Dwarf golden moray with jawfish ?

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ekovalsky

New Member
I'm fighting temptation to buy a gorgeous dwarf golden moray eel (gymnothorax meleatrus) that is available at a LFS at a good price. They are piscivorous but only grow to 8-10", smallest of all moray eels, and thus aren't capable of eating fish other than the really tiny ones.

My bluespot is pretty big, at least 4", and pretty fat now that he eats almost as much krill as my dwarf fuzzy lionfish. The pearly jawfish are a bit smaller. More so than other small fish, I would worry about these in the presence of the eel since they have a not dissimilar body configuration.

Anyone here ever try to keep a dwarf eel and jawfish together ? It would be a great addition to my tank, kind of like having a big jawfish with lots of personality living in the rocks, but I obviously don't want to put the jawfish (particularly the bluespot) in any mortal danger.

I've had no problem with an existing predator in the tank, a dwarf fuzzy lionfish, who has not even bothered a tiny neon goby. He's not full grown yet, but he's not small by any means. I do keep him well fed with silversides and krill :)



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lcstorc

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
I wouldn't risk it particularly with a blue.
I keep my blue in my very non agressive tank and not even in my regular reef.
 
BigAl07

BigAl07

Administrator
RS STAFF
ekovalsky said:
I'm fighting temptation to buy a gorgeous dwarf golden moray eel (gymnothorax meleatrus) that is available at a LFS at a good price. They are piscivorous but only grow to 8-10", smallest of all moray eels, and thus aren't capable of eating fish other than the really tiny ones.

My bluespot is pretty big, at least 4", and pretty fat now that he eats almost as much krill as my dwarf fuzzy lionfish. The pearly jawfish are a bit smaller. More so than other small fish, I would worry about these in the presence of the eel since they have a not dissimilar body configuration.

Anyone here ever try to keep a dwarf eel and jawfish together ? It would be a great addition to my tank, kind of like having a big jawfish with lots of personality living in the rocks, but I obviously don't want to put the jawfish (particularly the bluespot) in any mortal danger.

I've had no problem with an existing predator in the tank, a dwarf fuzzy lionfish, who has not even bothered a tiny neon goby. He's not full grown yet, but he's not small by any means. I do keep him well fed with silversides and krill :)



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#1 your icon/logo isn't coming over from Reef Central. We're getting an error message. You may want to look into that.

#2 Even though it "Seems" safe I wouldn't try it. Even though it may not be able to eat it wholly in one bite I would suspect it may try to take it out and eat it bite by bite. That's just the nature of that eel. Not worth the risk.
 
E

ekovalsky

New Member
Okay, no eel for my tank.

I went back to see him, really cute little guy and his mouth looked pretty tiny (even wide open) but I know it can be deceiving. He wouldn't eat frozen food, which made the decision real easy. Being about 8" he was obviously used to live fare and I don't want my jawfish on his menu! Had he readily accepted the frozen I may have decided differently, since I'd be confident of keeping him well fed on krill, silversides, etc and thus uninterested in his tankmates. This has worked very well with the lionfish, who has gotten large enough to eat various fish in the tank but refuses anything but small pieces of silversides and krill. My bluespot will actually eat bigger pieces of krill than the lionfish! I got him when he was tiny and it took a few weeks to get him off ghost shrimp, but once weaned he has been very easy to keep well fed. I do feed him everyday which is appropriate for a dwarf.

There is a diver in Hawaii who catches the dwarf golden morays and sells direct at a good price. If he ever gets a baby one, 6" or less, I may reconsider. The one at the LFS was about 8" -- nearly full grown -- and obviously accustomed to live fare.

I do need a larger tank. Once the kids outgrow their playroom, I may go big league (700-1000g with fish room)... until then I will have to deal with overstocking!
 
B

BayAreaReefer

New Member
Hello Ecovalsky,

This is a late reply, but I'd like to answer your question. I currently have a golden dwarf moray in my reef tank and I have several small gobies in including a couple of jawfishes and firefishes. For one thing, if you train your moray to eat frozen silverslides, shrimps and squid, they're more likely to eat that than try and hunt a live goby or jawfish. If you feed them regularly 2-3 times a week then you are okay.

Never say never but its not a common thing that they will eat jawfishes. They are too quick and morays don't have good eyesight but has a high sense of smell. Silverslides have a very fishy smell that is why when you dip it into the water the moray goes crazy. So you don't need to worry too much about jawfishes getting eaten.
 
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