Will a snowflake eel hunt down inverts no matter what?

[Fishels]

My dream tank is to have like a 125 gallon reef that is based around a snowflake eel. But at the same time I’m really wanting a Goby pistol pair. If the eel is well fed and the shrimp hides when the snowflake is out and about is it relatively safe?

I understand completely that any shrimp or crabs can be fair game no matter what. But I’ve seen tons of snowflakes on YouTube along with cleaner shrimp and the like. What say you more experienced peoples?

 

[JC1977]

I kept a snowflake with a cleaner shrimp and multiple hermit crabs and never saw him go after them. Having said that crustaceans are their primary food so it’s always going to be a gamble even if well fed.

 

[littlefoxx]

My dream tank is to have like a 125 gallon reef that is based around a snowflake eel. But at the same time I’m really wanting a Goby pistol pair. If the eel is well fed and the shrimp hides when the snowflake is out and about is it relatively safe?

I understand completely that any shrimp or crabs can be fair game no matter what. But I’ve seen tons of snowflakes on YouTube along with cleaner shrimp and the like. What say you more experienced peoples?

I have a 125 gallon predator/aggressive set up. My snowflake would eat a shrimp in a heartbeat

 

[cdnco2004]

I have a 75g with a 1.5' snowflake and lots of inverts. Snails, hermits, cleaner shrimp, peppermint shrimp even 8 glass feeder shrimp. Ignores them all. I feed him when he asks for food. About 4-5 days a week or so.

 

[Fishels]

I have a 125 gallon predator/aggressive set up. My snowflake would eat a shrimp in a heartbeat

So you think even if shrimp was in hole he’d dig and eat him? I guess there’s just a wide variety of personalities because I’ve seen some with cleaner shrimps


Do you have a fuzzy dwarf lion with it?

 

[AquaLogic]

You're not going to know until you know. Every eel is going to have a different personality.

 

[Fishels]

You're not going to know until you know. Every eel is going to have a different personality.

Guess I’ll have to quiz him b4 I buy lol

My apartment won’t allow tanks but I really wanna keep one of these guys one day. Wanted one since I was 10 yo

 

[cdnco2004]

So you think even if shrimp was in hole he’d dig and eat him? I guess there’s just a wide variety of personalities because I’ve seen some with cleaner shrimps


Do you have a fuzzy dwarf lion with it?

Absolute possibility. These eels burrow themselves. So no, a shrimp in its burrow is not safe from the eel if the eel decides its dinner.

 

[rhitee93]

My snowflake found and ate my pistol shrimp in its burrow within 60 seconds of being moved from observational quarantine to the DT. It also ate the tiny goby that was with the shrimp. I'm not exaggerating. It slithered around the bottom of the tank poking its head in every crevice. Within seconds it found the burrow the shrimp had dug. The next thing I saw was the back half of the eel writhing around. Haven't seen the shrimp or goby since then...

After having the eel for a few months now, I think it was starving when I got it. It was almost 13" long, but very thin. Probably less than 5/8" at the widest part. It ate like crazy for about 2 months. It seemed to be out hunting every other day, so I would feed it. After a while it slowed down to where it only seems hungry every 4 days or so.

Now it has gotten much larger in diameter, probably over an inch at the widest part, but hasn't grown much in length. I wonder if I had fattened it up a bit longer in isolation if it wouldn't have eaten the pistol shrimp.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Guess I’ll have to quiz him b4 I buy lol

My apartment won’t allow tanks but I really wanna keep one of these guys one day. Wanted one since I was 10 yo

You would be taking a huge risk if you do decide to ignore that lease provision. If you did have an accident (or worse, burn the building down or something crazy) it could end up costing you dearly.

As for the eel - all bets are off until you put it in your tank and even then it could be a model citizen for days, weeks or years and then decide one day to do what eels do.