Gymnothorax fimbriatus with a Sargeant Major

[Plasticmask]

Hello
We've had a Yellow Head Moray (Gymnothorax fimbriatus) in our 55 gallon tank in the bedroom for almost 4 years, give or take and he has very probably reached full size as he is about two feet long.
I want to move him to a 90 gallon tank that we have in our livingroom so that we'd (hopefully) see him more often, there's more PVC for him to explore/hide in and obviously, it will add to his living space.

The only thing we had kept in the living room tank was a Green Wolf "eel", who had passed away six months or so, ago, very probably of old age due to the fact that we had her for about six years. There's some fairly good-sized Pencil Urchins, and the usual array of snails of varying types, but no shellfish nor anything else in the living room tank.
The only company the Moray would have is a fairly large (probably 4 or 5 inch) Sgt. Major fish, that the Green Wolf "eel" didn't eat so became enormous. I had bought her five of them originally, because they were on mad sale and the right size, and she ate them along with whatever else, silversides or goldfish, I would give her. All but this one Sgt. Major who must be immortal and has quite a personality, trying to splash us when he's hungry, et cetera.
Question follows: I've read that Gymnothorax fimbriatus usually won't eat what doesn't fit in their mouths. Well, this Sgt Major won't fit in his mouth, we are confident of that.
So.
What do you good people think? Should I care about the Sgt Major and move the Moray to the 90 gallon, or should I DO that, am I going to come home some day to a Moray eel who has a large fish sticking out of his mouth that will take him days to swallow.
Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Deadliestviper7]

Might lose the sergeant major, or sarge may pick on eel if it's to small.

Notes: never feed any fish goldfish, never feed freshwater fish to saltwater ones, and a wolf eel lives a lot longer than 6 years.

 

[Plasticmask]

Well, thanks about the information on the Green Wolf eel but she was not an actual "eel" she was one of those Green Wolf Pseudochromis (Congrogadus subducens) that's really a fish related to the dottybacks, I just couldn't recall "dottyback" that day so I kept putting "eel" in quotes, hoping someone would know what I meant. My understanding is that six years isn't bad for one of those. But then, I'm wrong all the time.

And as I said above, the actual eel that I am asking about ain't small, guess I didn't make that very clear either. His name is Tiny but that was intended to eventually become a kind of joke, because we expected him to grow to about two feet, and he's just about there, nice and fat and happy and BIG. So now, people smile when we tell them his name as we'd originally intended.

The Sergeant Mgr is ....oh, 4, 4 and a half inches tall and probably closer to six inches long than 5. Not a small fish. Probably 3/4 inches in thickness.

You're not kidding about him picking on other fish though, he's an aggressive bastard, that Sgt Major. Has a bite that stings. Won't draw blood but WILL make you say (expletive deleted). Every time I'd put feeder fish in there, that's the first thing he'd do since they weren't introduced into the tank together, he's on the attack. It was a running bet every time, would the "eel" eat the feeder fish before the Sgt Major killed it, or not. The "eel" always won, though. Voracious creature she was. She'd take silversides right out of my fingertips, which is what she usually got but once or twice a month I'd give her a few goldfish to munch on. I've also saltwater guppies, occasionally she'd get some of those poor things fed to her just to enrich her diet and her life since hunting, stalking, and striking a live fish is more enriching than just striking to take a thawed-out silverfish out of my pinched grip.

I also appreciate the advice about freshwater fish being fed to saltwater fish being a bad idea, but if your reasoning is because they aren't found in the sea, well I'll just thank you again.

I don't want to argue with someone I don't even know, I'm just glad that someone responded to the posting even though it was just skimmed over, SOMEONE responded to it and I appreciate greatly the fact that you took the trouble to respond.

It's because I write too much; people just don't want to read long posts, so they skim them instead. I blame nobody but me and my own verbosity.

Anyway. If the actual details are clear now, the eel is very big, not "to small" and would very likely appreciate a bigger tank, we HAVE the bigger tank but it's got this big Sgt Mjr fish in it, and the Gymnothorax fimbriatus supposedly aren't known to try to eat something they can not fit in their mouths... what do you think. Is it true what they say about that? OR, will I end up losing the Sergeant Major? Not that I'd miss it much, it was supposed to be food to begin with as I'd already mentioned. And if it tries to nip Tiny, I think that Tiny might just "nip" right back and that will be that. If he isn't eaten, the S.M. will be dead. In my opinion. Having known the eel for so long.

But this is exactly the reason I joined this Group, was to find out an answer that I can believe and live with. When you don't know something you ask your Betters, and find out.

 

[Deadliestviper7]

Well, thanks about the information on the Green Wolf eel but she was not an actual "eel" she was one of those Green Wolf Pseudochromis (Congrogadus subducens) that's really a fish related to the dottybacks, I just couldn't recall "dottyback" that day so I kept putting "eel" in quotes, hoping someone would know what I meant. My understanding is that six years isn't bad for one of those. But then, I'm wrong all the time.

And as I said above, the actual eel that I am asking about ain't small, guess I didn't make that very clear either. His name is Tiny but that was intended to eventually become a kind of joke, because we expected him to grow to about two feet, and he's just about there, nice and fat and happy and BIG. So now, people smile when we tell them his name as we'd originally intended.

The Sergeant Mgr is ....oh, 4, 4 and a half inches tall and probably closer to six inches long than 5. Not a small fish. Probably 3/4 inches in thickness.

