden eels, but I cannot find them around here. The sad part is every shop I've talked to has no idea what I am talking about. I have 2 to try tomorrow.
 
Good luck on your search, ajm-vfr. Would be awesome to have a pair.

slayer_zeus, I highly suggest the larger tank. A 40 breeder would be great, as suggested :).

New pictures from today:

This one murdered his color, but it shows more of his body.
IMG_8332_edited.jpg


Here's another
IMG_8331_edited.jpg


And I think a lot of pictures of these guys are very misleading, especially like the one I posted earlier. It makes their heads look so fat, but they're so small and thin...
IMG_8326_edited.jpg
 
LukFox

Those are wonderful pictures.

How are these guys for being escape artists? I saw Dr. Frank Marini talk over the weekend, and he talked briefly about these guys. I asked him if they liked to escape like most other eels, and he said that he did not feel that was an issue. He said something to the effect that they do not really leave the rock work. What is your experience?

I've read that even those these guys are not pebble teeth, they are too small to be a risk to most reef fish. What is the smallest fish you have in the tank?

Thanks
 
I see my eel swim in full view several times a day. He's usually in the cave where you see him in all the pictures I've posted, but he also likes a cave on the other side of the tank (harder to get a good picture over there). Thing is, the middle of the tank is an arch so he doesnt always go through the rockwork above, but swims along the lower back instead.

So he does leave the rockwork completely several times a day, but not to escape. Still, I dont really think I'd be totally comfortable spending so much and risk it jumping (especially the price for a pair you're looking for!). Also, if he's really hungry he'll sometimes go crazy, coming all the way out and attacking anything from a snail (no way he could actually eat one) to passing fish during feeding time. If he's going to jump, I think it would be when he's hungry (not that he could, every single inch is covered). Btw, he lets go of the fish right away. All the ones he's grabbed so far have been too big to eat. I think he might have gotten a bite in my radiant wrasse as he had a couple missing scales and underneath them he looked hurt. No biggy though, just two small scales and he's completely fine now.

The smallest fish with him is a 1.5" sixline wrasse which has not yet been eaten... unfortunately... :rolleyes: . The second smallest fish that I actually trust with him is about a 2" male percula. I dont think he could be eaten. The eel's head is pretty small, and even the food I feed him has to be fairly small.
 
Thatnks for the information, think I will have to pass untill I get a tank set up to put my pistol in. :(
 
Ghost,

If you cant get one locally, there's a few places online that has 'em usually. Here's two good sites.

www.marineaquatics.net is where I got mine (they arent in the catalog, check the "new arrivals" at the top of the page).

www.themarinecenter.com gets them sometimes too. I've heard nothing but good things from them, but I hear they can be quite pricy over there. Still, I've only heard positive things about them.
 
LukFox said:
Ghost,

If you cant get one locally, there's a few places online that has 'em usually. Here's two good sites.

www.marineaquatics.net is where I got mine (they arent in the catalog, check the "new arrivals" at the top of the page).

www.themarinecenter.com gets them sometimes too. I've heard nothing but good things from them, but I hear they can be quite pricy over there. Still, I've only heard positive things about them.
Click to expand...

The marine center has a eel called a "Gold Spot Snake Eel" Is that the same thing. The name game has to be the most frustrating part of this hobby.

Marine aquatics has one called a "Hawaiin Dwarf Eel" The collong looks close, but the pic is not the greatest.
 
Thanks for the info.

I'm probably going to go with marine aquatics. As soon as I get the fish in quarenteen into the tank I will order a pair.

Is your trained to take food of a stick, or do you just dump food in?

Thanks again.
 
He only takes it from a stick, and right now he's going through a phase where he will only eat silversides. For the first week he ate nothing, then he ate everything on a stick, and now it's only silversides. Picky little fish he is!
 
If none of the sites posted above have any GDM's, JustRareFish.com had two last time I looked. And with tank sizes, I think Scott W. Michael said one could be kept in a 10g. Since they are only supposed to be fed 2-3 times a week, I don't think their waste is a big issue. I would probably put 2 in a 20g and not worry. I'm actually going to get one for my 55g reef tank. Well, Good Luck!!!
 
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