In-Depth Tessalata Eel Care

[2manyideas]

I apologize in advance for the long writeup but I am dissatisfied with the information I have found online and would have many questions about these beautiful but terrifying creatures as they are my favorite fish. Please keep in mind this will be for research purposes and for future enthusiasts seeking to own one of these eels.

Here is what I have found so far

1. These eels get HUGE! 6' long seems to be very common.
2. Most websites say about 180 gallon minimum tank size. This seems to be false with most people strongly recommending 300+ gallons.
3. These eels are fang toothed, aggressive, mostly nocturnal and ambush predators. Because of this and point number 1, they will eat every fish you put in the tank, usually while the victim fish is sleeping. Lionfish, pufferfish, triggerfish and tangs are all on the menu... so are your fingers.
4. Bites from these eels can cause bacterial infections and almost immediately require medical attention.
5. Lastly, ANYTHING can happen in this hobby.

I have not found very good information at all on a good tank set up and aquascape, filtration system, clean up crew, feeding schedule and the like. Seems like the information available, summed up, is basically "A large tank: the eels get big" "A good filter: they're messy eaters with a large bioload" "Don't put your hands in the tank and have a very secure lid: They have sharp teeth and due to their size can push off even tight lids" I read somewhere that an enthusiast or lfs was using cinderblocks to weigh the tank lid down.

While this is good information to either deter you or educate you on the type of commitment owning one of these monsters is, it doesn't give you any kind of information on HOW to care for one.

• Aside from "a big one" what kind of tank set up do you need? I want details on

1. What kind of clean up crew? Brittle stars, sea urchins, crabs and snails, cleaner shrimp etc. what is safe from the tessalata? Being a fangtooth they eat fish not crustaceans right? If "nothing is safe" how do you clean the glass? A waterproof, cut proof glove and a scraper? What about the rocks and sand?
2. What does a "good filtration" system for a tank like this look like? Same as a regular tank but larger scale? What kind of filter media in your sump? Just live rock or another media? What kind of algae in the refugium? Chaeto? Ulva? What do you do with the algae to remove the nutrients? Just throw it away? (It's my understanding that in a refugium, as algae takes in those excess nutrients, the algae and thus the excess nutrients have to be removed from the system to actually work. In typical reef systems it is often fed to tangs and obviously that won't work here.)
3. What kind of aquascape? You need large caves for the eel to hide but are you stuck with just lumping rocks together with epoxy in a blob with caves for the eel? What kind/brands of epoxy will hold the rocks so the eel won't knock them over? Do you need to drill holes and run acrylic dowels through the rocks for support? What do you need to do to "eel proof" for something that will get this big? (specific products and processes would be appreciated)

• What do these eels eat?

They are fang tooth and "eat every fish you put in the tank" but what do you reliably feed them? Go to the market and get a whole fish? Throw your cousin's gerbil in there? What about when they are small? I'm looking for a good feeding schedule and diet for the eel throughout its lifespan, not just when its full grown.

• Tank mates

I know almost everywhere says they will eat everything you put into the tank but if you're just throwing tangs and clownfish and common reef fish in the tank and calling it "everything"... are you really trying everything?
Consider the following

• Groupers

What if you introduced a grouper too big for the tessalata eel to eat? (assuming the tessy is still growing) I saw one member on her (I forget their name and I apologize) with a 14 year old tessalata they were feeding fish about 8" long from a local asian market. Groupers get almost a foot and a half long and definitely aren't thin fish. What is the likely hood of this working?

• Cat Sharks

Cat sharks get over 3 foot long and the gallonage recommendations are very similar to that of a full grown tessy. Cat sharks get along with other eels so what would set the tessalata apart?

What about fish that are too fast for the tessalata? If provided with caves small enough for them and not the tessalata so they can dart into and sleep in piece, could that work as well? I currently have a lawnmower blenny that moves so fast he becomes nothing but a brown blur. His size leads into another question lightly touched on this forum but not in-depth; what about fish TOO SMALL? Someone (once again their username/handle slips my mind) someone brought up the example of damsels.

Another area of question is lobsters. Beings as tessalatas are not pebble tooth like zebras or snowflakes, would they still go after reef lobsters or will those be okay?

Second to last are cleaner wrasses and cleaner shrimp. How well will these hold up? A quick google search will yield pictures of cleaner shrimp inside of the mouths of tessies but how long until the tesselata eats the shrimp? Will that ever happen? What about the wrasse?

