Dwarf moray questions and general tank questions

[The Small Questions]

I'm planning on getting into saltwater, for 3 creatures in particular: The golden dwarf moray, the skunk cleaner shrimp, and the blood red fire shrimp. I want to make a reef tank out of a 32.5 gallon fluval flex (apparentally the light grows all of the easy tentacled corals that i love) and am planning on putting a dwarf moray in it, but i have some questions, because googling "-obscure expensive fish- reef2reef" only gets you so far...


1: is my foodplan enough food for the moray? and is it enough variety? (2 pieces of tilapia, 2 pieces of cod/trout, 1 sea scallop, a half a handful of shrimp fed 2x a week, feedings alternating between fish and inverts)

2: what fish will they eat? i know they will probably eat things like dartfish, but would a court jester goby be fair game? and would they eat pests like bristleworms or flatworms? picking the right wrasse is a nightmare...

3: are gold dwarf morays particularly suspectible to any sort of disease or parasite? humane quarantine tanks really arent fit for my tiny little hobbit hole...

4: does anyone have any "just so ya know"s about dwarf morays? i dont wanna buy one and have buffalo bill climb out of the eels skin and turn me into a hybrid between a highschool mascot and a inbred captain spock

5: i know this is kind of a whole seperate thread, but any good protein skimmers for the 32 gallon flex? without a doubt that centerpiece eel is gonna be the core part of the bioload, and im just dang lazy and want minimal maintenance (price isnt a factor)

planned stocking: 1 clownfish, 1 golden dwarf moray, 1 (possible) court jester goby, if not court jester goby then probably 1 blue sapphire damselfish (they are peaceful, look it up) 1 skunk cleaner shrimp, 1 randalls pistol shrimp, 2 fire shrimp

planned clean up crew: snails, scarlet hermit crabs (extra shells behind rock), 3 mossy chiton, 1 fighing conch


planned corals, if it matters: elegance coral, torch coral, duncan coral, frogspawn, hammer coral, mushroom coral, zoanthids, toadstool coral, rock flower anenome (i consider them coral since they mostly dont move) (no i dont want a clownfish to host it and yes i know that even if the clown wanted to host it they would die)

 

[HankstankXXL750]

I'm planning on getting into saltwater, for 3 creatures in particular: The golden dwarf moray, the skunk cleaner shrimp, and the blood red fire shrimp. I want to make a reef tank out of a 32.5 gallon fluval flex (apparentally the light grows all of the easy tentacled corals that i love) and am planning on putting a dwarf moray in it, but i have some questions, because googling "-obscure expensive fish- reef2reef" only gets you so far...


1: is my foodplan enough food for the moray? and is it enough variety? (2 pieces of tilapia, 2 pieces of cod/trout, 1 sea scallop, a half a handful of shrimp fed 2x a week, feedings alternating between fish and inverts)

2: what fish will they eat? i know they will probably eat things like dartfish, but would a court jester goby be fair game? and would they eat pests like bristleworms or flatworms? picking the right wrasse is a nightmare...

3: are gold dwarf morays particularly suspectible to any sort of disease or parasite? humane quarantine tanks really arent fit for my tiny little hobbit hole...

4: does anyone have any "just so ya know"s about dwarf morays? i dont wanna buy one and have buffalo bill climb out of the eels skin and turn me into a hybrid between a highschool mascot and a inbred captain spock

5: i know this is kind of a whole seperate thread, but any good protein skimmers for the 32 gallon flex? without a doubt that centerpiece eel is gonna be the core part of the bioload, and im just dang lazy and want minimal maintenance (price isnt a factor)

planned stocking: 1 clownfish, 1 golden dwarf moray, 1 (possible) court jester goby, if not court jester goby then probably 1 blue sapphire damselfish (they are peaceful, look it up) 1 skunk cleaner shrimp, 1 randalls pistol shrimp, 2 fire shrimp

planned clean up crew: snails, scarlet hermit crabs (extra shells behind rock), 3 mossy chiton, 1 fighing conch


planned corals, if it matters: elegance coral, torch coral, duncan coral, frogspawn, hammer coral, mushroom coral, zoanthids, toadstool coral, rock flower anenome (i consider them coral since they mostly dont move) (no i dont want a clownfish to host it and yes i know that even if the clown wanted to host it they would die)

I would question wether the eel can be kept with the shrimp. Most eels eat shrimp.

 

[Keko21]

Those shrimp wont last 5 minutes. I tried putting a fairly larger tiger shrimp in my office tank and my snowflake devoured it instantly. For years I've been target feeding the SOB with tweezers thinking he's virtually blind and probably not a good hunter- wrong! That shrimp hit the water column and I have never seen the eel move out of his cave so fast and accurately CHOMP- gone.

 

[dhboiler]

In regards to your skimmer question, you might check out inTank media baskets to help channel the flow to make the filtration more efficient. They also offer products by tank and have a variety of upgrades for that particular tank including skimmers.

 

[dennis romano]

Your main problem would be finding a golden dwarf moray. They are mainly found around Hawaii which is currently closed. The very few that I have seen in stores sell for around $1000.

 

[Bucs20fan]

If you can manage to find the golden dwarf then props to you. Once you do, save your self 65 dollars and dont buy the shrimp, itl be the most expensive meal you ever feed that moray. Shrimps and morays are usually categorically mutually exclusive LOL, you can have one or the other.

