Snow Flake eel

N

nfored

New member
I have a couple questions if you have time :-).

First I only have a 55, I bought him with the understand that this would be big enough, but I guess I didn't do enough research because now I see this is to small. So what size can he live in with lets say two more fish that might get to 4 or 6" He currently lives alone just him a feather duster and a hermit crab.

Second I have had him for a week now and he/she is finally coming out and swimming and eeling around the tank. My Worry is I see her crawling into holes in the rock, not gaps or tunnels but actual holes. Some times the holes go all the way through and I can see her come out the other side, but alot of times she goes into holes that don't go all the way through so just half her body is inside the rock and the other half is just kinda hanging. I worry she might get stuck does this happen to anyone else?

Third when I got her from Petco "Yes I know shame on me" they claimed she would only eat live food for them. I called BS as I will never again feed any fish live food unless I grow it my self. Well I was right after about two days of not eating she is now eating Omega One Krill. is this enough? or should I go to walmart and but one of the frozen bags of mixed fish parts. The bags I am talking about have shrimp , crab, squid, ect in a mix bag for making a soup. Or should I be buying some other type of food for her.

my tank is a 55 gallon fowlr, that as of now I am using tap water so my nitrates are about 20ppm. I already know I am the devil in the flesh for using tap water, and hope to have replacement RO cartridges this month. My skimmer is a coral life super skimmer 125. I have 50 or 60lbs of live rock and about 40 - 50 lbs of crushed coral sand very fine white sand.
 
the only advice i will give is to make sure your tank is well covered. that eel will be on your floor in no time if there are any gaps .
 
My SFE goes into the rocks like your saying and never gets stuck. And when my eel strays from the rocks, like swimming in the current and near the surface, IMO he's hungry or unhappy. When I see that I try to feed him.

I feed my SFE cut up pieces of calamari (squid steaks i guess) from Freddies or junbo shrimp cut into long strips. When he gets bigger (12" now) Ill feed him larger food.

Tap water isn't always bad. Im on a well and have great quality water but I run it through RO to be safe.
 
Krill is a treat. Feeding only krill will cause nutritional imbalances that can lead to a premature death. Feed shrimp, squid, scallops, anything meaty that you can cut up into bite-sized pieces. You don't say how big the eel is, but that will drive what size foods you can feed. For now, try to stick with pieces that are about the size of krill.

I'm not optimistic about the long-term survival of your hermit crab. Crabs and other inverts are the primary diet of snowflake eels in the wild.

As to tank size, the eel will probably be ok in there for quite awhile. The problem is that when it hits adulthood, these eels can start eating fish tankmates and can get very aggressive in general. Don't mean to be such a downer, these are nice fish (I have one I'm fond of). However, you should be prepared for the future.
 
I compare my rations to what I would feed a boa constrictor or something.

A snake can eat a rat twice the size of its head and the eel is the same.
He cannot see well enough for live food.
Mine was 10 inches and lived in a 10 gallon until I upgraded to a 55 than to a 75.
As far as necessary space, Mine curls up in one cave all the time and I feed him every day when he comes out.

He is about 17 inches long and 1.5 inches thick.

He eats Kroger Shelled Raw shrimp and what ever else he finds that the rest of the fish dont eat.

Some days he eats 1, some day he eats 4!

They really do not need that much room. The bioload is more of a factor than anything. If you have a beastly skimmer you could keep one in a 30 gallon most of its life. They are not picky.

I have a T in my out flow so it sprays 2 ways, sometimes he pokes his head, pushing the current out of the opposite side, he goes in far enough to reach the center where the flow blasts him out of there.

Also, Glass covers on my entire tank, hes been on the floor once and that was scary.

He was also my first saltwater fish along with a pajama cardinal.

They survived a tank cycling from day 1!
I have learned 100000% more since I started and DO NOT CONDONE CYCLING WITH FISH. I WAS STUPID AND LUCKY LOL.