You're not kidding about him picking on other fish though, he's an aggressive bastard, that Sgt Major. Has a bite that stings. Won't draw blood but WILL make you say (expletive deleted). Every time I'd put feeder fish in there, that's the first thing he'd do since they weren't introduced into the tank together, he's on the attack. It was a running bet every time, would the "eel" eat the feeder fish before the Sgt Major killed it, or not. The "eel" always won, though. Voracious creature she was. She'd take silversides right out of my fingertips, which is what she usually got but once or twice a month I'd give her a few goldfish to munch on. I've also saltwater guppies, occasionally she'd get some of those poor things fed to her just to enrich her diet and her life since hunting, stalking, and striking a live fish is more enriching than just striking to take a thawed-out silverfish out of my pinched grip.

I also appreciate the advice about freshwater fish being fed to saltwater fish being a bad idea, but if your reasoning is because they aren't found in the sea, well I'll just thank you again.

I don't want to argue with someone I don't even know, I'm just glad that someone responded to the posting even though it was just skimmed over, SOMEONE responded to it and I appreciate greatly the fact that you took the trouble to respond.

It's because I write too much; people just don't want to read long posts, so they skim them instead. I blame nobody but me and my own verbosity.

Anyway. If the actual details are clear now, the eel is very big, not "to small" and would very likely appreciate a bigger tank, we HAVE the bigger tank but it's got this big Sgt Mjr fish in it, and the Gymnothorax fimbriatus supposedly aren't known to try to eat something they can not fit in their mouths... what do you think. Is it true what they say about that? OR, will I end up losing the Sergeant Major? Not that I'd miss it much, it was supposed to be food to begin with as I'd already mentioned. And if it tries to nip Tiny, I think that Tiny might just "nip" right back and that will be that. If he isn't eaten, the S.M. will be dead. In my opinion. Having known the eel for so long.

But this is exactly the reason I joined this Group, was to find out an answer that I can believe and live with. When you don't know something you ask your Betters, and find out.

Eels generally don't go for fish they can't swallow whole, and on the issue of s.m agresson I would just put a divider in for a few days to let them get used to each other.

Goldfish are a big nono for fish period due to the thiaminase inhibition issue,which kills tons of fish in both fresh and salt water, another thing: fish raised in freshwater are not safe for saltwater fish to eat, this used to be the most common cause of death for fish in public aquaria.
As far as natural, I don't care much about what's "natural" only really care about the fishes health.

The following are o.k as feeders as long as they are raised in saltwater:
Mollies,endlers,guppies,mosquito fish,various shrimp species,glassy minnows, baby mullet, alewife, pogies, damselfish,baby jewel cichlids,sand mites, tiny bait fiddlers

 

[Plasticmask]

Yeah. Okay, thanks for the data, I'll keep it in mind and it's appreciated.
I've decided to leave the Moray where he is, and leave the Sgt Major where he is, and leave things as they are.
I think that since he's kept in a darkish bedroom, that changing his environs to a brightly lit living room 14 to 18 hours a day, at the least might make him unhappy and at the most, risk his health eventually. He definitely seems to prefer the darker quarters, that was easy enough to figure out so I took his tank light off and just keep the sump lit all of the time.
I want him to be happy and healthy.
By the way, I also appreciate the information regarding goldfish, but I don't think that a few every so often will do him any real harm, and he does SO MUCH enjoy stalking them and eating them, that much is obvious. He only gets them when I can find healthy-looking feeders, and even then, it's less often than one feeding every other month, if that.
So considering how well he's been doing all of these years, as he was six or eight inches long and about as thick as a man's thumb yet now he's easily two feet long and probably as thick as my Wife's calves... his coloration is textbook and he just seems to be so healthy and pleased with his life, I don't want to put him through what for him might be a drastic change.
I was wanting to move him for the sake of SPACE for him as well as our own selfishness wanting to see him more...
However I think the change would be a bad idea.
For his sake, I'm going to keep the status quo.
Again I do appreciate the information and advice, and since the "eel" isn't even IN that big tank any more and the Sgt Major won't FIT in any of the pvc maze we'd made for the green wolf "eel"... I think I'll move some of the PVC out of this big tank in the livingroom and put it in Tiny's tank so he can at least have a BIT of a change, as a matter of Moray Enrichment and all that.
Seriously, thank you I really do appreciate the advice, it's HAS helped me to decide to just leave him alone, let him have his tank to himself as he always has had, and let the Sgt Major have his tank to himself until he dies of old age.
Thank you again. This is a nice Forum, it's good to know that I can bother people with real knowledge about this manner of topic and not be made to feel stupid or get snobbed by my obvious Betters regarding things like this. Shalom.

 

[john_lord_b3]

Eels generally don't go for fish they can't swallow whole, and on the issue of s.m agresson I would just put a divider in for a few days to let them get used to each other.

Goldfish are a big nono for fish period due to the thiaminase inhibition issue,which kills tons of fish in both fresh and salt water, another thing: fish raised in freshwater are not safe for saltwater fish to eat, this used to be the most common cause of death for fish in public aquaria.
As far as natural, I don't care much about what's "natural" only really care about the fishes health.

The following are o.k as feeders as long as they are raised in saltwater:
Mollies,endlers,guppies,mosquito fish,various shrimp species,glassy minnows, baby mullet, alewife, pogies, damselfish,baby jewel cichlids,sand mites, tiny bait fiddlers

A few types of macrobrachium shrimps and poecillia mollies actually lives in semi-brackish waters in this country, and they could often be found even farther on the estuaries, even on the beaches. They made good meals for moray eels and other large eels & can be easily caught with hand-nets in both the river and the estuarium.

 

[Plasticmask]

I need to start a new Thread regarding this beast.