eel in a reef tank?

[50hexman]

I am looking at a zebra eel at a lfs and its reef safe my question is has anyone had one are the pain the a$$ to have, do they knock over corals and so on... Please give me advise...

Thanks,

 

[chilwil84]

they are just big. mine is very docile and doesnt do a lot of disruption of its tank unlike my snowflake that i tried in a reff for a few years. i got tired of it biting my while fragging the softies in the tank. a zebra eel would be good in a large (they can get 3-4 feet long)softy tank if you dont mind weekly water changes and not having any shrimp (snails and hermits like blue legs are left alone by my eel).

 

[Tswifty]

Yeah their reef safe, but can cause havoc during feeding time once they get large... breaking corals, and knocking rockwork over. Plus they are very messy eaters, and can put a serious hit on your bioload.

That being said, they're awesome to watch. One of my friend's has one that has a cleaner shrimp mate, which it will allow to clean the inside of it's mouth... pretty wild.

 

[Eric the half-bee]

I added a zebra about 4 weeks back and he/she is doing great. He even comes out with lights on occasionally looking around. I'm sure he's knocked things over but I also have a 8" vlamingi & blonde naso tang that get rowdy with each other. I had/have at least 2 rogue crabs(one stone) and knew the eel would dispatch them in time...

 

[Kdocimo90]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15166183#post15166183 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Tswifty
One of my friend's has one that has a cleaner shrimp mate, which it will allow to clean the inside of it's mouth... pretty wild.

thats freaking awesome!!!

 

[50hexman]

Okay thanks for the replys i guess i hold off as i got nice aussie stuff on floor. Or maybe just buy him and keep him a LFS, lol want on bad :-(