Great hardy eel. They are disgusting slimy colorful heads poking out of a hole whose bodys rarely are exposed, but they are so cool.
 
Top of the tank I have a heavy glass top over most of the tank, I then I have a 1/2" thick sheet of acrylic that I am using as a cover, that I have drilled a hole in to run the pipes and cables in and out of the tank. This is the spot that I worry about as it has what I would say is between a 1/4 and to 3/8 gap and I am not sure how to close that gap? Maybe some type of foam?

My Eel is about 12" long right now, I will start feeding him some squid and shrimp. I have seen hum try to get inside the crabs shell at least once, and i saw some of the crabs legs just laying on the rock. I welcome any other advice.

here are the best pics I can get of the two gaps, very tight so hard to see.

photobucket-16815-1324438826325.jpg


photobucket-12196-1324438806240.jpg


photobucket-16179-1324438776698.jpg


photobucket-15052-1324438988788.jpg
 
nfored said:
I have a couple questions if you have time :-).

First I only have a 55, I bought him with the understand that this would be big enough, but I guess I didn't do enough research because now I see this is to small. So what size can he live in with lets say two more fish that might get to 4 or 6" He currently lives alone just him a feather duster and a hermit crab.

Second I have had him for a week now and he/she is finally coming out and swimming and eeling around the tank. My Worry is I see her crawling into holes in the rock, not gaps or tunnels but actual holes. Some times the holes go all the way through and I can see her come out the other side, but alot of times she goes into holes that don't go all the way through so just half her body is inside the rock and the other half is just kinda hanging. I worry she might get stuck does this happen to anyone else?

Third when I got her from Petco "Yes I know shame on me" they claimed she would only eat live food for them. I called BS as I will never again feed any fish live food unless I grow it my self. Well I was right after about two days of not eating she is now eating Omega One Krill. is this enough? or should I go to walmart and but one of the frozen bags of mixed fish parts. The bags I am talking about have shrimp , crab, squid, ect in a mix bag for making a soup. Or should I be buying some other type of food for her.

my tank is a 55 gallon fowlr, that as of now I am using tap water so my nitrates are about 20ppm. I already know I am the devil in the flesh for using tap water, and hope to have replacement RO cartridges this month. My skimmer is a coral life super skimmer 125. I have 50 or 60lbs of live rock and about 40 - 50 lbs of crushed coral sand very fine white sand.
Click to expand...

I don't think you will have any problem with a snowflake in the 55 at all. It's toward the lower end of a tank size for an adult but you should be fine. Don't give much if ANY krill. Stick with fish, raw shrimp, squid, octo, crab, etc.
 
Oops, pardon my french.

If your really worried about that hole you could do a couple things.
a sponge would fill in the gap, as long as it doesn't touch the water, it wont absorb any.
I have even used aluminum foil before when I had hermit crabs, just don't submerge it, bad fo water
 
55g is bigger then what I keep my 2ft SFE in. It will eventually eat your crab, they eat anything they can catch.
 
How long does it take them to get full sized? I've only had mine since august.
I heard a rumor they get as wide as a popcan, but I don't see how.
 
BaronVonDango said:
How long does it take them to get full sized? I've only had mine since august.
I heard a rumor they get as wide as a popcan, but I don't see how.
Click to expand...

My biggest one is a little smaller then a can in diamter. I'll have to look at the size but I think I have a 2 1/2" diameter pipe in the tank with it and it fills the pipe pretty good.
 
There are some amazing eels mentioned in this thread so naturally I want to see pics. Please please pretty please post pics.

To Nfored good on you for not feeding feeders. I agree with everyone that the more variety the better.
 
Mine wont touch live fish. Ghost shrimp he loves if he's lucky enough to catch one.
I gut load them with something different every time. Sometimes phytoplankton, algae, even dead fish. One time I made christmas ghost shrimp with phytoplankton and an algae wafer. They were green and red inside their bellies lol
 
I was excited to have fish I could hand feed but then read that its a bad thing to do and will lead to mistaken identity where I get bitten
 
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