Hey! I have a fifteen gallon tank( yes, I know it’s too small for a snowflake). The only reason I have a snowflake is because I had a cheap opportunity to buy one and I will be upgrading to a larger tank soon. Anyways, he was doing great until he wasn’t. He stoped being content, so today I went to lows and bought some pvc pipe and built an undersand cave. How do I get home to go in? He doesn’t sho much interest in it.
Snowflake eel cave
- Thread starter Omakoshark
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I don't find pvc dens to be optimum, although they do seem to work well for ribbon eels. But most others will shun them more than use use them. On the hand, given time he may use it. Build a cave with rock, with 2 to 3 openings and large enough for him to secure his entire body.
I hope you have every crack sealed, in a tank that small it's like a 99.9% chance he will go carpet surfing.
I hope you have every crack sealed, in a tank that small it's like a 99.9% chance he will go carpet surfing.
I had a snowflake eel once it went carpet surfing through the smallest gap in my lid while I was doing maintenance on his tank I left the room to clean something and my friend who was supposed to be watching the eel was looking at his phone and the eel was on the floor chilling lol. About the caves they like narrow crevices in rocks to stick their heads out of but also be able to go back into. What do you mean "he was doing great until he wasn't." What specifically happened?
DaddyFish
“5 percenter”
My snowflake lives in a "1-1/2 inch ABS Pipe Complex", made from one elbow turned down, then one sanitary tee turned down, one straight tee turned sideways, and finally another sanitary tee turned down. Each "leg" of the sanitary tees is filled with a mixture of clear epoxy and sand for weight.
Eelie is about 18" long now and she adopted the PVC the very first day.
PS That would be Bob The Builder Gobie excavating underneath. Bob and Eelie have a special, interspecies relationship going.
Eelie is about 18" long now and she adopted the PVC the very first day.
PS That would be Bob The Builder Gobie excavating underneath. Bob and Eelie have a special, interspecies relationship going.
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Omakoshark
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He was totally happy with the rock work and was eating. Then one day I made some changes to the rock work that he didn’t like( he looked really stressed) so I fixed it back to the old way. The tank is a bio cube, so one he found out you could climb in the back, I couldn’t keep him out of it. So I built him the pvc cave.
DaddyFish
“5 percenter”
Slightly off-topic but,
You may notice the same behavior during a strong thunderstorm. My theory is that underwater seismic activity is not a comforting event for an eel, so the vibrations of thunder undoubtedly resemble an underwater rock slide, causing them to frantically take to open water until things stop moving.
Urchins are herbivores.
Are you target feeding him, hermits and nassarius snails are the best scavengers for wasted food but may not survive a snowflake. Target feeding with appropriate size chunks will help keep waste to a minimum.
Are you target feeding him, hermits and nassarius snails are the best scavengers for wasted food but may not survive a snowflake. Target feeding with appropriate size chunks will help keep waste to a minimum.
Goodair
Valuable Member
Urchins need to be able to graze all day and a tank that small wouldn't be ideal for it. Some go for scraps of meat, but my longspine wouldn't go for it unless i tuck a scrap under it, it prefers to go for algae. As Lionking said, get in a habit of target feeding and maybe you can add some trochus snails (to eat algae that grows) as they would be a lil harder to eat and maybe your eel wouldn't bother them if well fed. Being a small tank, anything can happen though.
Hugh Mann
Valuable Member
How did this end up going for you? Your snowflake end up settling down into the pvc cave?
I have a ~30 gallon system with one 14" eel, and he refuses to use either of the pvc caves. Much more prefers hiding in a natural rock cave created by stacking a piece of shelf rock on 3 other rocks. Or jamming itself beside one of the tubes.
I have a ~30 gallon system with one 14" eel, and he refuses to use either of the pvc caves. Much more prefers hiding in a natural rock cave created by stacking a piece of shelf rock on 3 other rocks. Or jamming itself beside one of the tubes.
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