Show me your eels!! - Page 2

helicoprion · 10/29/2010, 12:27 PM

That is an awesome resource lukfox... thanks!

LukFox · 10/29/2010, 02:34 PM

Glad to share it!

slowwrx137 · 10/29/2010, 04:57 PM

LukFox, can you tell me more about the tank you have those 2 eels in? I've been wanting to setup an eel only tank and would love to setup something similar to yours with 2 eels.

billdogg · 10/29/2010, 05:13 PM

Its been awhile since i've posted a picture - did I get it right??? I guess we'll see!

LukFox · 10/29/2010, 07:49 PM

Love that undy!! Another one of my favorites. That guy is massive; you've taken great care of him.

Slowwrx137, they are currently in a 75g. No sump or skimmer. Filtration is up to the sand and rock, and there are some koralias for circulation. I had this set up handle a 35" thick bodied eel without issues before, but I'm not sure how it will handle two 30" eels together. When they get large enough to warrant it I'll be getting an Octopus lx-2000s I think, as a hang on skimmer. If that still doesn't cut it I could replace the 75g with a 120g, and the water should be able to be kept plenty clean with that. The tank has no lights (I put a 40 watt bulb over the tank just for the photos), but I have been thinking about changing that eventually. Lights are not necessary, though. The tank is super low maintenance and very simple. Hardly cost me anything to set it up. There are 5 nassarius snails, one skunk cleaner shrimp, and an army of pods to clean up the mess after feeding.

billdogg · 10/30/2010, 07:28 AM

Thanks. He's become my buddy, and as much as I look forward to making his tank into a SPS reef, I'll miss him when he goes.

As far as temperment and care....

I dare anybody to even wave your fingers above the tank when he is hungry. He has hit the eggcrate (held down by the lights and several large chunksof rock) hard enough to break it on several occasions. Without the tops, he will come about 12" out of the water to get to dinner. Dinner consists of 2 or three large (think bigger than my hand) ocean fish fillets from krogers, about every 2 weeks, the night before water changes. He has gone on hunger strikes, the longest was about 6 months.

He has been on the floor 3 or 4 times - twice long enough to actually become stiff. just picked him up and put him back in - within a few hours you'd never know anything had happened.

He has not bitten me ......................yet. After feeding, he will come to the top and just sorta hang out there. He seems to enjoy being petted, but I keep that to a minimum. If (when?) he does bite, it will be a degloving type injury that will require reconstructive surgery and a bunch of IV antibiotics. It will also mean that its time for him to be a belt. (just kidding?)

Water changes on his tank are large. His tank consists of a 150dt, a 120 fuge, and a 50g sump. I change ~ 50g at a time, and have never gotten the nitrates below 40. I don't even bother checking anymore - why bother?

helicoprion · 10/30/2010, 10:19 AM

Nice undy! Is he aggressive? I want one!!!!!

iLLwiLL · 10/30/2010, 02:34 PM

my zebra eel, almost 3' long.

~Will.

billdogg · 10/30/2010, 05:24 PM

Aggressive??? LOL He can and will eat anything you try to put in with him. That's why his name is Hannibal. The first thing he ate was a four foot blue ribbon eel. He was only 16 - 18" at the time. Over the course of his first 2 or 3 years (until I quit trying) he also ate the largest yellow tang I have ever seen, several groupers, a couple large wrasses, and a dinner sized emperor snapper. These all came in when I worked PT at the LFS as customer trades that outgrew their welcome.

He can go from 0 to the other side of the tank faster than i can move my eyes. Hundreds of teeth all angle backwards. He won't let go once he's got you.

Wanna pet him???? :-)

samdaman · 11/04/2010, 05:04 PM

Nice eel will

tcmfish · 11/04/2010, 05:49 PM

Anyone see the show on morays on NatGeo WILD tonight on morays?!

olemiss reb · 11/04/2010, 06:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tcmfish

Anyone see the show on morays on NatGeo WILD tonight on morays?!

Do you remember the full title to the show. I'm trying to find it on my box so I can record a future epsiode.

tcmfish · 11/04/2010, 06:31 PM

Morays: The Alien Eels

tcmfish · 11/04/2010, 06:34 PM

I only caught about 15 min. but what a show! I'm not a huge eel fan, but they are cool fish. It even showed some courtship behavior toward the end with some big beasts (like 6 foot). I found that really interesting because I am very much into aquaculture. Some of the footage was pretty sweet.

olemiss reb · 11/04/2010, 06:36 PM

Thanks, my dvr is set.

tozzi · 11/04/2010, 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iLLwiLL

my zebra eel, almost 3' long.

~Will.

