Golden dwarf moray eel

[eric.tech]

Good morning folks! So I’ve had a golden dwarf moray eel for the better part of 6mo now and it’s been a model citizen. I will say, this is my first dive into morays, so this may be normal behavior.

For the first 5mo I’d say, he? Was a voracious eater, was accepting krill every other day and was swimming around the tank actively in search of food. Now over the past couple weeks, he’s been pretty lazy and doesn’t seem to interested in the food I present. So far I’ve tried frozen krill, frozen Patagonia red shrimp, and black worms, no interest. Through my research, they seem to be shrimp hunters in the wild. Also, no other signs of stress, he’s breathing normally, and no injuries that I can see. I’ve read that morays have a pretty slow digestive track and some folks feed their eels a couple times a month, but I wanted to poll the audience to see if this behavior is normal due to this being my first moray eel.

 

[JumboShrimp]

I’ve never owned an eel... but I’m interested to see how others answer your question.

 

[Dolphins18]

I have a moray I've had for a while, though its a chainlink which I think is a larger species than the dwarf golden.
I fed it once every 3 days for the first few months, and then cut back to once ever week or so. I feed it now occasionally once a week at most, fresh shrimp, octopus, squid, clams, etc. I think you should cut back on feeding, once a week should be fine.
I keep some emerald crabs and hermits around for him to eat at night, and it keeps the natural predation behavior as well as getting some fresh live food.

 

[Drao05]

Hi Eric, I had my GDME for about 4-5 years now so can speak from my experience. They definitely do go through phases where they wont eat/will hide and not come out at all. This is no cause for concern as they can go a very long time (months) without food and be ok. As long as he's acting normal I wouldn't be too worried or change anything.

I spot feed mine only once a week small pieces of chopped table shrimp or pieces of silversides. Once he's full he just retreats into his cave and doesn't beg for more like my other fish. But throughout the week he will catch Mysis and other items I regularly feed my fish.

 

[eric.tech]

Hi Eric, I had my GDME for about 4-5 years now so can speak from my experience. They definitely do go through phases where they wont eat/will hide and not come out at all. This is no cause for concern as they can go a very long time (months) without food and be ok. As long as he's acting normal I wouldn't be too worried or change anything.

I spot feed mine only once a week small pieces of chopped table shrimp or pieces of silversides. Once he's full he just retreats into his cave and doesn't beg for more like my other fish. But throughout the week he will catch Mysis and other items I regularly feed my fish.

thanks for the reply and that’s great info! He seems healthy and is just kinda hanging out. I’ll try presenting some different types of food as well. Have you ever tried feeding live marine ghost/feeder shrimp? I’ve seen these around and as they seem to be crustacean hunters, might be worth trying?

 

[Drao05]

thanks for the reply and that’s great info! He seems healthy and is just kinda hanging out. I’ll try presenting some different types of food as well. Have you ever tried feeding live marine ghost/feeder shrimp? I’ve seen these around and as they seem to be crustacean hunters, might be worth trying?

He did eat a small cleaner shrimp I added to my tank once, so yours should definitely go after ghost shrimp. Ive added a large cleaner shrimp and coral banded shrimp in my aquarium now and he doesn't touch them. Most ghost shrimp I see for sale at the LFS are freshwater so won't live long in the reef aquarium. If he's not eating right now, the ghost shrimp may end up just polluting your tank. Just give him a few weeks or a month and he should return to normal on his own.

 

[Largeangels]

I've had a Hawaiian dwarf eel now for over 10 years and I don't see it very often. Only when it rarely pokes it head out or when I put mysis shrimp in the tank and it's hungry. Mostly feed it large Hikari mysis, but also the small Hikari mysis. It will pick up pellet food of the sand bed and eat it. Sometimes it's been so long since I've seen it I almost forget I have it.

 

[eric.tech]

Maybe it was just so hungry from when I got it from the LFS, it was out and about eating whatever it could. Now that it’s been well fed, it’s back to hanging out.

 

[lion king]

Two things to consider, one is krill has a high amount of thiaminese which leads to a vitamin B1 deficiency. This can first display as a waning appetite and lethargy, and eventually an early demise. You may spark his interest in eating by given him some live ghost shrimp, once eating again include other things in his diet; mussels, clams, shrimp, salmon, squid. I wouldn't feed krill at all unless you get human grade krill from an asian market, then only sparingly. Two is every other day is too frequent feeding, once every 5 days to a week is better. Mg is also good for digestion, maintaining at least reef level mg; you can raise your mag to 1400ppm or even as high as 1600ppm to help with digestion. Other things to consider is if he is being bullied or you made any other changes to the tank, and make sure overall water quality is good.

What I would do; test mg level and raise if necessary. Offer live ghost shrimp. Cut down on feeding frequency and offer other foods, no krill.

 

[Tuan Vu]

I have one in my tank for about 6m now. Feed mine every other day or sometimes 3 days. I find it most receptive to fresh raw shrimp, cut to small bites. I saw somewhere you can cause harm to them if they eat large size chucks difficult for them to swallow. Also I use fresh clams on the half shell. Get those at your local grocery store. Leave them in your sump to keep them alive and they make great water filters while staying in your sump.

 

[SudzFD]

Good morning folks! So I’ve had a golden dwarf moray eel for the better part of 6mo now and it’s been a model citizen. I will say, this is my first dive into morays, so this may be normal behavior.

For the first 5mo I’d say, he? Was a voracious eater, was accepting krill every other day and was swimming around the tank actively in search of food. Now over the past couple weeks, he’s been pretty lazy and doesn’t seem to interested in the food I present. So far I’ve tried frozen krill, frozen Patagonia red shrimp, and black worms, no interest. Through my research, they seem to be shrimp hunters in the wild. Also, no other signs of stress, he’s breathing normally, and no injuries that I can see. I’ve read that morays have a pretty slow digestive track and some folks feed their eels a couple times a month, but I wanted to poll the audience to see if this behavior is normal due to this being my first moray eel.

I had a white eyed Moray in a previous tank which is similar to a golden. Was about 12” long the whole time. Kept him with Percula clowns and humu humu no problems. I fed him frozen cooked shrimp from my grocery store about twice a week. He always took it and never bothered anyone in my tank. I have a feeling he’s over fed and just relaxing and digesting. I’d not worry too much and wait a day or two and feed him. They are great additions and a lot of fun to keep.