Moray Eels - some quick questions if you please?

Miguel

Ole Dawg
MFK Member
Dec 28, 2006
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Very much south..
I am feeling a certain hankering to mounting a sw moray eel tank, which is something i haven't kept in years.

Of one thing I am certain, i will keep a Honeycomb, which was oneof my loves of ancient times.

I do not want to keep mollusc eating eels, such as Zebras and Snowflakes, both of which I kept.

Now with this :)

- from a hobbysts POV is there any difference between the Gymnothora and the Muraena genus?

- is it wise to keep, say, one of each? Or 3 in total?

- would the meditarranean moray (muraena helena ) cope well in a tropical environment?

- what choices would i have, cosnidering the above written?

Suggestions?

Thank You

M
 

Chub_by

Redtail Catfish
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Jan 30, 2012
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I've never kept Morays (I dream!) but from what I've gathered from extensive reading :

-Muraena Helena is not only present around your parts, but down to the Senegal, which speaks for their ability to thrive in fairly tropical temperatures. (Keeping in mind that the atlantic is generally not as warm as, say the caribbean)

-Enchelycore, Muraena and some gymnothorax are fish-eaters, all others (Gymnos, echidnas..) tend to prefer molluscs.

-As far as the group sizes, opinions tend to differ. I bet some of the experienced keepers will chime in on this.

Oh, btw: Even living where you live, where on earth do you plan on acquiring a live M. Helena? I'm looking forward to this tank :p
 

Miguel

Ole Dawg
MFK Member
Dec 28, 2006
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Very much south..
Thanks Ben. It was Db Junkies vid, which i should not have seen :(

I want a group of fish - squid eaters. And i want a group that probabilitywise may coexist.

I fear the Helena would be in too warm conditions, but i love them, and know of them well having spearfished and scuba dived for eons.

If at all possible, considering that I do not want to put a chiller on the system,many number of fishermen catch them.
 

TNTtropical

Plecostomus
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Feb 4, 2013
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I like what you are thinking about, the question is how big of a tank do you plan on putting these guys in, that would then dictate how many you could most likely keep
 

Miguel

Ole Dawg
MFK Member
Dec 28, 2006
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Very much south..
I do not think i will try to keep more than 3.

The way i am seeing it now,projectwise, since i do not want to convert any of my tanks, would be anything around 200/250 gallons plus a big sump, and in terms of footprint more wide than high....
 

Miguel

Ole Dawg
MFK Member
Dec 28, 2006
15,857
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Very much south..
BUMP!

More advice, please?

is this the correct sub forum? Could it be that Moray guys deal with their vice in the Eels sub-forum??:)
 

DB junkie

Gold Tier VIP
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Jan 27, 2007
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Eel keepers on MFK? LOL. I think there's only been a couple ( Comotose who is no longer keeping eels, and myself)

Here's my take.......

My eel community is failing. "Barney" is a problem. He was my 4th eel I acquired. Was small enough he had to be kept separate for a little while, BUT he grew VERY fast. Fast enough that he is easily my largest now. He is also in the classifieds. He ate a Lion fish, a blackedge Moray and most recently a 18" Fimbriated. I don't think Barney is over 3'. He is a Gymnothorax Prionodon which seem to top out at 5'. Much larger then some of the other eels in the tank.

Is a "Honeycomb" a Tessy? IF so the need to have that eel is your deal breaker.

I'm not familiar with all the scientific names, families etc, but a quick google search of Muranea is showing me lots of Dragons - NOT Hawaii/Japanese, but Mexican Dragons, Brazilian Dragons, and Jewels. There's no way these guys are going to work with a Tessy. Tessys are monsters. I had one, but it got out and died. Lucky for me it was before it got big enough to do exactly what Barney is doing now, eating all my little eels.

IF you are going to keep a Tessy I'm afraid you'll need eels that attain a max size of 4-5' for long term success.....

I disagree about Dragons being the coolest looking..... Comatose had a fangtooth enchelycore of some sort, and aside from deep red Vipers you see images of its the craziest looking eel I've ever seen. And the price reflects that cause you could probably get 2-3 Dragons for the same money as NOBODY but Comatose has ever gotten them and I'm not sure how he was even able to aquire his....

Which leads to the next problem...... What's available that gets 4-5'+ besides Tessys and Greens? Prionodons like Barney but honestly he's the only one I've ever seen. I suppose Yellowmouths, but like Greens and Tessys I don't think they're primarily fish eaters......

Are you in the US? Maybe I could get Barney to you, but you'd need to find a massive Tessy, and the ones available on Divers Den are seldom over 2' and after experiencing that guy eating an eel that taped out at 1.5' that might even be risky......

I really hope this thread leads to sources on where to aquire some of this stuff, cause I don't see Barney selling, so I'm going to need some monster sized eels to keep him with that he CAN'T eat.
 

Miguel

Ole Dawg
MFK Member
Dec 28, 2006
15,857
27
89
Very much south..
Thanks Db!

I am in Europe, so Barney is regrettably out of the equation.

Lots of stuff to mull over in your post.

And yes, Honeycomb could be Tesselata although now I am thinking it could be Favagineos. Looking through my old stuff, the latter is the one I kept, eons ago.

EDIT: stupid me, Tesselata and Favagineus are one and the same....
 
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