garden eel help

F

fishmanstan

New member
Hi,

I purchased 2 garden eels this past Saturday and they are not coming out. One located itself in a rock crevace, and made his first appearance today, I tried feeding him and he shot into the hole and I don't think it got any food. I have not seen the other eel since I put him in the tank and I don't know his location.
Any tips for keeping them or what I can do right now?

Thanks
 
Never kept this fish but of course new residents often hide. Sometimes patiently watching from a distance, with TV off and no other activity in the room will allow you to catch a glimpse.

Sometimes live food will lure the reluctant fish to show itself.
 
Did you do any research before purchasing these fish? They are considered expert only due to the difficulty in getting them to eat. They also have specific tank requirements for them to thrive, specifically, a very deep sand bed...6-8" in depth.

Try offering them some live food such as ghost shrimp.

Here's an excellent article on garden eels. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2011/7/fish2
 
Having kept garden eels on multiple occasions, some for almost 5 yrs, they are not terribly difficult to keep if you provide them with a deep sand bed and fish that are not too active. If they are kept with active fish they will stay submerged in the sand.
They are not picky eaters at all, but they will not leave their burrows to feed, so you do have to overfeed a bit so that the flow will carry the food to them. They preger small foods. IME cycloppeze was there favorite.
One thing to look for on new garden eels is a damaged tail. During shipping they constantly try to burrow with their tail and in the bag they had been shipped in they can wear their tail raw which can lead to infection.
It is not unusual for new garden eels to stay hidden for 2 weeks.
 
eatbreakfast said:
Having kept garden eels on multiple occasions, some for almost 5 yrs, they are not terribly difficult to keep if you provide them with a deep sand bed and fish that are not too active. If they are kept with active fish they will stay submerged in the sand.
They are not picky eaters at all, but they will not leave their burrows to feed, so you do have to overfeed a bit so that the flow will carry the food to them. They preger small foods. IME cycloppeze was there favorite.
One thing to look for on new garden eels is a damaged tail. During shipping they constantly try to burrow with their tail and in the bag they had been shipped in they can wear their tail raw which can lead to infection.
It is not unusual for new garden eels to stay hidden for 2 weeks.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much. Any way to get them in the front of the tank?
 
I kept a group of 7(two G. preclara, 5 H. hassi) for ~2 years. They are very skiddish at first and would retreat at any movement near the tank. First month or so I found one daily in the filter sock. -- Had a four sided canopy made so they could not carpet surf. They settled down after that and only changed holes if I rescaped or moved a powerhead. Mine accpeted Ova and cyclopeeze early on and were fed 3-4 times a day. Eventually they began accepting thawed mysid. I kept pipes and Gorgonians to help consume leftover food.


gardensss.jpg


gardenspl.jpg
 
Sandbed ranged from 11" down to 4". Tankmates were a pair of Occys, trio of Janss pipes, pair of bluestripe pipes, banded pipe, pair of madarins(ate frozen), and fairy wrasse. There was a kole tang very briefly-- it spooked the eels and was removed.

656-8.jpg


ETA-- tank was broken down a couple of months ago.
 
A good laminar flow is perfect for these fish as it brings food over their heads and will make feeding easier than food randomly carried in turbulent currents. I haven't kept these myself but a friend has for a couple of years and they seemed fairly easy when settled and a couple even take flake foods but normally a mix of mysis and brine is the norm.
 
I didn't see mine for a month! Mine just showed up last week. Been eating great everyday. I feed mine enriched brine because he is afraid of mysid at this point. Just be patient. These guys are not your typical eel
 
I agree that they like smaller foods, including Nutrimar Ova and cyclopeeze and Arctipods, and that enriched brine shrimp have been better after a couple weeks. I purchased 3 hassi online and all 3 ate quickly, but one didn't look good on arrival and lasted about 2 weeks. Mine are in a 60g with 4-5" sand bed and seem fine there. The 2 healthy ones come out often and eat twice a day, and are no longer intimidated by the other fish, bigger foods, or by my presence in the room. They change holes often, though. I had hoped they could transition out of the QT into my main display, but it looks like they may have to stay with the timid and new and slow-eating tankmates (2 ventralis anthias, one orange-spotted filefish, and a pair of Bangaii cardinals) None of the tankmates is struggling, but no one is bold enough for my display, at least yet (3-5 months in). I'd love to get a couple preclara to go with them.
 
I kept one for a while, unfortunately, my maroon clown out-competed it for food and constantly scared it back into its burrow so it eventually starved/ got too stressed. I would love to get another in the future, but definitely in a very peaceful tank where I can target feed. Mine ate mysis and Rod's readily.
 
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