West African Horned Moray Eel

[aldiver311]

I know most of you here saw the West African Horned Moray on Divers Den about a year and a half ago. As a matter of fact I think they had 2 of them back to back. My question is did anyone on this site get them if so how aggressive are they? I would love to get one I have DD tring to find me one so would like any info on them that I can get. Thanks

[olemiss reb]

I remember wanting the eel but did not have a tank for it. Search "Muraena melanotis" and you should find some info. These guys grow to around three feet and get thick. They are strong and quite aggressive. I'd compare it to an undulated moray. A species only tank is needed. They are rarely seen as there is not much demand.

[aldiver311]

I've had quite a few Morays in my day and was wondering if you ever treated yours in a hypo salinity tank I just lost my banana moray and thats the only thing I can thimk of that got him. He was only in hypo for 2 days and noticed he wouldn't eat so removed him and put him QT by himself, well he didn't make it. This makes my 3rd one that i've lost. Just wondering if any of you have had problems with eels and hypo.

[iLLwiLL]

looks similar to a brazilian dragon moray eel (M. Pavonina) . . . might be a good alternative if your having problems hunting down a melanotis.

~Will.

[LukFox]

I've had quite a few Morays in my day and was wondering if you ever treated yours in a hypo salinity tank I just lost my banana moray and thats the only thing I can thimk of that got him. He was only in hypo for 2 days and noticed he wouldn't eat so removed him and put him QT by himself, well he didn't make it. This makes my 3rd one that i've lost. Just wondering if any of you have had problems with eels and hypo.

YES I have had big problems with hypo and eels. Both of the eels in the tank I hypo'd went off feed for the entire duration. My Brazilian dragon went back to normal eventually, but my gold dwarf ended up dying. I'm sorry for your loss.

[helicoprion]

I don't have any experience with this species but I've read that they're very aggressive.

[aldiver311]

The member Juice It got one of the WAHM eels from DD. But he he hasn't posted since May. I read about his loss during the winter that really sucks. The Eel is the only one that made it. I PM'd him to ask him questions about his eel. From previous posts it seemed to be a model citizen.DD is the only place I have ever seen that coloration of that eel. Anyone know who might of got the smaller one they had listed after the one Juice It got?

[Kynigos]

I currently have a M. melanotis being housed with a peppered moray and a yellow mouth. I've had the melanotis for almost a year now with no more signs of aggression than any other eel. He did try to eat a much smaller jeweled moray that was the first fish in that tank but that was my fault. The jeweled moray was just too small to not be considered food and I should have removed it before the melanotis was introduced (luckily I was able to net it out and it's happily in a friend's tank). The only real problem I had was with a slightly smaller G. moringa that was much more aggressive than the melanotis. I woke up one day to find the moringa bitten clean in half with no signs of feading on it. I guess the melanotis just got fed up with him and ended it. I don't try to keep pelagic fish with him anymore as they all stress out and stop eating or hide all the time until they die. He's never killed anything big just to kill it, only fish he can eat but he is very active and inquisitive and I don't think most fish like that. He has eaten so many damsels he's earned the name Distress but they go in for that reason so I'm ok with it. He hit one that was easily the size of my palm the moment it hit the watter and knocked it out of the water onto the center brace. I put it back in and he did it again. After eating that damsel it looked like he'd swallowed a hubcap.

Maybe my experiences are not the norm but they're all I have to go on. I'd say as long as you don't have him in with anything significantly smaller or more aggressive you should be ok (the picta (peppered moray) is smaller than the melanotis but I've never had any problems with them.

[aldiver311]

Thanks for the reply. I agree with you on stressing out the fish I had a Brazilian Dragon and I could not keep fish for very long before they stressed out. I was hoping that the African version was not as aggresive. All my fish are pretty large smallest being a 6 inch Pwder Blue Tang and a couple of 5 inch LookDowns all the rest are in the 8 to 10 inch range. Could you post some pics of it there are like none on the web.

[Kynigos]

I don't have any doubt mine could eat any of the fish you have listed under 6 inches and may try to eat an 8 inch fish. He's not aggressive as some eels but he's definitely one of the most predatory eels I've had. He ate a 6inch clown tang with no problem that I got hoping it would be too big or assertive to end up food. I'll try to get some good pictures and post them. My camera isn't that great and I keep the tank fairly dim to make the eels happy.

[Kynigos]

I'm going to try and add some pictures of my melanotis to this thread from my album on RC. I can't see thumbnails of them so I'm not sure if it will work, but if it doesn't I have the pictures on my profile.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=3191&pictureid=23021

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=3191&pictureid=23022

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=3191&pictureid=23023

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=3191&pictureid=23024

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=3191&pictureid=23026

As you can see he pushes around the other two eels, even the nudivomer which is considerably bigger than he is. He's fine with the much smaller picta as well as the picta is very non-aggressive. The two damsels in the tank are the only ones that have survived more than a night in the tank. The small domino has been in the tank for months and regularly tail fans the morays and doesn't appear to be afraid of the eels at all. The large damsel is a new addition and seems to be too large to be taken down by all but the nudivomer which has shown no interest in the damsel at all. The melanotis swam up to the damsel several times and opened his mouth as if he was sizing him up but I guess he decided that the damsel was too large to get down and has ignored it ever since.

[aldiver311]

Wow very nice eels. I might stick to the Goldentail I know they won't bother any fish at all. I have made alot of mistakes in the past with eels don't want to make another one. Very expensive ones at that. Thanks for the pics!!!!

[Kynigos]

A goldentail would be a great option. A friend has one and I've often thought about stealing it...

[aldiver311]

leaving for the keys tonight just for the weekend hoping to catch one. If not hoping to bring back some nice Queen, French, and Rock Beauty angels.

[Kynigos]

Sent you a PM aldiver311

[Juice It]

Unfortunately I am moving and cannot keep my tank and my eel. I bought him on DD a while back and he has never bothered any of the fish he is in with and that includes a small trio of hippos, chromis,puffers etc. I feed him a few uncooked jumbo shrimp and a few clam strips every few days and he chills in his eel cave that I got from Living color. I hate to have to get rid of him (as well as the other fish) but I have no choice. He is about 30 inches and healthy as can be. If anyone is looking I am in md. and it would have to be local and to someone that is equipped to deal with him. I will post up an ad in the classifieds.