Dragon eel and a wolf eel

[Ken Roane]

I will be adding a Dragon eel to my 400g tank after a 4 week holding period.
In my 400g is a mature 12" 'fat' wolf eel I've had @ 3years.
I'm concerned that the Dragon may have an appetite for my slow moving wolf eel that is very peaceful.
Can anyone with dragon eel experience help?
thanks...Ken

 

[reef lover]

Bump!

 

[lion king]

That's a tough call, while dragon eel's are not near as aggressive as they look, there are a fang toothed eel. The shape and size of the wolf eel is something that could be appetizing and a new addition that still has a wild streak may present a problem. Most concerns I've seen with dragon eels is when 1st introduced and when introducing any new fish after the dragon's made a home, providing of course the proper choices in tank mates have been made.

So do you have the dragon eating dead food on a strict schedule, and has been eating well, and is well fed. I would feed him well before introduction and make sure to keep strictly on his feeding schedule. Once settled in and kept on a perfect strict feeding shedule, I'll give it 50/50 that the wolf eel doesn't disappear one day. Upon initial introduction it will be a high risk proposition.

 

[nereefpat]

Maybe this is a dumb question...Is this eel the big dottyback or the huge, more temperate water eel?

 

[Ken Roane]

That's a tough call, while dragon eel's are not near as aggressive as they look, there are a fang toothed eel. The shape and size of the wolf eel is something that could be appetizing and a new addition that still has a wild streak may present a problem. Most concerns I've seen with dragon eels is when 1st introduced and when introducing any new fish after the dragon's made a home, providing of course the proper choices in tank mates have been made.

So do you have the dragon eating dead food on a strict schedule, and has been eating well, and is well fed. I would feed him well before introduction and make sure to keep strictly on his feeding schedule. Once settled in and kept on a perfect strict feeding shedule, I'll give it 50/50 that the wolf eel doesn't disappear one day. Upon initial introduction it will be a high risk proposition.

Your insight and feeding information is very welcome and appreciated. I’m not willing to risk losing the wolf eel, too attached.
You seem to have a good understanding about dragon eels. Do you have or had dragon eels before?

 

[Ken Roane]

Maybe this is a dumb question...Is this eel the big dottyback or the huge, more temperate water eel?

You’re correct. It’s a dottyback and I think the risk is too great to put the dragon eel with the wolf. I’ll put the wolf into another tank.

 

[lion king]

Your insight and feeding information is very welcome and appreciated. I’m not willing to risk losing the wolf eel, too attached.
You seem to have a good understanding about dragon eels. Do you have or had dragon eels before?

I've never kept one in one of my personal tanks but have worked with a few of them them at a friends lfs, as well as one he kept in a display tank. I have kept a few fang tooth eels and the dragon eel is a relatively less aggressive eel in comparison to other fang tooths. I watched a dragon eel take down a good size hippo tang but it was 100% my friend's fault. He just dumped the hippo into the tank and the dragon was hungry, care must be taken when releasing any new addition.

I would take extra time to get the dragon eating dead food very well. Maybe even keep him in observation longer to make sure he has acclimated to captive living. After a while he will be happy to take food from the tongs rather than hunting for food. When that happens no one knows. You can kind of tell when a fish gets into the rhythm, when that happens he will be less likely to go hunting, I did say "less likely". But be very aware, if you feed every 3 days, you better feed every 3 days; not 4, or he;s going hunting.

Either way it is a high risk, had you asked before, i likely would have recommended against it.