blue ribbon eel.

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jerry26

Member
well i think ive done my most foolish thing yet in saltwater. i just bought a blue ribbon eel. ive read many times about how hard it is to care for one and did it anyways. one of the lfs had posted on facebook that they had one come in and it was only $50 so i immediately went up there and bought it. i tested the trates of the lfs water and it was off the chart so im slowly acclimating him until the trates of the water hes in is near zero. does anyone have any experience firsthand with these eels? any tips or tricks theyve learned?

ill try to get some better pics once hes acclimated. they probably wont be posted until tomorrow though.

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J

jerry26

Member
yea i had a zebra eel that was not afraid to bite me. one day i had my hand in the tank in front of my jebao pump, i was looking at the controller playing with the different power levels and out of nowhere he latched onto my finger. he died while i was on vacation. i had my brother taking care of my tank and the eel doesnt eat brine so he never got fed and after about four days he was found on the floor. the chainlink eel i had i sold and he jumped out of the guys tank later that night. but it survived thanks to the crust it formed.

ive always had pretty good experiences with eels but i know these are insanely hard to care for. im in the process of setting up a new tank so im gonna build in a pipe sytem for him to hide in. i really hope i can get lucky and keep this thing alive.

i got a couple more pics ill post here in a second. okay my phone being stupid so ill post more in a couple hours.
 
ddelozier

ddelozier

Well-Known Member
PREMIUM
RS Ambassador
Cool thought, setup a webcam. We'll start a pool on which fish buys it next and how long till all thats left is the EEL. Im kidding, I hope that doesnt happen. I've heard horror stories about Eels.
 
J

jerry26

Member
ReefApprentice said:
Looks great! when I read this thread title another one came to mind :http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/general-reef-aquarium-discussion/16847-my-blue-ribbon-eel-eats-pics-videos.html
Click to expand...

thats the thread that i first saw one in. ever since then ive wanted one but im afraid its just gonna wind up dying. i can get plenty of ghost shrimp locally so if he'll only eat live then i can handle that. hard part is getting them to eat at all apparently.

heres a couple pics i managed to snap. he doesnt like to sit still for the camera.

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J

jerry26

Member
ddelozier said:
Cool thought, setup a webcam. We'll start a pool on which fish buys it next and how long till all thats left is the EEL. Im kidding, I hope that doesnt happen. I've heard horror stories about Eels.
Click to expand...

ive heard negative things about them but ive never had one be agressive towards other fish. every now and then the zebra i had would go after my foxface but the foxface was always harassing him when he tried to eat. he definitly fought back but never seemed to initiate.
 
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jerry26

Member
got him to eat today. im including a pic so you can see what i mean in my description. he will not at all eat non-living food, it must be live, so far at least. he likes to hang out behind my flowerpot so id take a red rosey and hold it in my hand but he seems intimidated by my hand, so what i did was take a wire and stick in the rosies mouth and stab it through the bottom. it helped keep a straight shaft that was easy for me to pull out once the eel hit it but somehow kept the rosie on. he had bit it several times but would not hold onto it, until i found he liked to sneak attack. i started running the rosie through the flowerpot like a clown playing in a nem and he grabbed it and pulled hard enough that i could feel it. however, he pulled it into the rocks and i did not see him swallow it so i decided to try another. i waited about 5 minutes and hooked another rosie the same way and put it by him, he ignored it. i ran it through the flowerpot and he grabbed it hard again. this time he pulled it to the back of the rocks which is the side i was feeding from and i watched him turn and swallow it whole.

goldfish seem to be too big. krill is ineffective, as are silversides. he may have eaten some brine when i sprayed some right in front of him. i couldnt really tell.

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jerry26

Member
i think the problem is things like tongs. he always seems interested but never eats when i feed him with something clearly visible but so far using i thin piece of wire he eats. if it stops moving he wont bite it either.once he sees it, i usually begin moving it around randomly like a fish that doesnt know the eel is there and he grabs them.

the real test will be seeing how he handles the shock of being moved because he will very very soon be in a newer tank that is 3 times the size hes in now.

also flopping around on the wire isnt enough to entice him. it actually has to be moving as if its swimming.
 
J

jerry26

Member
well, hes in the new tank and after letting him relax in it for a couple hours he ate without any resistance. not all good news though, the lionfish made a snack out of my girlfriends black female clown. of course shes not happy about it at all so he'll moving out sometime soon.
 
J

jerry26

Member
well, i think hes pretty healthy. he eats easily and consistently but today(less than an hour ago) was a whole different experience. i added a couple firefish and a yellow watchman goby. as soon as i added them the eel for the first time ever, came out and was apparently hunting. i watched and about three minutes later he latched onto the head of the goby. luckily, hes too big for the eels small mouth and he released it. hes quite brave, he tries to eat the mimic tang thats like 4-5 inches long. in all honesty hes actually quite aggressive, which is not what i expected. today is the first day that hes attempted to bite my hand, which usually happens pretty quickly with the other eels ive had.





hes a little pale. i probably would be too if i had a fish massively larger than me latch onto my head.



oh and the lionfish has been done away with after he went on a killing spree. he ate a pair of black clown and a purple firefish.
 
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