Nice zebra. How is it in the reef? I have a loaded reef with sps, id like to get a eel but im afraid of it snapping too many branches? And flippin over too many frags

LukFox · 11/04/2010, 07:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tcmfish

Morays: The Alien Eels

Of course they had to make it sound threatening. I'd expect that of Animal Planet, but to see Nat Geo doing it too is disappointing. :/ Just so tired of nature shows telling me to fear and hate everything. To those who saw it, does it exaggerate how "dangerous" and scary they are constantly? Trying to figure if it's worth the time to watch or if most of it is just to shock and scare the audience.

tcmfish · 11/04/2010, 07:34 PM

No not at all, it showed a moray hunting shrimp. It showed the moray in the other eel thread right now. The very rare one. It showed grouper and morays hunting together and using teamwork. It showed courtship behavior also. But I didn't catch much of the show.

LukFox · 11/04/2010, 07:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tcmfish

No not at all, it showed a moray hunting shrimp. It showed the moray in the other eel thread right now. The very rare one. It showed grouper and morays hunting together and using teamwork. It showed courtship behavior also. But I didn't catch much of the show.

Thank goodness.

I'll have to catch it.

parrthed · 11/05/2010, 12:10 AM

Fox, That document was a great read, I wish there was more detailed information available in the mainstream about eels and their behavior.

Anyway, I have been playing around with my camera tonight and snapped a pic I thought was pretty good.

LukFox · 11/05/2010, 12:58 AM

That is a BEAUTIFUL dragon, Parrthed! I really love the vibrant orange on that guy.

Monster00101 · 11/05/2010, 01:02 AM

was at a store the other day looking for a eel. was gonna get a dragon they had there but they wanted 1600, thats just insane. are eels hard to keep?

LukFox · 11/05/2010, 01:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Monster00101

was at a store the other day looking for a eel. was gonna get a dragon they had there but they wanted 1600, thats just insane. are eels hard to keep?

Most eels are pretty darn easy to keep so long as you keep them in the tank (great escape artists). I would agree that 1600 for a dragon is very extreme, though.

Monster00101 · 11/05/2010, 01:09 AM

i figured as much. the store is a big chain. everythings over priced there. but they have everything. im guessing a large eel would eat my other fish. whats a smaller eel that wont eat my puffers and triggers? (sorry not trying to steal thread)

LukFox · 11/05/2010, 01:18 AM

I would actually worry about a trigger or puffer picking at an eel once they get brave and large enough. You could probably start your own thread and include the kinds of puffers and triggers you have. Some species of triggers would be okay, but I'm not sure about any puffers. I've seen the mix done a lot, but it has always looked risky to me. You could get more input if you made a new thread.

10/29/2010, 02:34 PM	#27
LukFox Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Los Gatos, CA Posts: 3,502	Glad to share it! __________________ Alexa

10/29/2010, 07:49 PM	#30
LukFox Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Los Gatos, CA Posts: 3,502	Love that undy!! Another one of my favorites. That guy is massive; you've taken great care of him. Slowwrx137, they are currently in a 75g. No sump or skimmer. Filtration is up to the sand and rock, and there are some koralias for circulation. I had this set up handle a 35" thick bodied eel without issues before, but I'm not sure how it will handle two 30" eels together. When they get large enough to warrant it I'll be getting an Octopus lx-2000s I think, as a hang on skimmer. If that still doesn't cut it I could replace the 75g with a 120g, and the water should be able to be kept plenty clean with that. The tank has no lights (I put a 40 watt bulb over the tank just for the photos), but I have been thinking about changing that eventually. Lights are not necessary, though. The tank is super low maintenance and very simple. Hardly cost me anything to set it up. There are 5 nassarius snails, one skunk cleaner shrimp, and an army of pods to clean up the mess after feeding. __________________ Alexa

10/30/2010, 07:28 AM	#31
billdogg Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Grove City, Ohio Posts: 10,806	Thanks. He's become my buddy, and as much as I look forward to making his tank into a SPS reef, I'll miss him when he goes. As far as temperment and care.... I dare anybody to even wave your fingers above the tank when he is hungry. He has hit the eggcrate (held down by the lights and several large chunksof rock) hard enough to break it on several occasions. Without the tops, he will come about 12" out of the water to get to dinner. Dinner consists of 2 or three large (think bigger than my hand) ocean fish fillets from krogers, about every 2 weeks, the night before water changes. He has gone on hunger strikes, the longest was about 6 months. He has been on the floor 3 or 4 times - twice long enough to actually become stiff. just picked him up and put him back in - within a few hours you'd never know anything had happened. He has not bitten me ......................yet. After feeding, he will come to the top and just sorta hang out there. He seems to enjoy being petted, but I keep that to a minimum. If (when?) he does bite, it will be a degloving type injury that will require reconstructive surgery and a bunch of IV antibiotics. It will also mean that its time for him to be a belt. (just kidding?) Water changes on his tank are large. His tank consists of a 150dt, a 120 fuge, and a 50g sump. I change ~ 50g at a time, and have never gotten the nitrates below 40. I don't even bother checking anymore - why bother? __________________ I'll try to be nice if you try to be smarter! I can't help that I grow older, but you can't make me grow up! Current Tank Info: 120 mixed reef with 40b sump, RO 150 skimmer, AI Sol Blue x 2, and a 60g Frag Tank with 100g rubbermaid sump. 2 x Kessil A360w lights, BM curve 5 skimmer

