Thank you, the one I'm getting will be in a tank with only a black ghost knife fish and a tigerhead pleco so, there should not be much competition for food. This one is 8in. and is tiny. I think I'll get him and see if I can get him to eat bloodworms for now.
"Freshwater" Tiger Moray eel Gymnothorax polyuranodon
- Thread starter shev
- Start date
Here in Indonesia (which is one of the main countries where most of G. Polyuranodon came from btw) all owners of G. Polyuranodon that I know of, keep them in freshwater. And I never seen any G. Polyuranodons that losing their colors while being kept in FW. These fishes came in all shades of colors, some brighter than the others, some duller than the others.Hello everyone, new to the forum, and certainly new to these fish. Anyone have experience? I'm looking for a an interesting fish for a planted aquarium, one that will hide in a tube the majority of the time. There's a seller that has these listed as:
"found in true freshwater to slightly brackish environments. Growth rates and coloration seem to improve with the addition of marine salt to less <5%. 81% of the collection records are from 100% freshwater with the remaining collections in estuaries with less than 5% salinity."
But after some quick google searches, most people are saying they are only temporarily freshwater, and ultimately need a decent amount of salinity. Also, after watching some youtube videos of "freshwater" moray eels, all of their colors are very faded, and pathetic looking in general. I'm assuming these are being kept in entirely freshwater aquariums. So, does anyone have any experience with these? What salinity do you keep them in? What size tank?
A picture from their website:
^ that coloring is absolutely gorgeous. I have not seen anything close to that in FW aquariums.
My own G. Polyuranodon are being kept in a low-end brackish aquarium with variable salinity (I fluctuate it between 1.005 to 1.008 by adding seawater during water changes), together with three Echidna Rhodochiluses (white-cheeked moray, which is another "freshwater" type moray) and two Uropterygius Micropterus (tidepool snake moray, a brackish/marine small moray). Its color never changes from the time I got it to this day.
However, other G. Polyuranodon owners who keep theirs in full FW, often has eels that are brighter-colored than mine. This one belong to Mr. Septian in Yogyakarta.
So, I guess it's more to the factor of the actual natural coloration of the eel itself, not really the factor whether it is being kept in FW or in BW.
With that being said, I recommend keeping G. Polyuranodon in low-end BW. Not because it cannot survive and thrive for years in FW (with good care, it could), but because it is more prone to diseases in FW.
