Garden Eels (Heteroconger hassi)

[romanr]

I ordered 4 of these from an online vendor about 2 weeks ago and unfortunately only 1 made it past the first day. The one that did make it seems to be doing well, it is eating just about anything that comes its way. I know these have a reputation for being poor shippers but I was hoping for better odds. I want to try to get 2 or 3 more from a different vendor (thinking about LA).

Does anyone have any experience with these that they would like to share? I've done my homework with this species but I'm looking to get some more RC hands-on experiences.

The setup:
150 DD cube
10" X 20" section of 8 in deep sandbed, the rest of the tanks bottom is covered by about 1" of bed.
A gentle current (vortech) pulses across the 20" length of the sand bed and a auto-feeder feeds into this current stream with a variety of foods twice a day.
Frozen Mysids (3 different kinds/brands) and spirulina brine shrimp are also feed into the current stream twice a day. About 5 different other frozen foods are fed on a rotating basis sporadically.
Tank makes include 2 OSFF, 6 blue/green chromis, and 3 black-bar chromis.
Sandbed is about 75% made up of year old live sand populated with micro stars, spaghetti worms and bristle worms.
The tank also has a reef structure made up of about 80lbs of live rock most of which has been in my care for around 7 years. Corals are a mixture of LPS, softies and a Cap and digi.
Filtration is an Eshopps cone, Brightwell bio pellets, carbon/phosphate sponge in media bag and a sock that is changed weekly.
34% of the water is changed out monthly with IO mixed with RO water.
Lighting is a 400w 20K XM. Fixture is high enough to provide complete coverage of the 3 X 3 cube and to not make the lighting too intense.
Supplementation is composed of 2-part liquids.
A 1/4" mesh screen covers the top.
Temperature is maintained between 77 and 79 by a chiller and heater.

[JHemdal]

Raul,

I've worked with these long term, and have four right now. You're correct in that the biggest part of the battle is getting good fish to start with. If they have infected tails, or are really skinny, they often die within a few weeks. With 3 of yours dying the first day, I'd have to say they were either close to death when shipped, or there was a problem with the way the shipment was handled. I don't recall ever losing one in the first week.

A 10" x 20" deep sand section isn't going to big enough for more than two or three eels. For a fish that likes to live in groups, they sure don't tolerate each other in CLOSE company (grin). I've kept 4 or 5 in a 36" x 14" sand bed, but there is lots of bickering. I sometimes see two in the same burrow though - so there is probably some male/female thing going on, but they are not sexually dimorphic as far as I know.

I don't have any experience keeping them under MH - it may be too bright for their liking. Also, it helps to have some coral gravel mixed in with the sand, I think it helps anchor their burrows a bit. Sand alone may pack down too much for them to burrow in. I have some worry about bristle worms bothering them in their burrows, but no proof.

There is a section on garden eels in my Advanced Marine Aquarium Technique book...


Jay

[Western_reefer]

I've kept a large group of 7 for 5-6 months until I had to sell them. Here is a link to my diary.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1677284


I might set up another species only Garden Eel tank one day...

[romanr]

Thank you guys for the comments. I did mix some rubble and crush coral with the sand to make it more burrow friendly.

[namxas]

Very cool, romanr!

We have a friend who has been keeping garden eels for awhile now, and she basically says what Jay is mentioning, with the biggest issue being getting them to eat, so barring any cooties, it sounds like your fish is on its way.

The OSFF and the GE sounds like a really cool tank. Pix are definitely compulsory.

[Western_reefer]

Very cool, romanr!

We have a friend who has been keeping garden eels for awhile now, and she basically says what Jay is mentioning, with the biggest issue being getting them to eat, so barring any cooties, it sounds like your fish is on its way.

The OSFF and the GE sounds like a really cool tank. Pix are definitely compulsory.

I think I sold my Garden Eels to your friend. I think Renee told me about your friend or something. Do you know if they are all still alive and well?

[namxas]

YES! I think we both kinda hooked her up with you. And our friend is thrilled with them. We bug her for pix, but she's not a "camera adept person". She has done REALLY well with them over the years, and said "your" eels were in top notch condition.

[Western_reefer]

YES! I think we both kinda hooked her up with you. And our friend is thrilled with them. We bug her for pix, but she's not a "camera adept person". She has done REALLY well with them over the years, and said "your" eels were in top notch condition.

Nice!! LOL You guys need to go to her house and take the pictures for her! :p Glad to hear that they are doing good! :D :D

[Matt_Wandell]

What Jay said about the handling, and about the space between them. They are generally very resistant to common parasites. We have always quarantined ours with no treatment and have not found any parasites on morts.

We keep ours in fine sand under MH, but they're in a 13 foot deep tank. They are found in not-too-shallow water, but don't seem to mind the light.