Hi all,
it's been a while since I posted but my new 40 gal long saltwater tank seems to be doing well. It's been up and running for about 6 weeks now and everything seems to be in the correct ranges at every test. I started out by adding 4 damsel fish ... 2 blue and 2 black and white (about 1 week after initial set up). Once the tank was going good and the fish were doing well I added a clown fish and a yellow Tang (after the damsels had been in there for 3 weeks with no problems). A couple days after adding them 1 of the blue damsels seemed very dark and ragged and I think it was getting picked on. Needless to say it disappeared from sight a day later ... never found the body! Everyone else seemed to be getting along fine after that.
Now, stupid me, on a special trip to a saltwater store a couple towns away I gave in to my son's begging and bought a snake eel. I know spur of the moment and I had no idea what I was doing ... why? I don't know. Anyhow I talked to the LFS guy at length about it ... how big it would get, what it eats, is it community safe, told him what I had in the tank already and he said it should be fine just to keep it well fed on Mysis shrimp and squid. Here's my problem ... 2 days after having this eel in the tank I noticed the second blue damsel missing. I thought if the fish was bigger than the eel's head he wouldn't be able to harm or eat it ... that's what the guy said ... but where else could it have gone?
As a replacement for the 2 blue damsels I thought I'd buy a second clownfish. This one was about halt the size of the original clown but the 2 clowns got along great after an hour or 2 or chase ... they would swim together and sleep together and seemed like they had paired up nicely (which was the plan from the start). Anyway, 2 days later that little clown is missing! Now I know it was in there the previous night as I was up until 1:30am watching the clowns huddling together near their territory. I have a sneaking suspicion that this eel is the culprit and made a meal of this smaller clown ... I'm not happy as you might imagine!
I did a bit of research on snake eels but couldn't find a whole lot and there was nothing about them making snacks out of tankmates, though I'm sure it happens ... case in point! Anyhow, can anyone give me some insight as to these eels and what to do about this? I feel so bad that I got my clown fish to pair up nicely only to loose it's partner to a midnight munchy eel. I'm thinking I might have to get rid of this eel but want to find out more before I make that decision. Should I just be more perceptive of the size of new fish I add ... I still want to get a second clown fish but think I should get one at least as large as the one I have now ... about 2 inches.
All advice welcome but please be gentle ... I'm still learning!
it's been a while since I posted but my new 40 gal long saltwater tank seems to be doing well. It's been up and running for about 6 weeks now and everything seems to be in the correct ranges at every test. I started out by adding 4 damsel fish ... 2 blue and 2 black and white (about 1 week after initial set up). Once the tank was going good and the fish were doing well I added a clown fish and a yellow Tang (after the damsels had been in there for 3 weeks with no problems). A couple days after adding them 1 of the blue damsels seemed very dark and ragged and I think it was getting picked on. Needless to say it disappeared from sight a day later ... never found the body! Everyone else seemed to be getting along fine after that.
Now, stupid me, on a special trip to a saltwater store a couple towns away I gave in to my son's begging and bought a snake eel. I know spur of the moment and I had no idea what I was doing ... why? I don't know. Anyhow I talked to the LFS guy at length about it ... how big it would get, what it eats, is it community safe, told him what I had in the tank already and he said it should be fine just to keep it well fed on Mysis shrimp and squid. Here's my problem ... 2 days after having this eel in the tank I noticed the second blue damsel missing. I thought if the fish was bigger than the eel's head he wouldn't be able to harm or eat it ... that's what the guy said ... but where else could it have gone?
As a replacement for the 2 blue damsels I thought I'd buy a second clownfish. This one was about halt the size of the original clown but the 2 clowns got along great after an hour or 2 or chase ... they would swim together and sleep together and seemed like they had paired up nicely (which was the plan from the start). Anyway, 2 days later that little clown is missing! Now I know it was in there the previous night as I was up until 1:30am watching the clowns huddling together near their territory. I have a sneaking suspicion that this eel is the culprit and made a meal of this smaller clown ... I'm not happy as you might imagine!
I did a bit of research on snake eels but couldn't find a whole lot and there was nothing about them making snacks out of tankmates, though I'm sure it happens ... case in point! Anyhow, can anyone give me some insight as to these eels and what to do about this? I feel so bad that I got my clown fish to pair up nicely only to loose it's partner to a midnight munchy eel. I'm thinking I might have to get rid of this eel but want to find out more before I make that decision. Should I just be more perceptive of the size of new fish I add ... I still want to get a second clown fish but think I should get one at least as large as the one I have now ... about 2 inches.
All advice welcome but please be gentle ... I'm still learning!