 

[The Small Questions]

Your main problem would be finding a golden dwarf moray. They are mainly found around Hawaii which is currently closed. The very few that I have seen in stores sell for around $1000.

price is no factor when it comes to my desire for eels!

 

[The Small Questions]

Those shrimp wont last 5 minutes. I tried putting a fairly larger tiger shrimp in my office tank and my snowflake devoured it instantly. For years I've been target feeding the SOB with tweezers thinking he's virtually blind and probably not a good hunter- wrong! That shrimp hit the water column and I have never seen the eel move out of his cave so fast and accurately CHOMP- gone.

ive read that golden dwarfs are hit or miss with smaller shrimp, maybe if i got the biggest shrimp i could possibly find, and kept the moray very well fed maybe they would avoid the cleaner and fire shrimp, and the pistol shrimp has his goby so i feel it would be fine as long as the moray was added last but i would appreciate feedback (especially from people that have them) as to how well this could work

 

[The Small Questions]

In regards to your skimmer question, you might check out inTank media baskets to help channel the flow to make the filtration more efficient. They also offer products by tank and have a variety of upgrades for that particular tank including skimmers.

ive looked at them, definitely picking those baskets up! (next year when i hopefully get the tank)

 

[kingoftheHiLLpeople]

Get a different tank.

 

[NotReefsafe]

If I had another tank, I'd strongly consider doin this. Good luck! I recommend sending all of your questions to Water Colors Aquarium Gallery--they talked about this animal on their podcast and are quite knowledgeable.

 

[dhboiler]

Are you married to to the Fluval Flex for a reason? Like the look? Design? I think you could get better mileage out of a 40 breeder. There are drop in AIO kits if you don't want a sump. You keep saying price isn't an issue. You could do a lot better tank wise, and maybe have a show fuge in the event your eel doesn't want to play nice with your shrimp.

 

[Slocke]

My thoughts, not an expert but:

1. Yes sounds like a great diet but @lion king knows best.
2. A CJG would be an easy meal. But probably not eat pests. You may not need a pest eater.
3. Eels are fairly parasite and disease resistant so you're good there.
4. It's of the genus gymnotherax which means it specializes in fish eating so fish are more susceptible but shrimp are less. Get an eel from the genus echidna if you want the opposite.
5. Skip

Overall if you want that eel I'd skip the other fish and do a species only. The shrimp may not be eaten but they may. If you want fish more than shrimp go for an echidna like the snowflake but if you want something safer than both consider a smaller species of snake eel (snake eels are kinda my thing).

 

[The Small Questions]

Are you married to to the Fluval Flex for a reason? Like the look? Design? I think you could get better mileage out of a 40 breeder. There are drop in AIO kits if you don't want a sump. You keep saying price isn't an issue. You could do a lot better tank wise, and maybe have a show fuge in the event your eel doesn't want to play nice with your shrimp.

price is not an issue, but space certaintly is, if the eel doesnt play nice with the shrimp i was thinking on just giving up with shrimp but a "show fuge" makes a lot more sense (if a hang-on-back mini macro tank counts as a display refugium)

 

[Jack_10218]

I'm planning on getting into saltwater, for 3 creatures in particular: The golden dwarf moray, the skunk cleaner shrimp, and the blood red fire shrimp. I want to make a reef tank out of a 32.5 gallon fluval flex (apparentally the light grows all of the easy tentacled corals that i love) and am planning on putting a dwarf moray in it, but i have some questions, because googling "-obscure expensive fish- reef2reef" only gets you so far...


1: is my foodplan enough food for the moray? and is it enough variety? (2 pieces of tilapia, 2 pieces of cod/trout, 1 sea scallop, a half a handful of shrimp fed 2x a week, feedings alternating between fish and inverts)

2: what fish will they eat? i know they will probably eat things like dartfish, but would a court jester goby be fair game? and would they eat pests like bristleworms or flatworms? picking the right wrasse is a nightmare...

3: are gold dwarf morays particularly suspectible to any sort of disease or parasite? humane quarantine tanks really arent fit for my tiny little hobbit hole...

4: does anyone have any "just so ya know"s about dwarf morays? i dont wanna buy one and have buffalo bill climb out of the eels skin and turn me into a hybrid between a highschool mascot and a inbred captain spock

5: i know this is kind of a whole seperate thread, but any good protein skimmers for the 32 gallon flex? without a doubt that centerpiece eel is gonna be the core part of the bioload, and im just dang lazy and want minimal maintenance (price isnt a factor)

planned stocking: 1 clownfish, 1 golden dwarf moray, 1 (possible) court jester goby, if not court jester goby then probably 1 blue sapphire damselfish (they are peaceful, look it up) 1 skunk cleaner shrimp, 1 randalls pistol shrimp, 2 fire shrimp

planned clean up crew: snails, scarlet hermit crabs (extra shells behind rock), 3 mossy chiton, 1 fighing conch


planned corals, if it matters: elegance coral, torch coral, duncan coral, frogspawn, hammer coral, mushroom coral, zoanthids, toadstool coral, rock flower anenome (i consider them coral since they mostly dont move) (no i dont want a clownfish to host it and yes i know that even if the clown wanted to host it they would die)

Did you ever end up doing this? I’m interested in maybe adding one to my biocube at some point in the future.