Saltwater Snowflake Eel

[midnightslover]

I need to know if it would be okay to put a baby snowflake eel into my 30gal saltwater tank(cycled in May) for now. We are interested in purchasing a larger tank in the future but we want to get the fish we are going to put into it first to make sure we can take care of them properly before spending quite a bit more money on a large tank. Alright well please let me know. All of my fish are large enough now not to be eaten by him while he is still small, except maybe the black mollies but they were free and tester fish, no body wants them at the petstores, so they got to stick around. LOL.
Also, how fast do they grow? I mean I have a Dwarf Lionfish who was supposed to eat all my other fish and has never touched them and he has grown a lot since I have gotten him and could easily eat my clowns and yellow tail damsel. Do you think if he is smaller when I first get him that as he grows he will be used to them and leave them be?
Sorry I need information on this because I love my Perculas for one. LOL and also my husband really wants one of these eels. We found one at the petstore and put it on hold right now because he was able to feed it without it biting him and it seem to follow him around in the store tank. It is still a baby, about 6-8" long at max. Please someone help! LOL I really need information on this thing before we bring it home, and wake up the next day to find all my fish gone!

 

[loganj]

I don't think it will bother your fish especially at the size it is. Any shrimp you might have in there will be fair game though. The eel will grow slowly if you feed it about twice a week. If you feed it every day all it wants, it will grow much faster. Mine is about 12" and it eats a couple of small krill about twice a week. It doesn't bother anything else in the tank although it has nipped at the puffer at feeding time.

 

[goldy]

we have a baby snowflake and he leaves eveything alone but he hides all the time until it is time to eat.i think he will be fine for now in a 30 gal tank. i don't think they grow vary fast at all but it usally depends on how much you feed them.we feed all of our fish evey other day but the day they eat they get alot of food. we had to do this because if we feed them eveyday the tanks get cloudy.

 

[midnightslover]

Thanks for everything. We are going to go out this weekend and pick up our newest baby. The only other thing I needed to know was how easy do they escape? We have a glass canopy with a full strip light on the top and a small area where the filter spot is cut out. There is about a one to two inch gap right there, other than that everything is sealed. Think he could get through that little space? Again thanks everyone. I appreciate the help.

 

[loganj]

YES! A moray will escape through any hole he can get his head started through. The eel you're talking about could pass through a 1/2" gap easily. Having scraped a couple of them up off the floor, I know this to be a fact. Block every hole in the cover. I stuffed filter floss in mine where the filter tubes went through. I also dropped my water level about 4" for a few days until the eel got comfortable in the tank. They are more likely to escape during the first few days. Once they find a hole in the rock that they like, you can bring the water level back up...the cover still needs to be pretty tight though. Should you come home and find him in the floor, rinse him off in tank water and put him back in...unless he's been there for a long time, he'll probably survive it.

 

[midnightslover]

LOL, great I can look forward to an intresting acclimation process I am sure. I will have to find a deeper bucket around here or something. I can see it now, walk out of the room for a split second, come back and LOOK, the eel is wriggling on the floor! Any suggestions on an easier way for acclimating him?