After 11 years i finally found a Gold Spotted Snake Eel

[Hotelbravo]

I have been looking for this eel for 11 years and i finally found a guy who finds these regularly. He is still being shy but already letting me hand feed him frozen shrimp!

 

[i cant think]

I have been looking for this eel for 11 years and i finally found a guy who finds these regularly. He is still being shy but already letting me hand feed him frozen shrimp!

@Slocke will love this

 

[jacksin]

Aw

 

[jacksin]

Awesome
Congrats

 

[Hotelbravo]

Thank you
I will update with better pictures soon!

 

[Slocke]

Awesome!!
Really happy for you! I've had mine about 6 months and they are bold and personable fish. I suggest partially burying food in the sand. It will recreate their natural hunting behaviors.

 

[Hotelbravo]

Awesome!!
Really happy for you! I've had mine about 6 months and they are bold and personable fish. I suggest partially burying food in the sand. It will recreate their natural hunting behaviors.

I ended up getting a regular spotted snake eel and the gold spot together so i have 1 of each. they both eat from my hands which i really enjoy

 

[i cant think]

I’d love a snake eel in the future, the sea snakes are one animal I absolutely love but we all know their danger so a snake eel is a nice alternative for me

But for now in my community reef I’ll stick to gobies, wrasses, angels and butterflies.

 

[Slocke]

I ended up getting a regular spotted snake eel and the gold spot together so i have 1 of each. they both eat from my hands which i really enjoy

Nice they only have two blunt teeth but they do get strong. Won’t cause damage but does hurt.

 

[Hotelbravo]

@Slocke
My guy sent me another picture the next day after he sent these to me, he caught another gold spot but this one doesnt have the black rings around the gold like mine does.
He seems to catch alot of these guys.

 

[lion king]

You guys probably know this, there are more than one species of the spotted snake eels. The one with the black rings is a Myrichthys ocellatus and is commonly called the gold spotted snake. There's also Myrichthys maculosus which is more commonly called the tiger snake and has the spots without the black ring. There is also the Hawaiian spotted snake, Myrichthys magnificus, which also doesn;t have the black rings around the spots. The Hawaiian and Tiger spots are not gold, I find the Myrichthys ocellatus the most attractive. As usual with similar species, these are often misidentified by switching the scientific name or the common name.

I would like one too, am I correct they would need at least a 6' tank.

​

 

[Slocke]

@Slocke
My guy sent me another picture the next day after he sent these to me, he caught another gold spot but this one doesnt have the black rings around the gold like mine does.
He seems to catch alot of these guys.

So the big one might be Myrichthys breviceps which my LFS decided was worth 1300$. The small one is not Myrichthys but one of the many other genera of the family opitchthidae. Which covers all snake and worm eels.

Myrichthys are the biggest and most impressive I believe thus they are the ones sold in the hobby.

 

[lion king]

So the big one might be Myrichthys breviceps which my LFS decided was worth 1300$. The small one is not Myrichthys and one of the many other genera of the family opitchthidae. Which covers all snake and worm eels.

Myrichthys are the biggest and most impressive I believe thus they are the ones sold in the hobby.

Do you have a pic of the head, the head shape is very different with the Myrichthys breviceps.

 

[Slocke]

You guys probably know this, there are more than one species of the spotted snake eels. The one with the black rings is a Myrichthys ocellatus and is commonly called the gold spotted snake. There's also Myrichthys maculosus which is more commonly called the tiger snake and has the spots without the black ring. There is also the Hawaiian spotted snake, Myrichthys magnificus, which also doesn;t have the black rings around the spots. The Hawaiian and Tiger spots are not gold, I find the Myrichthys ocellatus the most attractive. As usual with similar species, these are often misidentified by switching the scientific name or the common name.

I would like one too, am I correct they would need at least a 6' tank.

​

Colubrinus is my favorite by a distance but the ocellatus is one of my favorites and far easier and active if also more aggressive from what I’ve found out.

Here's my thoughts on tank size. They are not active very often but when they are they swim around a lot more than morays. Mine will not emerge for a few days after eating but then become active every morning for a few hours. Increasing every day they're not fed. So ideally the bigger the better but at a minimum a tank that they can fully submerge themselves in the sand (or a pic pipe) without any big bends. There mostly in the 2'-3.5' region when full grown.

 

[lion king]

Colubrinus

Are these your fav because of personality. My 6' tank has a tessa and I woudn't put one in there, and I think a 4' really isn't adequate. I like the way the goldspotted looks best.

 

[Slocke]

Are these your fav because of personality. My 6' tank has a tessa and I woudn't put one in there, and I think a 4' really isn't adequate. I like the way the goldspotted looks best.

It's my favorite purely on appearance. I like its streamlined body and the way it swims more. Also I like the pattern and how it looks like most species of sea snakes. I don't know why but sea snakes were a passion of mine growing up and as @i cant think said this is the closest I'll get probably.

Certainly if I were to recommend one purely on behavior and ease it would be Ocellatus.




As for tank size you are right. I'd go with bigger than a similar sized moray.

 

[Hotelbravo]

You guys probably know this, there are more than one species of the spotted snake eels. The one with the black rings is a Myrichthys ocellatus and is commonly called the gold spotted snake. There's also Myrichthys maculosus which is more commonly called the tiger snake and has the spots without the black ring. There is also the Hawaiian spotted snake, Myrichthys magnificus, which also doesn;t have the black rings around the spots. The Hawaiian and Tiger spots are not gold, I find the Myrichthys ocellatus the most attractive. As usual with similar species, these are often misidentified by switching the scientific name or the common name.

I would like one too, am I correct they would need at least a 6' tank.

​

I am sure you are right, but all the data i can find says that there are only 2 kinds of snake eel located where mine was caught. So unless they have never been identified until now idk what to tell you.

Also they are in my 300 gallon, which is 6 foot.

 

[Hotelbravo]

Do you have a pic of the head, the head shape is very different with the Myrichthys breviceps.

Picture of the head of the one in the bucket? No, i only had that picture and another picture of the 2 eels he caught me. The other eels in the 1st bucket picture were released back after he asked me if i wanted them too but i couldnt spend another $570 on shipping on the same paycheck as the first 2 eels

here are the 2 eels i have in my tank

 

[Hotelbravo]

@Slocke @lion king
Here are some pictures from today, water was cloudy they were exploring in the sand

there was a weird glare with this last picture, probably from my arm blocking some light

 

[lion king]

@Slocke @lion king
Here are some pictures from today, water was cloudy they were exploring in the sand

there was a weird glare with this last picture, probably from my arm blocking some light

Very nice!