The last idea, which is a wild card, came to me through observing my own tank. I have two clownfish that call a carpet anemone home and a snowflake eel in the same tank. Said snowflake eel has eaten a clownfish before. When the snowflake touches the carpet anemone he jolts away like he just touched a hot stove. I read somewhere that because eels also have slime coats that anemones don't affect them so what is my snowflake doing? If a carpet anemone deters eels, would a large carpet anemone be enough to deter a young tesselata from its clownfish hosts? Would a large tesselata even bother with the clowns in an anemone?


Once again I apologize for the long write up but these are details I was not able to find online. Tesselata eels are my favorite fish in the hobby and if I am ever to own one in the future and plan a tank for it, I would like to know these details to most effectively plan out the build. Thank you for taking the time to respond and reply. As my username implies, I have 2manyideas

 

[Chrisv.]

I bet @AquariumDomain could be share some great tips on this. He has experience.

 

[Chrisv.]

I don't think he is on here very often, but he replies to comments on his YouTube channel pretty quickly. If you don't hear from him here, try there. Also, check out his YouTube channel, because his systems are off the hook. Especially the one he calls "predator bay", a several thousand gallon shark and eel tank that is more similar to an indoor pool than it is to my aquarium.

 

[2manyideas]

I don't think he is on here very often, but he replies to comments on his YouTube channel pretty quickly. If you don't hear from him here, try there. Also, check out his YouTube channel, because his systems are off the hook. Especially the one he calls "predator bay", a several thousand gallon shark and eel tank that is more similar to an indoor pool than it is to my aquarium.

Thank you! I will have to look into that.

 

[SeaworthyAquatics]

I have kept many eels over the years and currently have five in different tanks, including a Tesselata, though he is relatively small at 16". I can at least give you a few quick answers on my experience with these.

1. Clean up crew: I've always used large snails for both rock work and the sand bed, usually big Turbo snails and Tiger Conchs for the sand and they usually get left alone well enough.
2. Filtration: I always double down on bio media, get an oversized skimmer and run a refugium with chaeto. Either give it away or just toss the extra when you empty it if you don't have fish to feed it to.
3. Aquascape: Build a tunnel system with pvc pipe and glue rubble on any plastic you can see after building a rock structure on top of it or burying it in the sand.

I try to feed the eel before I do any cleaning near their hangout.

Tank mates is a little more difficult. I try to add the eels last, starting small with large other fish. If you keep them fed well the tend not to bother the older bigger fish, but will eat just about anything new you put in. They may suddenly decide otherwise years down the line, well fed or not, and take down an old tankmate.

 

[lion king]

I have always wanted a tessa also, just never had a tank big enough. I have a 210g with an aging population, and dream about keeping one when everyone passes on, but fear the 210g will be too small. Although, eels will stay tucked away most of the time, while the do swim, they don't seem to too often. I have never seen one much more 4.5' in captivity, like that's small right. You don't hear too much about them, because most people kill them pretty quickly, mostly do to nutritional deficiencies if they just don't end on the floor. They are a beast to be reckoned with.

Some of my other threads give great info on diet, a variety of fresh(if possible) human grade seafood. A fatty fish is a must, salmon is the best choice that I have found; tuna is like over $20 a lb but also good. Shell on shrimp, they need the shells for added nutritional value. Mussels are a great source of B vitamins, a vitamin B1 deficiency is one of the leading causes of an early demise. Scallop, squid, and octopus are also good choices. Get small batches and freeze yourself or get high quality frozen used within recommended shelf life. Improperly frozen, stored, and expired food will be lacking proper nutrients. You can stuff a quality pellet in the chunks for added nutrition, including an algae based pellet, inthe wild they would get their green nutrients from eating a tang or other algae eating fish. These fish live over 20nyears in the wild, most people never make it to the 2 year mark, many times due to nutritional deficiencies. They are also sensitive to poisoning, which include copper, antibiotics, and tank cleaners; even those calling themselves bacteria.

A large skimmer and a refugium is your best solution for filtration. You can clamp or weight down your lids, whatever you figure to be aesthetically pleasing. They will push right through lids although I do know some that never weighted their lids and never had an issue. But have seen them on floor even after a couple of years, so you never know.

Fish are the main part of a fang tooths diet but they will eat shrimp and even crabs; not hermits, Snails, conch, star fish, and urchins are all fine. The narcassius snail is great for eating food remnants. Target feeding portions that are easily swallowed keeps the tank cleaner. You would be surprised how many people just toss in chunks of food, and very large pieces of food, then say how messy they are.

