The great eel escape

[AC2020x]

Hey, I got a snowflake eel about a year ago and he's done great and even doubled in size. Obviously before making this purchase I did my research and learned that they are amazing escape artists. Therefore I have my tank completely covered with a perfecto glass canopy and very small holes for cutouts for cords, return line and overflow box in the back. Being that I'm in college I'm living at my friends house about 15 minutes away from my own. I woke-up last week to my mom calling me saying the eel jumped out of the tank. She said he was in front of the tank and the only reason she went into the basement. (where the tank is located) is because my dog was down there crying. He was crying because of the eel and I think there is a good chance he either pawed or nipped at the eel while it was out of the tank.

At this sight my mom poked the eel and it moved so she put it in a bucket with some tank water. Then later since he was still moving placed him in the tank. Neither me or my mom have any idea how he escaped or how long he was out of the tank before he was found. The only way I see it possible is he went into my overflow box, though the tube and out the top of the other side of the overflow box. Then over the tank onto the floor where he was located. (if anyone else has any ideas let me know). and yes the lid was fully closed.

It has been about 4 days and the first two days he just stayed under the same rock and didn't eat at all. Yesterday however, he ate, which is good. On the bottom of his stomach it looks like his skin has peeled off and it is colored a lighter color.

Just thought I'd share the story and see what others think. It amazes me but I think he will live, since he was probably out of the tank for quite some time.

-AC

 

[B-Willz]

I had a snow flake escape on me too, half dried on the floor, put im in the tank and and fully recovered. They are able to lift the lid to get out, on another escape attemt, I look over and see him hanging half way out. I put rocks on the glass after that and he stayed put.

 

[aldiver311]

I had a Goldtail go into my overflows, (internal) go up the drain pipe into the filter sock, jumped out of the sock into the skimmer chamber which the water level is lower than the sock chamber and still again into the chamber with my pump return where he met his demise when he tried to go into the pump intake. The pump is a Reeflo Brracuda so you can imagine the mess it made. EEL SOUP!!!!!!! The rest of the fish in the tank loved eatting eel soup all day.

 

[B-Willz]

I had a Goldtail go into my overflows, (internal) go up the drain pipe into the filter sock, jumped out of the sock into the skimmer chamber which the water level is lower than the sock chamber and still again into the chamber with my pump return where he met his demise when he tried to go into the pump intake. The pump is a Reeflo Brracuda so you can imagine the mess it made. EEL SOUP!!!!!!! The rest of the fish in the tank loved eatting eel soup all day.

I was glad mine didn't go through the over flow, it was a closed loop system. Expensive meal for your fish.

 

[AC2020x]

Dang man, That sucks.

I didn't think he would be able to push the glass up but I guess i'm wrong. I'll have to start leaving something on top of the tank to stop him from pushing it up. It just amazes me how he could do that and also how he is still alive.

 

[billdogg]

My buddy Hannibal, a ~4' Gymnothorax Undulatus, has escaped several times in the +20 years I have had him. I have found him on the floor so dried out he was completely stiff, dropped him in the tank, gone to work, and come home to him not too much the worse for his adventure. He has gotten a couple of very nasty fungal infections from his journeys that have been cleaned right up by the cleaner shrimp that are the only thing I can keep with him he does not try to eat. He has gone as long as 6 - thats right - 6 months without eating after his escape, but has always bounced back. I am convinced they are darn near immortal!

Oh - and I don't have to worry about him getting sucked into my DART - he's to BIG!!!

 

[Vadimshevchuk]

wow that is crazy!:eek2:

 

[yeff24]

My buddy Hannibal, a ~4' Gymnothorax Undulatus, has escaped several times in the +20 years I have had him. I QUOTE]

20+ years...wow Id love to see some pictures he must be a giant by now....this is what worries me about eels though...I have plenty of cats and my dog who stare at my tank like its the buffet at the rio...I dont think he would last to long on the ground...I had a few fw crap escape I found one under my foot in the hall way gross...mom found another in her dresser haah

 

[jlanger]

Some eels seem invincible...

Some eels seem invincible...

Back in the early 1990's, I had a jewel moray (M. lentigonosa) that also escaped and survived.
I was moving home from college in Chicago and bringing my FOWLR tank with me. I had the eel and four other fish in two five gallon buckets on the front floor of my car for a seven hour drive in December. I had my mom set up a temporary 30 gallon so when I got home I could get the fish transferred into a tank ASAP. Everything went as planned until the next morning...
I awoke to find the eel had gotten out through the screen lid and was on our basement floor (an unfinished concrete floor in Wisconsin in December = very cold.) The eel wasn't moving and I went to put him into an old bread bag for disposal. When I picked it up off the floor, the eel was cold and stiff and a small piece of skin had stuck to the concrete. Before I tied up the bag, I decided to measure it as I had had it for a few years and it really grew. When I was stretching it out, I felt the tiniest muscle twitch and I ran back to the tank and tossed it in the water. After about 5 minutes of not much of anything, I placed its head into the column of my old air-driven Piccolo protein skimmer. (Remember those old things.) After about 30 minutes of "CPR" from the forced air bubbles it was breathing on its own. I decided to let it rest behind the rock work. After 24 hours, the eel acted as if nothing had happened. It had a visible scar from the skin that was removed. But it was eating that next day.
I ended up keeping the eel for another three years before it out-grew my system and I had to trade it in. They are an extremely hardy fish.

-JASON

 

[ulli]

Eel's are extremely strong animals.
Mine used to go kamikaze on the rock work moving stones that where 4-5 times heavier than him like it was nothing.

1 night it decided to go explore the floor -_-