Snowflake Eel

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KellyFrancis

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 14, 2012
1,303
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Somerset WI
So I've been thinkin....If I ever figure out my params and get them stabilized, I would like to try a snowflake eel. So to that end, I've got a couple questions...

What is the smallest eel I can get? Is there a min size they will sell or is it a matter of talking to the right person?

Can I get a tiny one and QT him and train him not to eat inverts? Can I teach him that the meaty stuff I drop in the tank is food, not the hermits that live with him? I've heard stories of people having no problems with big fish and little fish together, would an eel be any different?

I would want to give him like PVC tunnels or something to live in and hide out in buried under the rock. How big would they need to be? Would I need to aerate them or would the tank water aerate them plenty? And would I need to worry about having to take it out and clean it or would he keep his house clean? For that matter, would he even live in it?? lol

I've got a 55 right now. Would that tank be big enough for him or would I need to upgrade before I try this?

Sorry for the question overload, I've been thinking about this for a couple weeks now and just decided to ask. Thanks for the help!
 
The smallest one I have seen at a LFS was 6" and as thick as a pencil. I'm not sure if they can trained not to eat inverts I have a 18" one and have never witnessed it eating them but my hermit crabs do slowly disappear (could be the puffer but I have never seen him eat them either). I have a cleaner shrimp in the tank and the eel has not eaten it yet but the shrimp stays high in my rock work. I also have my eel with damsels but they have been slowly disappearing. If you dont keep them well fed I would imagine they will eat the inverts.

Mine eats silversides, shrimp and squid.

I don't think pvc tunnels are necessary as the eel will dig out the sand under your rocks and make his own tunnels so make sure your rocks are sat on the glass/acrylic bottom of the tank. If you did not want him to dig the sand pvc may work but its not something I know about. Mine made his own homes under all my rock.

I think a 55g would be fine for a while if you get a small/medium size one, I dont really see mine unless its hungry. Also make sure you have a good lid/canopy as they are escape artists.
 
You can usually get them around 12". A lot of snowflakes will eat smaller inverts and small fish if given the oppertunity. Some people have no problems with them others have killers. You would need to upgrade to a larger tank eventually as they can really put on some size and have a heavy bio load. You can make a PVC tunnel for your eel. I have made a couple for my zebra eel. Start with a small size and and make them bigger and wider as the eel grows. Always feed with long tongs or some type of feeding stick. Eels have poor eyesight and could bite your hand instead of the food item.

Keeping an eel is a lot of fun and it will become the main attraction of your tank once it puts on some size.
 
Cool. Thanks for the info, guys! I'm here to get as much of it as I can! lol. A couple of people have told me that an eel would be a lot of fun. Are they all skittish, or does it depend on personality? And, of course, I don't want to put my clowns at risk. They alternate between sleeping under the HOB waterfall and in the rocks, depending whether Dolly's on the rag or not. lol
 
My zebra is definitely not skittish but they aren't out all the time. Mine normally sticks his head out of the PVC for the most part and then only comes out when he is hungry. If you can upgrade to at least a 125g I would suggest a zebra eel, they grow. 48-60". They are fish safe as you can get.


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Thanks for the advice! An upgrade is not in the near future. But that doesn't mean I can't hold off on the eel...Zebras are pretty. But if I go with a larger moray, I'd like to try something like a jeweled moray, if he's safe...

I'm pretty sure I can only have one eel so I wanna make sure that I get the right one. You know? I'm in no hurry here, as I could possibly be putting everything in my tank at risk.
 
Supposedly skeletors are safer with inverts than snowflakes. But also are 5x the price. My dentist office has a 18" snowflake in with halloween Hermits and fire shrimp.


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Can I QT a young eel and train it to only eat the food I put in the tank? Or will there always be some amount of risk with the inverts. And do they only eat shrimp and crabs or will they go after snails too? I was looking at the zebras, wetwebmedia says they grow to 2, maybe 3 feet in captivity. What is the validity of this statement? And how fish-safe are the "peggletooth" (I think I got that right..) eels? 100%? Is there still some risk with them chomping on a fish to check it out?
 
My zebra is an easy 36" now. I got it maybe 4 yrs ago at 18". "Pebble tooth" eels mainly eat invertebrates, so things like shrimp crabs aren't safe. I never really noticed my zebra eating my crabs, but all I had are hermits. It has never gone after fish as food. It did kill my red tail trigger accidentally though. The trigger went for the same piece of shrimp as the eel and the eel ended up biting down and crushing the trigger. I attributed this to eels poor vision.


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KellyFrancis said:
Can I QT a young eel and train it to only eat the food I put in the tank? Or will there always be some amount of risk with the inverts. And do they only eat shrimp and crabs or will they go after snails too? I was looking at the zebras, wetwebmedia says they grow to 2, maybe 3 feet in captivity. What is the validity of this statement? And how fish-safe are the "peggletooth" (I think I got that right..) eels? 100%? Is there still some risk with them chomping on a fish to check it out?
Click to expand...

There is a very good chance the eel would be from the ocean. And in the ocean their instincts are to eat inverts... I doubt that you could "train" it but if you kept it well fed it would be less likely to eat the inverts.


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