ribbon eel? white? blue?

[DoubleM 10]

well is a white ribbon eel and a blue ribbon eel the same thing?
do you treat them the same?
do they have the same feeding habits?
do they have the same track record(meaning hartyness and aggresivness)?

I just bought a white ribbon eel(labeled as a ghost eel)

i see alot of info on the blue one and not very much on the white one.

if anyone can help that would be great. thanks

 

[Stumped]

well is a white ribbon eel and a blue ribbon eel the same thing?
do you treat them the same?
do they have the same feeding habits?
do they have the same track record(meaning hartyness and aggresivness)?

I just bought a white ribbon eel(labeled as a ghost eel)

i see alot of info on the blue one and not very much on the white one.

if anyone can help that would be great. thanks

I'll try my best to answer your questions in order.

1. No, the WRE and the BRE are two different species. The BlueRE however is the same as the BlackRE

2. They have the same feeding habits in the sense that both are looked at as being very hard to maintain in a captive environment. I think the general observation by people keeping them is they eat whatever they eat on an individual basis. You'll see people having success getting them to eat ghost shrimp, shrimp, etc. and other times people getting them to eat fish.

3. In general from what I've read most do poorly in captivity, with WREs doing slightly better from an anecdotal standpoint.

I looked into getting one a while back, but ultimately decided to pass. This was one of the better articles I found:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/sept2004/fish.htm

Also, any chance of getting a picture of yours up? I'm a sucker for eels.

 

[DoubleM 10]

Well I'll try my best about the pic. Exertions I try to pit them up they are to big it says. Lol

Thanks for all the info. Sofar mine is docile. But have only have him about 1 day. So we will see. I watched the tank for about 3 hours today to make sure he's ok. And he's doing good. And the other fish don't bother him

He did make his own cave by digging under my rocks and moved the sand out now he has a home for himself.

Any other responses would be great

 

[ashtree68]

I've had one for about 5 or so months, very active, in the more recent months, always swimming around. I got mine when he was already eating frozen and will eat what ever I put in the tank, from mysis, to silver sides, to krill if it catches it from my corals and other fish. I've not had any problems with it fighting or anything, it shares a cave with a snowflake eel and they've never snapped at each other.

I really want to get a black/blue ribbon eel but right now don't have the time to spend trying to get it to eat frozen food, but one day I would like to try it.

 

[DoubleM 10]

good to hear you have been able to keep one!!! it is a striking looking animal when i first saw him.

he took myss from me the first day. i have heard they might not eat the first couple days. he did not take anything from me today. i love the image they have. just like my lions beautiful but dangerous. mine is only about 1 foot long or so. hard to measure he stays in the cave he made.

does anyone else have one?

 

[ashtree68]

Glad to hear yours is taking food right away, mine goes on hunger strikes every now and then but never more than a week.

Here's a quick phone shot of mine.

 

[DoubleM 10]

Nice pic!!! That looks very close to mine lol!! Just make the lion a dwarf lion and they could be brother tanks. Yours looks good. How long is yours? Mine is almost 2ft

 

[ashtree68]

Haha there's a dwarf lion in there, there's also an anemone, mantis shrimp, and a couple of other fish that will probably lead to problems if I keep it like this. Luckily, both eels, the lion, and a couple of other citters will be moved once I finish upgrading my tank.

 

[DoubleM 10]

well good luck on the upgrade! i like my guy hes always out during the day and he kinda is layed back at night.

his tankmates are 2 dwarf lions and a marine betta.

how big of a tank are you using right now.

mine is a 55 display

 

[ashtree68]

Mine is a 90g that was suppose to be FOWLR, but he'll be going into a 125 that will be and stay a FOWLR, or at least that's what I tell myself.

Current tank mates are:
1 snowflake eel (moving)
1 ghost ribbon eel (moving)
1 Peacock mantis shrimp
2 black clowns with anemone
1 v. lionfish (moving)
1 fuzzy dwarf
2 blue damsels
1 coral banded shrimp that I'm amazed hasn't gotten eaten by something.

and then a bunch of softies/LPS corals,

 

[DoubleM 10]

sounds like a busy tank lol. must be something to watch. do you have any pics of the whole tank?

how long are your eels BTW

 

[ashtree68]

I keep meaning to take a FTS, but always end up forgetting to, I'll try tonight.

the SFE is a little over a foot maybe and the ribbon is probably around 2.5.

 

[DoubleM 10]

wow thats cool.
when does yours come out?
i watched him yesterday and he comes out during the day not at night.

 

[ashtree68]

It really depends, it spends most of it's time in the rock cave but spends maybe 40% of the time swimming around, during the day and at night. My SFE hardly ever comes out anymore, except during feeding time.

 

[DoubleM 10]

well then i guess i found a decent eel. was yours exoencive? mine was 35.00. i got him on sale 50% off the LFS near my house

 

[ashtree68]

I got mine from a local member, I think for around the same price as you paid.

 

[DoubleM 10]

ok good. they had hime for about 3 weeks. so he was eating at the store.

 

[vamaro]

I have one that ate ghost shrimp. However, be careful, they are escape artists and will go through the smaller of holes. Mine passed through my plumbing and got into my sump!

 

[E.intheC]

Did you end up getting him to eat?

 

[DoubleM 10]

hey sorry i did not update this. lol he is eating frozen a little bit. he does go on strikes where he doesnt eat it but other than that he is well behaved. he HAS ended up in the sump once.
what i did was rearrange the rocks again to make him feel more secure. i also added a couple rock. he now stayes at the opposite end of the tank from the overflow lol. i happy about that

thank you for asking