I did not start this thread to upset anyone. Today is an exciting day for me. I do thank you for your input and only ask to read where the knowledge is coming from. If it is personal experience with either of the species I previously mentioned I would love to know every detail about it and will treat the information as I would any other credible/original source.
Where did you find anything about 3x's the size for one?
I'm simply asking because a moray eels are scientifically known to be hermaphrodites, just as clown fish and many others.
The more dominant of the two will become the female and be slightly larger, the other will remain male. If the enclosure is too large there is a risk of both eels having enough room to establish their own territory and possibly becoming the same sex which will almost be like encouraging them to fight. If the enclosure is only large enough for one territory to be established, the eels are introduced at the same time at a young age with no prior territories established you more likely to end up with a male-female pair therefor minimizing the risk of aggression. Also with no other inhabitants in the tank it minimizes the competition for food also reducing the risk of aggresion.
With that being said when you purchase two young clown fish in hopes they will pair, you can put them into a tank that is the required size for one fish, or if you purchase them as a pair the minimum tank size does not increase.
In fact, for an example pertaining to eels, there is currently a pair of jeweled moray's on D.D. and in the min. tank space you will notice that it has posted the required tank size the same as the single eels being sold in the marine fish section of their site.
Again, I am not saying your wrong, I'm right. I just prefer to read up on the information I am told in credible books or credible web sites that preferably end in .org, .net or gov..
.com sites are mostly there to sell a product not inform the general public of scientific facts. Pertaining to the example I posted above from a .com source: I used the references just as an example not a scientific fact.
I mostly use JSTOR.org to find relevant information pertaining to word of mouth information I am told. JSTOR is a data base containing scientific journals, studies and reports that have all been peer reviewed by scientists in the appropriate field and puplished on a national level.
For example where I learned they are hermaphrodites:
Comparative Gonad Morphology and Sexuality of the Muraenidae (Pisces, Teleostei)
L. Fishelson
Copeia
Vol. 1992, No. 1 (Feb. 3, 1992), pp. 197-209
Published by: American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists
Article Stable URL:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1446552
And articles like this one provide astounding scientific facts:
Type Catalogue of Indo-Pacific Muraenidae
Eugenia B. Böhlke and David G. Smith
Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia
Vol. 152, (Oct. 14, 2002), pp. 89-172
Published by: Academy of Natural Sciences
Article Stable URL:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/4065115
I appreciate your input but if I can not verify it through a credible source I may as well go to petsmart, petco or any other LFS and get their input as well.