10/30/2010, 05:24 PM	#34
billdogg Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Grove City, Ohio Posts: 10,806	Aggressive??? LOL He can and will eat anything you try to put in with him. That's why his name is Hannibal. The first thing he ate was a four foot blue ribbon eel. He was only 16 - 18" at the time. Over the course of his first 2 or 3 years (until I quit trying) he also ate the largest yellow tang I have ever seen, several groupers, a couple large wrasses, and a dinner sized emperor snapper. These all came in when I worked PT at the LFS as customer trades that outgrew their welcome. He can go from 0 to the other side of the tank faster than i can move my eyes. Hundreds of teeth all angle backwards. He won't let go once he's got you. Wanna pet him???? :-) __________________ I'll try to be nice if you try to be smarter! I can't help that I grow older, but you can't make me grow up! Current Tank Info: 120 mixed reef with 40b sump, RO 150 skimmer, AI Sol Blue x 2, and a 60g Frag Tank with 100g rubbermaid sump. 2 x Kessil A360w lights, BM curve 5 skimmer

11/04/2010, 06:36 PM	#40
olemiss reb Molon Labe Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Louisiana Posts: 1,550	Thanks, my dvr is set. __________________ secesh

10/29/2010, 12:27 PM	#26
helicoprion Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 203	That is an awesome resource lukfox... thanks!

10/29/2010, 04:57 PM	#28
slowwrx137 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: St Petersburg, FL Posts: 174	LukFox, can you tell me more about the tank you have those 2 eels in? I've been wanting to setup an eel only tank and would love to setup something similar to yours with 2 eels.

10/30/2010, 10:19 AM	#32
helicoprion Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 203	Nice undy! Is he aggressive? I want one!!!!!

10/30/2010, 02:34 PM	#33
iLLwiLL Codename: Dutchess Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: the danger zone Posts: 933	my zebra eel, almost 3' long. ~Will.

11/04/2010, 05:04 PM	#35
samdaman Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Chandler, AZ Posts: 1,407	Nice eel will

11/04/2010, 05:49 PM	#36
tcmfish Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 3,658	Anyone see the show on morays on NatGeo WILD tonight on morays?!

11/04/2010, 06:31 PM	#38
tcmfish Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 3,658	Morays: The Alien Eels

11/04/2010, 06:34 PM	#39
tcmfish Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 3,658	I only caught about 15 min. but what a show! I'm not a huge eel fan, but they are cool fish. It even showed some courtship behavior toward the end with some big beasts (like 6 foot). I found that really interesting because I am very much into aquaculture. Some of the footage was pretty sweet.

11/04/2010, 07:34 PM	#43
tcmfish Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 3,658	No not at all, it showed a moray hunting shrimp. It showed the moray in the other eel thread right now. The very rare one. It showed grouper and morays hunting together and using teamwork. It showed courtship behavior also. But I didn't catch much of the show.

11/05/2010, 12:10 AM	#45
parrthed Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: USA Posts: 435	Fox, That document was a great read, I wish there was more detailed information available in the mainstream about eels and their behavior. Anyway, I have been playing around with my camera tonight and snapped a pic I thought was pretty good.

11/05/2010, 12:58 AM	#46
LukFox Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Los Gatos, CA Posts: 3,502	That is a BEAUTIFUL dragon, Parrthed! I really love the vibrant orange on that guy. __________________ Alexa

11/05/2010, 01:02 AM	#47
Monster00101 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: alberta Posts: 858	was at a store the other day looking for a eel. was gonna get a dragon they had there but they wanted 1600, thats just insane. are eels hard to keep? __________________ Piece of mind is priceless

11/05/2010, 01:09 AM	#49
Monster00101 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: alberta Posts: 858	i figured as much. the store is a big chain. everythings over priced there. but they have everything. im guessing a large eel would eat my other fish. whats a smaller eel that wont eat my puffers and triggers? (sorry not trying to steal thread) __________________ Piece of mind is priceless

11/05/2010, 01:18 AM	#50
LukFox Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Los Gatos, CA Posts: 3,502	I would actually worry about a trigger or puffer picking at an eel once they get brave and large enough. You could probably start your own thread and include the kinds of puffers and triggers you have. Some species of triggers would be okay, but I'm not sure about any puffers. I've seen the mix done a lot, but it has always looked risky to me. You could get more input if you made a new thread. __________________ Alexa

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