Today I joined the eel world with a roughly 8 inch Green Wolf Eel. Next on the list: Golden Dwarf Moray (waiting on 3 LFS to get one on their stocking list, first to find one gets my money) and then a snowflake eel.
The story behind this eel is that he was in Milford Petco about 7 months ago when I was into freshwater african Cichlids (mbuna, kenyi, etc). He was a small guy then, just under three inches, but he had his own display tank. I go to that store regularly to pick up dry goods and frozen foods, rarely livestock (especially now that I do marine, I limit my purchases there if any). Today was the first time I had been there in at least a month, and he was still there. Now I've been waiting for a GDM eel, so this guy caught my eye finally. He was originally marked for 150, then went to 75, then to 35. I knew that they were trying to get rid of him, so I offered 15 dollars. The employee gets the 'aquatics manager' who agrees and sells me the eel if I can catch him. With two nets I have the eel caught in less than a minute. Applause ensues.
I'm a little worried because they've been feeding him live minnows out of the freshwater tank. On par with goldfish, I'm understanding that this is about as bad as you can get for feeding saltwater livestock? Great. I asked the aquatics manager to feed him dry/frozen food, so they threw some krill in there. He nipped at it, but didn't eat it. I tried to coax him with a frozen silverside when I got him home, but he didn't seem interested. Probably too stressed from the move still.
I've read that this fish is actually a pseudochromis more along the lines of a blenny or dottyback than an actual eel. But what I have read on this site and others makes me feel that he'll be alright with my two big tomato clowns, which I couldn't imagine fitting into his mouth. Is he reef safe? I'm alright with him not being, he may have a clownfish snack or two but after that there's nothing in my tank for him to eat, maybe nip on some corals which I could easily move to another tank. I 'eel-proofed' my tank today with a tight-fitting eggcrate lid.
I've attached a picture here, rather poor as it is iPhone quality and my glass is disgusting. I'll upload a clearer, cleaner one shortly. His coloration is absolutley gorgeous, not dull in the least bit. Mottled with a very vibrant green.
My hammer coral and xenia are in nearly full polyp expansion now, looking very healthy. Mushrooms are getting bigger every day, it's ridiculous! Picked up a 20 dollar frogspawn coral at Exotic Fish and Coral in Milford today. Waiting on several LFS in the area to get in touch with me regarding a Golden Dwarf Moray so I can add that to the tank as well.