Spotted Garden Eels video

[scorpiocasper]

Thought I would share my video of our garden eels at feeding time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPF4dylrXKo

We have had them about 6 months now and they are fat and happy in a 45 gal flatback hex.

 

[yukonblizzard]

Very cool!:thumbsup: I have always been fascinated by Garden Eels.

 

[rssjsb]

Ok, spill it! :inlove: I want to know everything - flow, lighting, everything!

I'm planning a garden eel tank when I finish another upgrade project that will free up my 90 gallon. Similar to your setup, I'm thinking of a little stack of live rock in one corner covered with macro algae.

 

[kinlayan]

Are they like Seahorses best kept in species only aquarium ? can they compete for food with other fish in an aquarium?

 

[rssjsb]

Kinlayan - I just spent half an hour reading your build thread! Beautiful! I think these guys are pretty timid, so it's generally recommended that they be on their own. I may try to keep my little solorensis boxfish and a few bluestripe pipefish with them (both are very peaceful and slow-swimming), but haven't made up my mind.

 

[scorpiocasper]

We have low to moderate lighting (just PC on top), flow is dual outputs pointing to the sides and down to keep food in the water column as well as a small powerhead aimed at the middle and down. Research we did said they only feed out of the water colomn, but as you can see from the video, isn't always true. The main thing is reasonable water quality, some flow and the deep sand bed is important. They drill into the sad with their tails and if it isn't deep enough or too coarse they can damage their tail and die.

they were in with seahorses (sadly learned our lesson about kelloggi the hard way) and now have an aiptasia eating file fish (green filefish) in with them with no issues. Anything peaceful will be fine as long as there is enough food to go around.

We have a few small pieces of rock in with them with titan, codium and flame macro. The sump is filled with live rock and cheato. Temp is kept around 76, but that was more for the seahorses. Currently feeding once a day (and they know when it is time), but may go up to 2 times to see if we get lucky with breeding. lol

They are VERY shy creatures and take some time to get used to people staring at them. Mine still get started with big movements, but now know me as the food lady so I am acceptable now.

Think that is about it. Not a newbie type creature, but don't think they are expert only as most places state.

 

[SAreefer]

Awesome video, thanks for posting. How deep would you say your sandbed is? (and do you think it's deep enough?)

 

[Eric the half-bee]

That is a awesome sight. It looks like video out of the ocean. Nice work.

 

[rssjsb]

Too coarse they can damage their tail and die.

Thanks for the details. I did mean to ask you about the sand you're using. How coarse is too coarse? Is oolitic best for them? Would special grade be to coarse?

Sorry for all the questions, it's just that this project is on my mind and there aren't that many people around keeping these guys.

 

[ShellsSD]

This video is great. My husband and I just got back from a dive trip to Bonaire and no matter how hard, slow, steady you tried you could not get close enough to see these guys as they would just drop themselves back in their hole. So thank you for posting so I could see more of what they look like up close.

 

[SMOOTHIE]

I have always wanted to do this. Thanks for sharing. I am glad they came out for "the food lady" to get some shots for us

 

[AquaKnight]

Thanks for the details. I did mean to ask you about the sand you're using. How coarse is too coarse? Is oolitic best for them? Would special grade be to coarse?

Sorry for all the questions, it's just that this project is on my mind and there aren't that many people around keeping these guys.

Yea, I have some piggyback question on the sand. About how deep is it? And it looks like there's 2 layers of different sand? A lighter (in color) coarser sand on top, and a very fine more yellow looking sand on the bottom (that makes up the bulk of the sand).

 

[namxas]

super nice job!

we've had a garden eel setup on our "future projects" list for awhile now (we even have the tank!).

you did a wonderful job getting them to eat for you...kudos, and thanks for sharing!

 

[small alien]

What is their behavior like when they're not eating?

 

[scorpiocasper]

The sandbed is approx 8 inches deep. Most places that sell these guys say a min of 6 inches. They can get up to 16 inches long, but 8 inches is better than the 3 inches I have seen ppl trying to keep them in. We just have sugar grain type play sand in there (rinsed for about an hour). I wouldn't make it any larger than sugar grain sized. The super fine powder would be even better. Our sand isn't in layers, that is just where the algae likes to grow and one of the eels is right near the front so I don't want to mess with it too much. There may be some sand that came in the bag with them from the LFS (which was larger than I wanted, but it wan't much).

Thanks for all the comments. I'm glad eveyone appreciates them as much as we do. Not many people have them and like ShellsSD said they are hard to see even in the ocean.

Behavior wise, they stay in their whole during the night obviously. They come out now and then to see what is going on and to stare at me with the pitiful fish look (we all know how that goes) around 8:30 pm they are out and know it is about time for dinner. I have had a fish playdate with kids over and the only way to get them to come out and stay out is to feed. They are pigs and will eat all day if you let them.

 

[rssjsb]

Well, kudos - you're doing a great job. Thanks for this thread!

 

[small alien]

Neat. Thanks for sharing.

 

[anbosu]

Really cool video, these guys are on my fish bucket list for sure!

 

[karnivorous]

those guys are neat. id like to see a large tank. like hundreds of gallons with like 50 of them in there. that would be sweet