Really a sad day for me and my tesselata moray

[Strobes]

Ive had a 210 fowlr setup for a bout a year now. before that i had a 75 but wanted a tesselata moray eel really bad so i got a tank big enough for one to grow into for awhile and found a decent sized one at my LFS. every thread i had read on them said that they would eat or kill everything else in the tank but i had a couple of angels already and he wasnt nearly big enough to take them. he was probably 1.5' long and maybe an inch to 1.5" around when i got him. beautiful coloring and quickly became my favorite out of the bunch. well over the last year he grew FASTTTT! not so much length as girth. after a year he was as big around as my arm but still absolutely harmless to my other fish. i wouldnt have added anything that he could swallow because that might have been a different story. but he was very impressive and anyone over to the house loved to watch him, specially during feeding time. well today i went down to check on the tank since its in my basement rec room and found him dried up on the floor. i have a full glass top and kept large weights on each panel because i know they have a reputation for crawling out. but i must have forgetten to weigh down one panel after feeding last night or he pushed hard enough to move it but he somehow got out. im pretty bummed out about it but i wanted to get on here and let people know glass tops arnt enough to keep these guys inside. they need to be secured firmly at all times and i found out the hard way that my setup wasnt enough. i also wanted people to know that they arnt all extremely aggresive and kill all their tankmates. he never took a bite at anyone or stressed out any of my fish. as is the case with many fish i think each fish is a little different despite their characteristics as species. anyway i hope this helps a little and maybe keeps someone elses from getting out. i really thought it wasnt possible.

[Megistos]

How long had it been since you checked on it? Eels can sometimes bounce back from what looks like certain dried-out death, even after being out of tank for several hours.

Worth a shot if you haven't thrown it out yet.

[Strobes]

he was dead, stiff as a board unfortunately. i know they can survive awhile but i didnt get there in time.

[clekchau]

sorry man :(

[gREEF stricken]

Wicked drag dude...HATE losin fish I love cuz I didn't cover all my bases...he was dead, stiff as a board unfortunately. i know they can survive awhile but i didnt get there in time.

[JohnniG]

Hate to lose fish to the art of carpet surfing. Sorry to hear this :(

[Strobes]

yeah its rough, feel responsible ya know. hopefully getting the word out will help others from having it happen to them

[Whiterabbitrage]

Am so, so sorry about your loss. It is so frustrating to lose a fish by something we do. I can relate. So sorry, man.

[Polahbear]

That sucks. Sorry man.
I have a whitemouth Moray. Not as big and when I set up my tank I was super worried about the lid. I put child safety locks that they sell at walmart or a like store on my lid. You have to unclip to open otherwise the lid only moves about 1/4 inch not enough space for my eel. But it is easy to miss a step. One night i forgot to lock my tank's lid. Came down next morning found the glass top open. Lucky my eel was still in the tank, but had managed to flip the lid open from underneath. It never ceases to amaze me how strong these animals are.

[Strobes]

yeah at first i thought i must have left the top open but theres no way that happened. im almost positive he pushed it open and slithered his way out. its easy to under estimate how strong they are but he was as big around as my forearm and im not a skinny guy. you figure theyre one big muscle hes gotta be at least as strong as my arm. frustrating but i gyess i had to learn the hard way