eel in the reef?

[delahunt20]

hey i have a 125 reef tank and i was just wondering if there were any and if so what kind of eel i could put in my tank? i have all different types of coral, shrimp, snails, crabs, and fish... are there any eels that don't bother anything?

 

[B.rian]

i am pretty sure that you are out of luck in this area. i would like to put an eel in my reef also, but eels either eat small fish or crustaceans. if you want to try it though, go for a zebra moray. they are "reef safe with caution" whatever that means. actually i might try this myself after a little more research. i know that zebras don't have very good eye sight and the only problems are when fish come between the zebra and the food you are feeding him.

 

[Lil Shark]

A gorgeous Japanese Dragon Moray would look wonderful... unfortunately the rest of fish wouldn't..... oh well its still a nice thought.

 

[Kevin McG]

Aren't the little golden eels reef safe?

 

[Lil Shark]

Pretty much. Could get large enough to suck down smaller fish like firefish or gobies according to Chris.

 

[Troubleman]

Hawaiian (sp.) golden dwarf eels do not get big and are reef safe. Cost around $175- $300 tho. I have seen one in person, and it's a nice little eel.

http://www.poseidonsrealm.com/melatremus.htm

 

[Kevin McG]

Hawaiian (sp.) golden dwarf eels do not get big and are reef safe. Cost around $175- $300 tho. I have seen one in person, and it's a nice little eel.

http://www.poseidonsrealm.com/melatremus.htm

Those are the ones I wasspeaking of, didn't know they were that pricey

 

[~Flighty~]

I have never seen anyone keep one in a reef, but the zebra mores have specialized teeth for eating only crustaceans, so you can keep them with fish. They have poor vision and are clumsy and large though so they will bump into corals and rocks. I think their size and bio-load is the biggest problem with corals. They make a big amount of waste which makes keeping the water nice enough to keep corals happy.

 

[delahunt20]

how about a garden eel? those stay pretty small

 

[B.rian]

garden eels require a very deep sand bed (6" or more) and are expert only. i would not recommend them.

on another note, would a zebra moray eat cleaner shrimp? i know they eat crustaceans, but zebras are really slow moving and i can't really see them being able to catch/eat a cleaner. also, eels in the wild allow cleaner shrimp to clean their mouths. any thoughts?

 

[Rays]

I kept snowflakes over the years. As long as they were kept well fed, they were model citizens. Of course you're tempting fate with very small fish. I would start out with a small snowflake 7-8 inches.

 

[SkinnyPete]

I know this is a kind of an old thread, but I thought I'd quickly share. Zebras are probably the best ones to try. They can absolutely eat inverts, but some will leave everything alone if fed regularly. I have a 3 foot zebra that eats frozen shrimp once every other day. He lives in the same cave as two peppermint shrimp and two pistol shrimp. He has never bothered anything in my tank including peps - pistol - cleaner shrimp, snails, hermits, starfish, and urchins. He also doesn't pay my small fish any attention like my mandarin, yellow watchman goby, and clown fish. The only thing he touched were my crabs, which was expected. Cleaned them out the first day. Other than that - he's a model citizen.

 

[ReeferDude]

um if your lookin to get rid of shrimp crabs and small fish your eel will have a tasty Meal

 

[SkinnyPete]

um if your lookin to get rid of shrimp crabs and small fish your eel will have a tasty Meal

Well, what I'm trying to say is that statement is not 100% true when it comes to Zebras. I've had him close to a year. Peppermints and pistol shrimps been in there the whole time. I know two others on another message board with the same thing - Zebras living with shrimp and snails. I definitely got lucky with the inverts, but Zebras shouldn't touch fish unless they mistake it for food at feeding time.

If you want to TRY it, I would say zebras are the way to go - is all. But, obviously watch them closely.

 

[ReeferDude]

i have a zebra also and well im not saying this is a bad thing but it s devoured my blue damsel but i didnt like the damsel anyway

 

[marco67]

I have a good friend with a 20" snowflake in a 180 reef.
He shares a cave with 2 blood/ cleaner shrimp and shares the tank with a number of small fish including ~4-5 fairy and flasher wrasses, anthias, clowns, a mandarin,a scooter and even a citron goby. He's been in there for about 2 years (since ~8"), comes right out and swims with the rest of the fish when hand feeding silversides. It's a pretty cool sight to see.