Ribbon eels???

[SEAN888]

Does anyone have or has had a ribbon eel? They look really cool and small good for an aquarium but someone told me they die shortly after purchase.

 

[carlso63]

EXTREMELY DIFFICULT to feed and keep long-term.

Pass them by...

 

[erendon]

Yeah, it's more of a miss that a hit.
If you are interested in one make sure that the LFS has had it for a bit of time and they ARE getting it to feed.
You need to see that it's healthy and eating and even then your taking a chance moving it to your tank.

 

[kar93]

there is some people who have kept them long term but it took time,effort and patience to get them to feed IMO they're better left in the ocean

 

[tkeracer619]

As far as I know the only proof I have seen of these feeding in home aquariums is this one thread here on RC. Every other record of them is "My friends eats just fine"

I'll see if I can find it. I know there are others but nobody seems to document their success or probably the much more common falure.

Here, I found it. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1050101

 

[pagojoe]

While not as flashy as some of the ribbon eels, Pseudechidna brummeri is easy to keep. The photos you see on the net never capture the metallic silver and electric blue of the actual animal, they are spectacular eels. They eat shrimp, either dead or alive, and mine would eat nothing else, even though I tried a great variety of possible foods. I kept it for several years, then donated it to a local school when I moved.

Cheers,



Don

 

[kar93]

researched them eels pagojoe they are great looking eels. Like you said not as flashy as ribbons but still they are nice.

 

[Chef Reef]

Iv had mine for awhile. i got it from another reefer. it was eating when i got him and was eating untill the day he died. i got him when he was black and he started changing to blue. it was great to watch. They are very difficult feeders all most all of the time. the only reason i got one was because someone was giving him away becuase it out grew his tank. i would never purchase one from the store. i still have no idea why he died, he was young still. 36". half black half blue in the middle of changing. the water was perfect, he ate, no body picked on him. they are just a hard animal to take care of. i would avoid getting one all together again. very pretty and fun to watch but they should be left in the ocean.

my .02

 

[ladyshark]

I have really been lucky. I picked up a white (ghost) ribbon eel at a lfs about a year ago, and he has eaten from day one. He is very hardy as well. He survived a near choking by a pencil urchin (good bye urchin) and a snowflake eel bit a chunk out of his dorsal fin (goodbye SFE, fin grew back), and the ribbon eel is still doing well. Perhaps the white variety is not as tentative as the blue? The urchin and SFE went to the lfs for credit, btw.