Snowflake eel in a mixed reef?

[airtime23]

Hypothetical:

225 gallon tank. 72 x 27 x 27. 3" sand bed and lots of LR with hiding spots.

Mixed reef, with many different types of corals and fish (tangs, wrasses, chromis, anthias, gobies, etc).

Would I be able to keep a snowflake in this setup?

Would it go after the smaller fish, even if I hand fed it (with a spear-type device)? Would it go after any snails, shrimps, and hermits?

Thanks in advance!

 

[JackandJill]

Yes, you could.

You just need to be prepared for how the eel will act. It is likely he will knock over rock work and corals, unless extremely stable.

It is also a possibility that you need to be prepared for that he will attack, and eat, fish proportionate to his mouth size (so larger as he grows larger himself).

It is also extremely likely, although not 100% of the time, that he will eat your CUC.

Keeping it very well fed as well as being fed by hand (or spear) instead of allowing it to "hunt" will help improve the odds but not eliminate the threat.

 

[trukgirl]

My full grown snowflake would easily be able to eat a lot of the fish in my reef, such as clowns, six line, chromis, any of my blennies or gobies. No way would I chance him in my reef tank, he gets into a frenzy when feeding and would definitely knock stuff over as previously mentioned. He would also definitely eat my CUC. The CUC for his tank consists of a brittle star and 2 urchins. He also has a nasty lemonpeel Pygmy angel in there with him and is fine with that. He is weaned to frozen but is a major pig, you can't believe how much they can eat. I would not chance it in MY reef is my two cents.

 

[mgraf]

Just took mine out of my reef. He never ate anyone. It was cool when he was about 6 inches but, at over 2 ( which didn't take as long as you might think), he began to knock corals around when he ate. He would mouth at my clowns but never really bite at them. I attribute that more to his poor eye sight than trying to eat them. I also caught him on several occasions stalking and waiting inches from my hermits shells to wait for an opportunity to grab one out of its shell. I moved him into the basement setup just to avoid problems that were to come.

 

[airtime23]

Thanks for the info.

I won't be getting an eel...too risky, IMO.

 

[Winwood]

I think a zebra moray maybe closer to what you are looking for. They are almost no threat to fish and are more attractive imo.

 

[airtime23]

That's a no-go, Winwood. I want to be able to keep crabs/shrimps and I don't want my corals/rockwork toppled over.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-12/fm/

"My only reservation in recommending these eels as a wonderful, reef-safe eel is that at adult size they are guaranteed to renovate your rockwork, toppling corals in the process. Most reef fishes are safe with a zebra moray as long as the eel is regularly fed. These eels are too large and "clumsy" to be kept with most sessile invertebrates and they definitely should not be kept in small reef systems. They will eventually eat all of the ornamental crustaceans in their tank."

 

[rssjsb]

Smart decision. Zebras get pretty big and eels are messy.

 

[anbosu]

I had a zebra for years and it never knocked over any rocks. It was also content to wait for me to feed it. The snowflake, on the other hand, took out any hermits or shrimp I added aggressively and quickly. I think a snowflake would also be likely to eat smaller fish like gobies as it matured.