Tessalata Moray Eel Recommended Tank Dimensions

[Gpdriftwood]

A LFS close to me had a 5' or 6' moray in about a 6' 180gal filled with live rocks built into caves. Only fish in there, was happy, healthy, and aggressive. No room to open swim at all. I'm not condoning this at all, but I guess that's the MINIMUM. Lol. I wouldn't ever try a tesselata under 2000gal personally.

 

[LambCh0p]

A LFS close to me had a 5' or 6' moray in about a 6' 180gal filled with live rocks built into caves. Only fish in there, was happy, healthy, and aggressive. No room to open swim at all. I'm not condoning this at all, but I guess that's the MINIMUM. Lol. I wouldn't ever try a tesselata under 2000gal personally.

I get that bigger is always better but even with more room to swim would a moray even take advantage of that ? I’ve seen private aquarium with green morays 6ft+ that have tons of room to swim, but only leave their hiding spot during feeding time, and frankly they only seem to move out of necessity.
I’ve gotten to the point in researching monster fish where the answer to most tank size questions is the tank needs to be 2-3 times as long as the fish and at least 1.5 -2 times as wide as the fish is long MINIMUM. Morays are the one species of fish due to their flexibility and inactivity that kind of defy that logic a bit. At the very least, if I get one of these, I want it to go in a tank where it can be comfortable and move a bit when it wants to. I personally think a tank 6.5 to 7 feet long by 3 feet wide would give it enough room to move through rocks and be a generally content moray. But I’ve never kept a moray, so I might be wrong and am hoping someone who has kept either tesselatas or other large moray can chime in and share their experiences.

 

[Gpdriftwood]

I get that bigger is always better but even with more room to swim would a moray even take advantage of that ? I’ve seen private aquarium with green morays 6ft+ that have tons of room to swim, but only leave their hiding spot during feeding time, and frankly they only seem to move out of necessity.
I’ve gotten to the point in researching monster fish where the answer to most tank size questions is the tank needs to be 2-3 times as long as the fish and at least 1.5 -2 times as wide as the fish is long MINIMUM. Morays are the one species of fish due to their flexibility and inactivity that kind of defy that logic a bit. At the very least, if I get one of these, I want it to go in a tank where it can be comfortable and move a bit when it wants to. I personally think a tank 6.5 to 7 feet long by 3 feet wide would give it enough room to move through rocks and be a generally content moray. But I’ve never kept a moray, so I might be wrong and am hoping someone who has kept either tesselatas or other large moray can chime in and share their experiences.

I agree . Like I said, that moray was happy and healthy for a lot of years. Might still be there, lol. Just personally, I would like to see it come out once in a great while (and have somewhere to come out to). But go for it! And also tesselata is my dream eel if I was ever gonna go for a big dawg eel.

 

[LambCh0p]

Okay here’s where I’m at. The tentative plan is to build and store a plywood tank that’s 7ft x 34inches x 26 inches. These measurements represent the largest tank I can get out of my basement door, and I am building a box out of cardboard with those exact dimensions. If I can get that cardboard box out of my basement without bending it, then those dimensions are what I’m going with.
I think that will be big enough for the moray, and maybe a few smaller dither fish and cleaner shrimp. Assuming everything works out, I will probably make another thread on the plywood build.

 

[AR1]

Okay here’s where I’m at. The tentative plan is to build and store a plywood tank that’s 7ft x 34inches x 26 inches. These measurements represent the largest tank I can get out of my basement door, and I am building a box out of cardboard with those exact dimensions. If I can get that cardboard box out of my basement without bending it, then those dimensions are what I’m going with.
I think that will be big enough for the moray, and maybe a few smaller dither fish and cleaner shrimp. Assuming everything works out, I will probably make another thread on the plywood build.

good luck

 

[Backfromthedead]

A tessie is a big fishkeeping goal of mine. Personally, i will not keep one until i have something like an 8x4x4 tank, preferably much bigger but i am a realist.

Ive observed big tessies in action when diving. Their movement is mesmerising but there must be space for the 6' fish to move...you'll never get anything close to that kind of experience in a relatively small tank like 180g or even your prospective 7x3. I have seen decent size tessies kept in that size tank but they mostly stayed huddled under a rock and never reach full potential.

 

[LambCh0p]

A tessie is a big fishkeeping goal of mine. Personally, i will not keep one until i have something like an 8x4x4 tank, preferably much bigger but i am a realist.

Ive observed big tessies in action when diving. Their movement is mesmerising but there must be space for the 6' fish to move...you'll never get anything close to that kind of experience in a relatively small tank like 180g or even your prospective 7x3. I have seen decent size tessies kept in that size tank but they mostly stayed huddled under a rock and never reach full potential.

I get what you’re saying but when it comes to comparing fish in the aquarium and fish in the open ocean behavior is unfortunately completely different. You would probably need a tank like 3-4x the length of the eel to probably start simulating their natural behavior. I’m not sure if the extra foot in length and foot in width would really encourage an eel to swim more in an aquarium.

I honestly really question if fish this big should even be able to be purchased, but the genie is out of the bottle. I think I will start with the 7x3 and later if it looks like it needs a bigger tank I’ll build something larger. This is also my first adventure with a plywood build so I would also like to start with something slightly smaller, and I think at this size a Tessie can live a comfortable and relatively happy life as far as captivity goes.

 

[jr71]

I made the mistake of keeping a tesselata eel w/out researching its max size first (we're all young once...). It liked to open swim quite a bit, naturally more so when it was feeding time. I kept it from about 24" up until probably close to 48" in a 75 gallon tank. I know, I know, I'm not recommending this! What I will say is that they do spend a lot of time coiled in a favorite spot, and even a 48" eel in a 48" tank didn't look that crowded; it never laid itself out there straight, and even when "swimming" the path was seldom straight, either. I think that an eel can come closer than most other fish to rivaling the tank's length w/out it becoming a problem. I sold mine when it was pushing a 1:1 ratio, and I won't try another one unless/until I have a *much* larger tank. But the usual rules of 2, 3, or 4x for tank length and 1.5 or 2x for tank width may be excessive for happy, healthy eels. Many public aquaria I've seen, with fully grown and healthy eels, don't even coming close to those dimensions. Filtration will be incredibly important, of course, as they're big eaters, but I don't think length and width matter as much as usual. My two cents.

 

[Backfromthedead]

I get what you’re saying but when it comes to comparing fish in the aquarium and fish in the open ocean behavior is unfortunately completely different. You would probably need a tank like 3-4x the length of the eel to probably start simulating their natural behavior. I’m not sure if the extra foot in length and foot in width would really encourage an eel to swim more in an aquarium.

I honestly really question if fish this big should even be able to be purchased, but the genie is out of the bottle. I think I will start with the 7x3 and later if it looks like it needs a bigger tank I’ll build something larger. This is also my first adventure with a plywood build so I would also like to start with something slightly smaller, and I think at this size a Tessie can live a comfortable and relatively happy life as far as captivity goes.

Actually, i would examine the comparison a bit more before dismissing it. Ive observed many species of wild reef fish such as dwarf angels, wrasses, and triggers that occupied a relatively small territory of rock or coral. A lot of these species are what i would consider keeping in a 180g.

But a tessie, good night...look at the one in that video above, huge fish with huge territory. They get way bigger than 6' i dont know why thats such a common estimate.

But i actually agree with you. If i had an empty 7x3 a tessie would be one of my first thoughts. I say go for it, its at the very worst a great starter home.