Golden Dwarf Moral Eel Questions?

[brannock_16]

Basically, I see you got what you wanted to hear in this thread. A local friend had one that ate fish...quite large fish (ie male maroon clownfish). If this happens, be prepared to be without the fish, or be prepared to remove the eel. Just sayin'

All I wanted to hear was first hand experience with this eel. I have done extensive research over the last 4-5 months and have read that the majority of the time they are pretty reef safe, but that always depends on the individual animal.

The largest that I have read for this particular eel reaching is 12 inches long and about the girth of a sharpie pen. Once they reach that size, they will be able to eat small fishes such as mandarins, clowns, etc and have a proclivity to eat crustaceans. I have never head of one eating such a large meal as a male maroon though! That's pretty intense. How large was the eel in question? How large was the maroon?

And as far as it currently goes, the eels are around 3-4 inches in length the girth of a #2 pencil at best and are so small that they can hardly eat a 1/5 of a scallop! I cut one up tonight to feed to the female and she couldn't eat it...I had to make it even smaller.

Thank you for your input and I will keep an eye on them. The female has been the only one that I have seen since introduction...I am assuming the male is hiding due to the new surroundings. I will keep an eye out for him and worry about it in a couple days if he hasn't be seen.

 

[luisagos]

I had Golden Dwarf eels that were caught together as a pair.

It was fine till a couple of months later on, they started to fight.

You see the aggressions when you feed, one will stay back till the other finishing eating. One day, the one that always wait will stop the waiting, then its all out war.
Eels fighting makes fish fighting a joke. Its one of the coolest thing I ever had seen, bad part they do real damage to each other which is bad.

They travel through the rocks trying to get position on each other heads.
They always aim at the head. They will twist around the rocks, while fighting.

These were real pairs, before they went nuts, they use to swim together all twisted up and show real affections for each other. Till that day. I had to sell one of them.


Very important, its not going to be if they jump, its when it will happen. They will jump, no clue why, they just try to do it. I had a glass top and I would catch them testing it.

Be very careful in feeding them, pieces of small meat could choke them. I had one almost choke on a piece of a shrimp, it was a very small piece.
It was swimming like it was hooked, till it shook it off, not a good moment.

I always soaked the shrimp or squid with Selcon. Those Eels got fat and was very healthy.

Maybe I was unlucky, and I wish you luck.
Keep in eye when you feed them, thats when you see the aggression start.

 

[brannock_16]

I had Golden Dwarf eels that were caught together as a pair.

It was fine till a couple of months later on, they started to fight.

You see the aggressions when you feed, one will stay back till the other finishing eating. One day, the one that always wait will stop the waiting, then its all out war.
Eels fighting makes fish fighting a joke. Its one of the coolest thing I ever had seen, bad part they do real damage to each other which is bad.

They travel through the rocks trying to get position on each other heads.
They always aim at the head. They will twist around the rocks, while fighting.

These were real pairs, before they went nuts, they use to swim together all twisted up and show real affections for each other. Till that day. I had to sell one of them. How large were the eels when they started to display signs of aggression? Were they on the larger side and starting to mature?


Very important, its not going to be if they jump, its when it will happen. They will jump, no clue why, they just try to do it. I had a glass top and I would catch them testing it.I have a mesh netting that is velcroed to the frame of my tank. I am hoping that when they do decide to jump that if they hit the mesh it will hold and redirect them back into the tank or into the overflow.

Be very careful in feeding them, pieces of small meat could choke them. I had one almost choke on a piece of a shrimp, it was a very small piece.
It was swimming like it was hooked, till it shook it off, not a good moment.What size of meat would be considered small? I just fed about a 1/5 of a small mussell to the female and she looked to have a tough time with it since it was pretty large. She was thrashing around with it and managed to swallow it. She looks very happy now. What size of pieces should I be feeding and how often since they are very small?

I always soaked the shrimp or squid with Selcon. Those Eels got fat and was very healthy. I will have to pick up some Selcon from my LFS. I currently have garlic extreme...but will invest in Selcon next week.

Maybe I was unlucky, and I wish you luck.
Keep in eye when you feed them, thats when you see the aggression start.So far no aggression since the male has not been out. I will definitely keep a close eye on them. I hope they work out as a pair and I don't have to split them up.

Thank you very much for your insight! This was exactly the kind of information I was looking for. Post up some pics of yours if you have any you would like to share!

 

[luisagos]

Some pics, before I go to bed, will answer your questions tomorrow.

They were 9 inch and 12 inch.

 

[reefsafe]

I never have had an issue with mine eating fish in the last 1.5 years I have owned it. I put mysis in the tank which draws it out then I feed frozen krill.

 

[luisagos]

To be honest, I am not sure even how these Eels could even eat a fish.

I use to feed about 1/2 shrimp of the small class, for both Eels. I would cut the shrimp in half, then cut it again into 4 more pieces. I would soak those 4 pieces in Selcon for like 15 min.

Then Feed them, even pieces that small, they had a hard time eating it. Would do this everyday.
Sometimes, they would skip a day or so and start eating everyday again.

I really enjoyed them, they would follow me around the tank, when i was doing maintenance on the tank. They would stare at me, everywhere I went. Sometimes they would do a swirl dance in the open, they loved the attention.

Never let your guard down on the lid, they will jump, just a matter of time.


Both of them started to eat with in an hour, when I first put them in the tank. I got my pair from a local guy that dives in Hawaii.
I had no shipping stress when i got them.

 

[Mongo77]

Mine hasn't touched any of my fish or shrimps, but im surprised at the size of the silversides he's able to take down.

 

[brannock_16]

To be honest, I am not sure even how these Eels could even eat a fish.

I use to feed about 1/2 shrimp of the small class, for both Eels. I would cut the shrimp in half, then cut it again into 4 more pieces. I would soak those 4 pieces in Selcon for like 15 min.

Then Feed them, even pieces that small, they had a hard time eating it. Would do this everyday.
Sometimes, they would skip a day or so and start eating everyday again.

I really enjoyed them, they would follow me around the tank, when i was doing maintenance on the tank. They would stare at me, everywhere I went. Sometimes they would do a swirl dance in the open, they loved the attention.

Never let your guard down on the lid, they will jump, just a matter of time.


Both of them started to eat with in an hour, when I first put them in the tank. I got my pair from a local guy that dives in Hawaii.
I had no shipping stress when i got them.

Thanks for the great info! I fed the female about a 1/5 of scallop two nights ago and am going to feed again tonight. The male has apparently taken up residence underneath my very large nem! I am going to try to relocate him tonight by strategically making him follow food...we will see how it goes.

I am glad to hear they were very docile and active. I hope mine become less shy with time and start to show themselves more during the day time.