Some people will keep fish like damsels with the tessa and other fang eels, but their survival is based more on how elusive they are. Over time many of them if not all of them will disappear, Fish like clowns will disappear pretty easily, it just takes an accidental bump, for them to slurp them right down. Sharks may be safe from swallowing, but not from a bite, If kept to point of maturity, this eel really is best kept alone. Regardless of large groupers, aggressive triggers; eventually they will disappear or be injured and succumb to their injuries. If the tessa doesn't eat a reef lobster, it is very possible, they could actually injure the eel, and these injuries could progress to a bacterial infection and end badly.

Another dark truth many people don't talk about, this fish is also euthanized when the hobbyist gets in over their head, So consider your decision very carefully. There are very few resources to rehome this fish, and I have never seen a lfs take one in once it gets big.

 

[2manyideas]

It’s funny how life works out. Purely coincidence but after posting this thread I got the opportunity to own a tessalata. After much deliberation on whether or not I could provide for it until maturity, I decided to go through with it. I am already working on plans for a bigger tank which I will custom make so until then, think of this as a holding tank. He is about 2’ long and will spend as little of his life in this tank as possible. Looks like I have an opportunity to document my experience with one up close and personal. I added a cleaner wrasse and thus far have had no issues although it’s only been in the tank for two days. I made sure the cleaner wrasse was cleaning other fish at the lfs before bringing him home and chose a smaller one in hopes it would be too small for the eel to consider a meal. I named him Jerry. After he settled in, I was able to capture a video of Jerry cleaning the inside of the tessalatas mouth, affectionately referenced to as the Leviathan. Videos are not working but I have one of the temporary tank and one of the wrasse cleaning the eel. If there is interest in this adventure I am willing to post a new thread but I figured this was a good place to post this for now.

 

[lion king]

A friend with a tessa in 750g just told me the other day how fish were starting to dissappear; large triggers, angels, and groupers. Eventually they always end up alone.

 

[2manyideas]

A friend with a tessa in 750g just told me the other day how fish were starting to dissappear; large triggers, angels, and groupers. Eventually they always end up alone.

That is crazy. That’s 2.5x what people are recommending and the fish are still disappearing…. One thing I learned very quickly is that these animals are one of the most territorial I’ve ever seen so I wonder if that has anything to do with it. He will aggressively approach the magnet cleaner when it goes by his den and has even put his mouth up to it. Thus far, fingers crossed, he leaves the cleaner wrasse alone and seems totally unbothered by him. When the wrasse starts cleaning him the eel opens his mouth wider and I’d like to think that he is doing this so the wrasse will clean his mouth but something tells me it’s more of an invitation to swim into his belly lol. Picked up the wrasse for $25 so not a terribly expensive meal if things go south but will still be disappointing

 

[lion king]

Its pretty simple, if you want to keep one; you plan a tank to keep them alone or plan for whatever you put in with them to be food. Nature is nature.

 

[SlugSnorter]

I apologize in advance for the long writeup but I am dissatisfied with the information I have found online and would have many questions about these beautiful but terrifying creatures as they are my favorite fish. Please keep in mind this will be for research purposes and for future enthusiasts seeking to own one of these eels.

Here is what I have found so far

1. These eels get HUGE! 6' long seems to be very common.
2. Most websites say about 180 gallon minimum tank size. This seems to be false with most people strongly recommending 300+ gallons.
3. These eels are fang toothed, aggressive, mostly nocturnal and ambush predators. Because of this and point number 1, they will eat every fish you put in the tank, usually while the victim fish is sleeping. Lionfish, pufferfish, triggerfish and tangs are all on the menu... so are your fingers.
4. Bites from these eels can cause bacterial infections and almost immediately require medical attention.
5. Lastly, ANYTHING can happen in this hobby.

I have not found very good information at all on a good tank set up and aquascape, filtration system, clean up crew, feeding schedule and the like. Seems like the information available, summed up, is basically "A large tank: the eels get big" "A good filter: they're messy eaters with a large bioload" "Don't put your hands in the tank and have a very secure lid: They have sharp teeth and due to their size can push off even tight lids" I read somewhere that an enthusiast or lfs was using cinderblocks to weigh the tank lid down.

While this is good information to either deter you or educate you on the type of commitment owning one of these monsters is, it doesn't give you any kind of information on HOW to care for one.

