Snowflake Eel

[Shawn_epicurious]

I wonder if I should be getting concerned. 5 months ago I bought a snowflake eel. He was about 9” long...ish. Now he is a solid 12” long! I have a 200 gallon mixed reef... plent of rock work, caves and hidey places.

Is he going to outgrow my tank?

 

[nereefpat]

That species of eel won't outgrow a 200 gallon. The largest I've seen reported is around 30", and 20-24" is probably more common. Congrats on having a healthy, growing, snowflake eel. And nice pic too.

 

[smlarson72]

He shouldn’t outgrow it. Here is mine. I got him in May and he is growing like a weed too!

 

[Zionas]

That’s one nice Eel you have! How does it behave towards the other, smaller fish? Did you have to feed it live foods to have it start eating?

 

[smlarson72]

That’s one nice Eel you have! How does it behave towards the other, smaller fish? Did you have to feed it live foods to have it start eating?

Mine doesn’t seem to have a problem with the smaller fish. My Domino is his “best friend”. Lol. I started him on krill to get him to eat but l’ve cut way back on that. Now he mainly eats squid, oysters and some cut up shrimp. We put live ghost shrimp in but he didn’t really take an interest in them.

 

[Smarkow]

I’ve had mine for only a week, he has not been out much yet. Anything I can do to coax him out?



Mostly stays under that rock, churning up sand.

 

[smlarson72]

I’ve had mine for only a week, he has not been out much yet. Anything I can do to coax him out?



Mostly stays under that rock, churning up sand.

Bob will stick his head out every time I go over to the tank and especially when he knows it is feeding time. It took him a couple of weeks to get comfortable, only coming out after the lights were turned off.

 

[ReeferWarrant]

@Smarkow, I think thats normal for them. The only time I have seen eels out and about in the wild is when they are hunting. The rest of the time they hide in a hole that provides safety for them. Like above mention, once it's comfortable it'll probably come out for food.

 

[smlarson72]

Bob will stick his head out every time I go over to the tank and especially when he knows it is feeding time. It took him a couple of weeks to get comfortable, only coming out after the lights were turned off.

Here he is eating. (I hope this works).

 

[smlarson72]

Bob will stick his head out every time I go over to the tank and especially when he knows it is feeding time. It took him a couple of weeks to get comfortable, only coming out after the lights were turned off.

 

[smlarson72]

@Smarkow Offer him different types of food. I started with krill and then switched him over to cut up squid, oysters and shrimp.

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

That’s one nice Eel you have! How does it behave towards the other, smaller fish? Did you have to feed it live foods to have it start eating?

He is leaving my fish alone... my crabs, not so much. I didn’t realize my crabs were a primary food source for him in the wild. He started eating frozen mysis shrimp the day after I brought him home. I hand feed him some “re-“hydrated krill a few times a week. ...I have to admit though, I was probably feeding him more emerald crabs than I thought I was at first.

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

That species of eel won't outgrow a 200 gallon. The largest I've seen reported is around 30", and 20-24" is probably more common. Congrats on having a healthy, growing, snowflake eel. And nice pic too.

Thank you! He is fun! He hasn’t made it down into my sump in a few months, which is nice lol

I like watching him eat (when I get to see it) does the whole death role thing : )

 

[smlarson72]

Thank you! He is fun! He hasn’t made it down into my sump in a few months, which is nice lol

I like watching home eat (when I get to see it) does the whole death role thing : )

Mine got into my sump when my son was feeding while I was out of town. We didn’t realize he was down there. I thought he had escaped, thinking my son didn’t secure the top, and my cats ate him. Well..Nope! He got into the sump and we found him. I had to apologize to the cats! Lol

 

[Fishurama]

That’s one nice Eel you have! How does it behave towards the other, smaller fish? Did you have to feed it live foods to have it start eating?

They don't really bother smaller fish unless they were really hungry. Here is an older video of my dragonet pair right around my snowflake who is on the right hand corner under a rock. The snowflake could eat the female in a single bite, but it doesnt. They are fine community members as long as you dont starve them. You dont have to have live food for it to start eating. Mine eats full pieces of krill since ive had it. I feed between 2 and 5 pieces to it directly daily.

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

This guy doesn’t come out much. I had to take a quick pic to get this... sorry for the blue.

 

[Smarkow]

@Smarkow Offer him different types of food. I started with krill and then switched him over to cut up squid, oysters and shrimp.

Will do. I know he ate at the LFS saturday - they fed him before I purchased. So tomorrow will be 6 days. He may have sneaked some in between. Have tried all these foods but maybe I should try fresh > frozen squid.

 

[Smarkow]

This guy doesn’t come out much. I had to take a quick pic to get this... sorry for the blue.

This would be a real challenging photo contest to capture these guys!

 

[Rick.45cal]

We used to spear some food/prey item on the end of a piece of rigid airline tubing with a straightened out paperclip on the business end of it. Their eyesight isn’t all that fantastic and it lets you wave it around in front of them to help entice them to eat. It helps make sure they are eating and getting adequate amounts of food.

 

[Fishurama]

This guy doesn’t come out much. I had to take a quick pic to get this... sorry for the blue.

Mine doesnt come out much either unless its looking for food. I'd like to train it like the video below without biting my finger off LOL