new with no experience, any eel specialists who can give advice?

[vanitas]

so i came across an eel rescue video and i fell in love. of course with no prior experience i dont want to get into the scene and neglect the shit out of any animals and want to gauge if i want to go through with this in the first place.

im looking for advice for absolute beginners especially from those who specialize in or have worked with eels for many years. some notes
- i refuse to read any information from petco or other inhumane pet stores
- ive researched a bit on eels themselves but want to know if theres anything i could learn that experience would give me rather than reading it or researching online

 

[JohnL]

@The Salty Reefe

Monster Eel Tank

Long time no post, been busy in life and general, just finished a large water change on the monster Eel tank tonight, the boys look great especially the Big old Tess we love this tank so much we have just ordered another 9x3x2.5ft tank to replace our red sea reefer xxl hope you guys enjoy

forums.reefcentral.com

 

[Anemone]

Well, first you need to know how to set up and maintain a saltwater tank - look for folks who run predator tanks, as eels, like other larger fish predators, can create heavy nutrient loads. Beyond the basic setup, you'll need rockwork for hiding places and a well-covered tank (otherwise you'll have dried eel on your floor, sooner or later).

Kevin

 

[billdogg]

I kept a Gymnothorax Undulatus (Undulated Moray)for 26 years, so take what I say with the proverbial grain of salt - I'm still in the learning stages!

When I got Hannibal, he was ~18" long and maybe 1 1/2" diameter. Cute little guy. That didn't last long. Within a couple years he was just short of 4' and as big around as my upper arm.

I kept him in a 150 long (72x2x21) with a 50g sump.

He was a voracious eater. I finally gave up trying to keep other fish with him becasue he'd eat anything I put in the tank. XXL sailfin Tang? lasted all of 2 weeks. 16" Emperor Snapper? I removed it for it's own safety. A 18" golden puffer? Yup tried to eat that too. 3 palm sized filets from Kroger's seafood counter weekly kept him happy. Once well fed, he'd come to the top of the tank to be petted. He felt like wet, slightly slimy leather.

All that eating made for a huge mess. Even with about 175g of total volume and 30-40% water changes weekly it was impossible to keep the nitrates low enough to even be tested. In 2000 I got married and we moved into a new home, so I made a fish room in the basement and added a 120g DSB (6+ inches of sugar fine sand) refugium with ~ #200 of live rock suspended above on a PVC rack that was finally able to keep up with the nitrates. So now I'm at ~300g total volume. For a single fish.

Eels are the ultimate escape artists. If there is an opening that it might squeeze through, it will. I started with eggcrate covers, and after the fist time I had to pick up an angry eels off the floor, added large pieces of rock to all the corners. He managed to escape that a few years later. I found him on the floor dried out and thought he was dead, but when I nudged him with my foot he moved so I picked him up and put him back in the tank. Other than a nasty fungal infection he was none the worse for wear. I ended up making a canopy out of 3/4 plywood that was so heavy it was difficult for me to lift, but he never got out again!

As Eel's go, the Undulated moray is one of the larger (and not often kept) species, due to their appetite for fish. The Columbus Zoo Aquarium gave me an emphatic NO! when I tried to donate him so that I could turn the tank into the reef I had always wanted it to be, so I kept him until he finally passed. Be aware that many eels, if kept in reasonable conditions, can live for decades.

HTH!


in his younger years - he was probably 24-28" here

 

[albano]

Personally, I don’t think jumping into a ‘rescue’ is a great idea for someone with no prior experience or knowledge of the animal.

 

[vanitas]

Personally, I don’t think jumping into a ‘rescue’ is a great idea for someone with no prior experience or knowledge of the animal.

that is not what i am talking about.
i saw a rescue of an eel and found the creature very interesting and began looking into potentially taking care of one myself. im not going to just jump into immediately grabbing one especially one from a shitty situation thats insane. ill take years if i need to to figure out if i want to take care of an eel because its quite the commitment.

anyways to the rest of you ill respond when i have the time. had a long day

 

[albano]

Sorry, misunderstood your post.
I’ve had snowflake eels in my tanks for many years. But I have to tell you that In a big tank, 500g, I might see him once a month or more. This particular one has been in my tank for almost 2 years and I have never seen him eat anything!
Obviously he’s doing good and still alive. I saw him about a week ago.

 

[The Salty Reefe]

Really depends on species, what size tank you can offer, there is a mountain of misinformation out there, Eels are one of the easiest animals to keep, we have had our Morays for years n years, simple, big filtration, big water movement and plenty of hidey holes, good food.
You can keep tankmates successfully with large Preds quite easily also, suss out my tank if you like and ask away if there is more detailed info needed......