struck gold at LFS
- Thread starter olemiss reb
- Start date
Fish Biscuit
Active member
wow what a find!! good luck!!
velvetelvis
Active member
That's amazing--what a stroke of luck! And good on you for resisting the urge to buy one until you found that one-in-a-million specimen that's eating and doing well...I admire anyone who can resist temptation, since I'm so bad at it myself. 
fish042099
New member
That's amazing! I thought they were hard to keep.
olemiss reb
Molon Labe
Update--
My LFS received another ribbon as an "order filler". The new eel measures~15" in length with a very small mouth. It was active in the store and feigned interest but would not commit to the frozen offered. I figured it had a better shot in my tank than in the sticky fingered kids who wanted his mom to buy him the "black worm" so I brought it home.
Upon introduction, there was minimal aggression from the established eel and soon enough the new addition was allowed into the pvc system. The new eel was M.I.A for a couple of days but finally emerged and the weaning fun began. I was hoping it would follow the large eels lead and chow down on the variety of fish offered, didn't happen. I tried an assortment of fish and inverts on my weaning tool (weighted fishing string) all of which were ignored. Small sized live food needed
Determined not to fail I ordered 10 green banded gobies-- Elacatinus multifasciatus -- in hopes it would accept live food. Gobies arrived and were about .5" in length- destined to be lost in the 90 reef. I came up with a delivery system and the new eel ate a couple of live gobies. The next gobies were rubbed down with thawed salmon before being offered. After a brief delay the eel ate the odd smelling gobies. When all of the "scented gobies" were gone, I offered a thin sliver of salmon and he took it down just like it was a goby. It is now accepting a variety of frozen. Salmon/goby method was incredibly time consuming and took a bit of malice to do it- I don't plan on doing it again
new eel is sticking out farther in pic--
My LFS received another ribbon as an "order filler". The new eel measures~15" in length with a very small mouth. It was active in the store and feigned interest but would not commit to the frozen offered. I figured it had a better shot in my tank than in the sticky fingered kids who wanted his mom to buy him the "black worm" so I brought it home.
Upon introduction, there was minimal aggression from the established eel and soon enough the new addition was allowed into the pvc system. The new eel was M.I.A for a couple of days but finally emerged and the weaning fun began. I was hoping it would follow the large eels lead and chow down on the variety of fish offered, didn't happen. I tried an assortment of fish and inverts on my weaning tool (weighted fishing string) all of which were ignored. Small sized live food needed
Determined not to fail I ordered 10 green banded gobies-- Elacatinus multifasciatus -- in hopes it would accept live food. Gobies arrived and were about .5" in length- destined to be lost in the 90 reef. I came up with a delivery system and the new eel ate a couple of live gobies. The next gobies were rubbed down with thawed salmon before being offered. After a brief delay the eel ate the odd smelling gobies. When all of the "scented gobies" were gone, I offered a thin sliver of salmon and he took it down just like it was a goby. It is now accepting a variety of frozen. Salmon/goby method was incredibly time consuming and took a bit of malice to do it- I don't plan on doing it again
new eel is sticking out farther in pic--
Softhammer
New member
Very cool! Hope they live long and prosper!
small alien
The fungus is among us.
Good job!
olemiss reb
Molon Labe
Update. Diet expanded to halibut, flounder, cod, amberjack, mahi, tuna, salmon-the favorite, octopus, squid
First eel is steadily transitioning to blue--
4-27-12
5-27-12
First eel is steadily transitioning to blue--
4-27-12
5-27-12
small alien
The fungus is among us.
Wow. Amazing. Thanks for sharing. Please continue to update.
olemiss reb
Molon Labe
one month pic update- Steady blue progression but yellow is beginning to set in on the bottom jaw and nose. Smaller black eel is still jet black but growing steadily. The yellow is more distinct in person but I don't know how to properly work my camera.
6-27-12
6-27-12
olemiss reb
Molon Labe
I believe a pipe system is an absolute must for these guys.
The pipes form an "H" in the tank and have holes drilled on all sides to aid in internal water movement/detritus escape. They sit elevated on rocks to prevent caking of the holes. My one regret is not drilling a couple of larger holes to allow hermits to fall out of the bottom. Luckily the pipe is somewhat sloped so they always end up in the front left opening and I can scoop them out.
view from behind tank where the pipe is not hidden--
