How does this guy keep this eel in his reef tank.

[dotcommer]

I was on YouTube checking out videos of peoples tank and came across this beautiful 660 gallon reef thank that has this amazing Zebra Moray Eel (actual 2 of them).
They say this eel only eats crustaceans and not fish. Has anyone locally owned one? Did it eat their fish? Just curious.

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Description:The Zebra Moray is one of the most docile eels available, making it ideal foe a peaceful community tank. These eels rarely bother even the smallest fish. They feed on crustaceans, not fish. They are quite shy initially; a situation not uncommon to many eels. Like most morays, this eel will spend much of its time with its head protruding from under a rock or from a crevice during the day. However, in time it will become more brazen and move about in the open more when the aquarium is illuminated. Provide with plenty of hiding places.

 

[AZReefJunkie]

Typically they will do fine with fish, look at their jaw structure, a blunt snout with flat teeth better able to crush shells and exoskeleton. Just don't think you can keep crabs, hermit or otherwise, shrimp or even snails. If you're good with that then grab one. They are fascinating creatures.

 

[ademster]

I had full grown snowflake eel in my 375Gal DT with open top. Never had a problem with him eating anything but the food I gave it, or attempting coming out of the water.

 

[Elliott]

there are several things to consider before adding an eel like this to your reef tank...

what stress will it place on the other livestock?

will your smaller fish hide more?

will it knock over coral or rocks?

what additional bioload will it cause and is there enough waste removal to accommodate it?

how would you remove it if necessary?

if it were to die under your rock aquascape how would the system react to a possible ammonia spike? how much time would you have to remove it? what if you were away?

would it be possible to target feed it while you are away?

 

[CSample]

Eels can be bulldozers. Be careful if ypu havd loosr stacked rocks.

 

[dotcommer]

Wasn't really thinking about getting one, I just was intrigued with seeing one that size in a reef tank. I just assumed any eel that large would eat the fish in your tank. What do you do when it keeps getting larger and larger. Like Elliot said, how would you remove it without destroying your tank. It would be like wrestling with a python.

 

[Elliott]

would be a potential nightmare

pretty cool looking though and makes the reef even more natural looking IMO

I wouldn't want to blindly reach my arm in spaces knowing an eel that size may be lurking

 

[Vanpire]

It would be cool to get an eel like a snowflake. Something that doesn't get too large, unless you have a huge 900g tank.

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

Remember the old 1" lift tubes for the undergravel filters?
My eel bit one in half & swallowed a piece, thought I would loose him but he survived.
Never bothered any of the fish.

 

[leveldrummer]

Arent there some sort of dwarf wolf eel that lots of people keep in reefs? green wolf eel or golden moray or something like that?

 

[wild1]

WOW on tank in video! It is absolutely beautiful!

 

[dotcommer]

I wouldn't want to blindly reach my arm in spaces knowing an eel that size may be lurking

:lol: Never thought of that one, but very, very true. Heck, when I put my hand in my tank, my Moorish Idol keeps biting my fingers. When your not expecting it, makes you jump a little.
Funny thing tonight, I set up a Nano a few weeks ago and have a mated pair of Wyoming clowns in there. I stuck my hand in the tank to remove some algae and the larger female, bit my finger. I was shocked, never been bit by a clown before. So your statement above is a true reality, if a clown fish and moorish idol bite at fingers, what damage would a moray eel do.

Wild1 and leveldrummer, - love your avatars

 

[AZReefJunkie]

My jeweled moray was always trying to bite me, succeeded several times. Never any harm, just like someoneelse mentioned it made me jump. The green wolf eel is actually a type of dottyback, not a true eel. And they are very aggressive and will eat other fish. Very cool though.

 

[Elliott]

My jeweled moray was always trying to bite me, succeeded several times. Never any harm, just like someoneelse mentioned it made me jump. The green wolf eel is actually a type of dottyback, not a true eel. And they are very aggressive and will eat other fish. Very cool though.

I don't even like large clown fish attacking me, I had a large maroon clown that used to go after me anywhere in the tank, drew blood a couple of times, I'd jump and knock over stuff, spend a lot time reconstructing the stuff I knocked over, no thanks lol

 

[JBinFla1963]

I have 3' Zebra Moray in 125g tank with Harlequin Tuskfish, Banana wrasse, large Lionfish, tomato clown, pink tailed trigger, fox face tang, Red Sea rainbow tang. I feed him sand fleas on a wood fondue skewer. He doesn't bother other fish or snails (Tuskfish and wrasse are very hard on snails!!)

The Moray will bite, so need to be on alert when feeding or hand in the tank.

He did crawl into the side plumbing once ... Fished him out with a coat hanger (impossible to grab him - slicker than greased butter. He was fine, hasn't done it since.

I don't agree with Elliott - I have an aggressive fish tank, he's moderate compared to Harley or the wrasse.

 

[aquaph8]

Not in my tank, haha. That is a cool tank though! Awesome mix of everything, great video.

 

[Hjuan]

I don't know much about eels but they are pretty intimidating to me to keep around

 

[McCrary]

It's tough to keep an eel that size in a reef tank. The bio load is what kills you. It's the equivalent to a lot of smaller fish. But the solution is diluting the waste with a big tank and aggressive skimming and water changes. I had a zebra moray in my reef tank for a good while, but they swim around up top at night and as they get bigger they start breaking SPS and large plates.

 

[bbowler1]

beautiful tank. I think like most have said you need to weigh what you want. A zebra in a reef tank is not hard or impossible but you cant also have 20 small fish with it as the bio load will be huge. Also the tank cannot be totally covered in coral. If you are okay with a light fish load, and a moderately stocked tank coral wise then it should be no issue in a 150 gal or above and have a great skimmer.