Snowflake eel?

[DreamCatcher87]

Well, I USED to own a 29 gallon tank with a yellow tang, a dogface puffer, a yellow tail black damsel and a clownfish. The yellow tang, unfortunately, brought ich into my system. I lost all four of my fish. A friend of mine recommended me taking in a snowflake eel since I wanted something that seldom caught diseases and I could handle. I fixed up my tank so that I am about 99.9% sure she cannot escape. What all do I need to offer her as far as variety goes? I have some freeze dried krill, frozen shrimp, frozen squid, and some frozen plankton. Should I try to offer these all to her? Also, my dogface puffer ate baby crabs I caught at the beach. Should she be offered some of these as well? How often should i give her live goldfish? also how often should I feed her? Any help is greatly appreciated... Oh, here are two pics of my little StarrLyte


okay any help is greatly appreciated. also, if/when i decide to get another fish, how would she react to a baby picasso trigger?

[CollegeReefer]

Well i will first tell you that i have no experience with eels, but their are a few things i do know. One thing, if you want what is best for your eel, you are going to want to get a bigger tank (at least 50 gallons) and have it full of liverock for the eel to hide in. A snowflake can get to be over 2 feet long. As for feeding habits, i am not sure, but that might have been something you wanted to figure out before getting the eel.

[harif87]

Feed meaty foods like squid and silversides. Most shrimp and krill willl probably be too small for the eel. The plankton wont do much nutritionwise for the eel. Also feeding goldfish can do more bad than good. Besides theyre not that nutritious. I would also stay away from introducing things you found on the beach, they could introduce parasites...

Your eel will eat any baby fishes it can get. I would stay away from any babies, be them aggressive or not, the eel doesnt discriminate against its meals..

I agree with CR, you need a bigger tank.

[Fishfirst]

A juvi eel will be fine in the tank for a while... but do realize these fish will get fairly large quickly. Feed them every other day a mixture of krill, silversides, shrimp, squid, and clam. Feeding crabs that comes from the beach is okay, as long as its been quarentined for a good period of time (6 weeks) and just to be safe, any crab with bigger claws should be declawed before feeding...

Goldfish are no no's... they offer very little nutritional value and aren't very good for your eel at all. If you can't get your eel to feed from a feeding stick after a few days, try live ghost shrimp or cheap peppermint shrimp.

[CollegeReefer]

Reading over your other post, didn't you already of a snowflake eel that escaped your 29?

[DreamCatcher87]

yes i did have a snowflake that escaped a 29 gallon, she jumped and since then, i have found a method of keeping eels contained. I didnt know they would jump and i found out the hard way. My last one only ate shrimp, nothing else, she refused all other food. my namethings is DREAMCATCHER, that was the other eel's name. Yes i lost her, but i have had MANY people who have eels examine my tank and they said it is "eel proof" for now.

[leveldrummer]

50 gallons is actually kinda small for a grown snowflake, i wouldnt go less than a 90, you can add some fish in there with it, just make sure they arent small enough to eat (and dont add any more to the 29, its already pushing it with an eel) a picaso isnt a great idea for a tank mate, they are really mean fish, and usually need a tank to themselves. some larger damsels, angels, lionfish, all kinds of fish are great for an eel tank... AS LONG AS THE EEL IS WELL FED OR CANT EAT THEM. but like i said before, your going to need a larger tank.

[Scuba Kid]

I personally think a 90 is a little overkill for a snowflake eel unless you plan on adding a variety of other fishes to the tank. Of course bigger is always better, but a snowflake would be happy in a 55 IMO.

[MarineMan]

A 30 gallon min is what i would say, they arnt the most space filling fish if you know what i mean. I would keep it in the 29. JMO

[Fishfirst]

They aren't active no... but they do get long, and they are very very messy eaters. 65 gallon minimum (preferably 18" wide) would be fine for a single eel and maybe one or two larger fish of around 4-7inches

30 gallon would be okay till they get a foot and a half in length

[MarineMan]

everyone has there own opinions

[Reefneck]

Originally Posted by MarineMan

everyone has there own opinions

Opinions AND Experience!!

You jump in here and with your 2nd post act like a Know It All. Not a good way to get welcomed to our community. I'd suggest you back up and find out who you are disagreeing with. You might find that some of us were keeping saltwater tanks before your were even thought of!

Chill Out!

[oliesminis]

well i have never kept slatwater fish so i wont but in with an opinion but 55 seems to be the going size so it seems that is best but as you know bigger is useually better so as big as possible and also the bigger they are the more you are opening your tank up to more tank mates

good luck with it

[DreamCatcher87]

thanks everyone for the help. I recently was given some small eggs that friend of mine found on the beach. i hatched them and my eel guards them. they were in my net refugium and the eel let them out so it seems and now she guards them, warding off the hermit crabs and like nudging them into her hiding spot.
I plan to get a 55 for my birthday. It wont be until the 29th of this month or until august when my mom can get me it. another question.
I have pom pom xenia in my tank on a small rock toward the top of my tank. will my eel bother it?
I put some vinegar on my aptasia earlier then removed the ones i could with a cloth and the ones i couldnt with a squeezer. is vinegar a good thing to use? I rinsed the areas that had had contact with the vinegar well and then replaced the rock in my tank to avoid killing the featherdusters that were attached to the underside of the rock.
again thank you for all the opinions. the eel is doing great, eating everyday now around 9:30-10:00 am. i will try to get video and post it on here for everyone to see when i get my bigger tank. thanks all.

[leveldrummer]

pickling lime is usually what most people use for aptaisia, you can also try boiling water,