• Aside from "a big one" what kind of tank set up do you need? I want details on

1. What kind of clean up crew? Brittle stars, sea urchins, crabs and snails, cleaner shrimp etc. what is safe from the tessalata? Being a fangtooth they eat fish not crustaceans right? If "nothing is safe" how do you clean the glass? A waterproof, cut proof glove and a scraper? What about the rocks and sand?
2. What does a "good filtration" system for a tank like this look like? Same as a regular tank but larger scale? What kind of filter media in your sump? Just live rock or another media? What kind of algae in the refugium? Chaeto? Ulva? What do you do with the algae to remove the nutrients? Just throw it away? (It's my understanding that in a refugium, as algae takes in those excess nutrients, the algae and thus the excess nutrients have to be removed from the system to actually work. In typical reef systems it is often fed to tangs and obviously that won't work here.)
3. What kind of aquascape? You need large caves for the eel to hide but are you stuck with just lumping rocks together with epoxy in a blob with caves for the eel? What kind/brands of epoxy will hold the rocks so the eel won't knock them over? Do you need to drill holes and run acrylic dowels through the rocks for support? What do you need to do to "eel proof" for something that will get this big? (specific products and processes would be appreciated)

• What do these eels eat?

They are fang tooth and "eat every fish you put in the tank" but what do you reliably feed them? Go to the market and get a whole fish? Throw your cousin's gerbil in there? What about when they are small? I'm looking for a good feeding schedule and diet for the eel throughout its lifespan, not just when its full grown.

• Tank mates

I know almost everywhere says they will eat everything you put into the tank but if you're just throwing tangs and clownfish and common reef fish in the tank and calling it "everything"... are you really trying everything?
Consider the following

• Groupers

What if you introduced a grouper too big for the tessalata eel to eat? (assuming the tessy is still growing) I saw one member on her (I forget their name and I apologize) with a 14 year old tessalata they were feeding fish about 8" long from a local asian market. Groupers get almost a foot and a half long and definitely aren't thin fish. What is the likely hood of this working?

• Cat Sharks

Cat sharks get over 3 foot long and the gallonage recommendations are very similar to that of a full grown tessy. Cat sharks get along with other eels so what would set the tessalata apart?

What about fish that are too fast for the tessalata? If provided with caves small enough for them and not the tessalata so they can dart into and sleep in piece, could that work as well? I currently have a lawnmower blenny that moves so fast he becomes nothing but a brown blur. His size leads into another question lightly touched on this forum but not in-depth; what about fish TOO SMALL? Someone (once again their username/handle slips my mind) someone brought up the example of damsels.

Another area of question is lobsters. Beings as tessalatas are not pebble tooth like zebras or snowflakes, would they still go after reef lobsters or will those be okay?

Second to last are cleaner wrasses and cleaner shrimp. How well will these hold up? A quick google search will yield pictures of cleaner shrimp inside of the mouths of tessies but how long until the tesselata eats the shrimp? Will that ever happen? What about the wrasse?

The last idea, which is a wild card, came to me through observing my own tank. I have two clownfish that call a carpet anemone home and a snowflake eel in the same tank. Said snowflake eel has eaten a clownfish before. When the snowflake touches the carpet anemone he jolts away like he just touched a hot stove. I read somewhere that because eels also have slime coats that anemones don't affect them so what is my snowflake doing? If a carpet anemone deters eels, would a large carpet anemone be enough to deter a young tesselata from its clownfish hosts? Would a large tesselata even bother with the clowns in an anemone?


Once again I apologize for the long write up but these are details I was not able to find online. Tesselata eels are my favorite fish in the hobby and if I am ever to own one in the future and plan a tank for it, I would like to know these details to most effectively plan out the build. Thank you for taking the time to respond and reply. As my username implies, I have 2manyideas

since they have somewhat simmilar needs another eel owner could maybe help, so ill summon @Dragonreef202

 

[TriggerFinger]

If there is interest in this adventure I am willing to post a new thread but I figured this was a good place to post this for now

Please post a link to a new thread if you start one.

 

[2manyideas]

Please post a link to a new thread if you start one.

Will do!

 

[2manyideas]

Please post a link to a new thread if you start one.

here is the link to the new thread. I may have to repost it in the build thread section but seeings as it will eventually span multiple tanks and has the goal of educating people on my experience keeping the animal I put it in the predatory fish discussion

Tessalata Eel Adventure

I’ve decided to start a new thread and document my experience with caring for a Tessalata eel. I didn’t find much information online except for that these eels get 6’ long, need 300+ gallons and eat everything. So I’m hoping I can post enough here to make this a documentary of sorts to give more...

www.reef2reef.com