# snowflake eel



## angelsdice159 (Jul 2, 2011)

heres another Q.? SORRY Ppl .. i always like the snowflake eel but i didnt think i could have one . cuz i thought they will eat all my fish lol. . till today i was looking them up on youtube and seen them in a couple of videos . in reef tanks whit other fishes .so i was wondering if i can put one in my 125


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## drunkenbeast (Nov 13, 2011)

Saltwater Aquarium Fish for Marine Aquariums: Snowflake Eel 
says minimum size tank is 50 gallons what else were ya gonna put in there


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## SuckMyCichlids (Nov 5, 2011)

Snowflakes are usually more docile and not as big a threat to fish as other eels


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

If he can fit em in his mouth, he may attempt to eat one, if he's hungry. Other than that, go for it.


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## Goby (Mar 21, 2012)

I have a snowflake eel in my 55 gal community tank and so far so good. He was very small when I got him...maybe 5 inches...and he has a little more than doubled in size over the past few months. Thus far, he has shown no desire to eat his tankmates including a little yellow clown goby who has the nerve to sit on him. That said, I realize the eel may eat him someday...odd goby. My scooter blenny frequently positions herself directly in front of the eels mouth and then bristles her top fin..as if to say "I dare ya"...geez that makes me nervous. But the eel doesn't seem to care? At least so far? I feed him every other day at the same time in the same location and he's come to expect that. I often wonder what would happen if I forgot to feed him and he got hungry. I do think that when he feeds, the fish are at risk for being bitten accidentally though. He gets excited and snaps/bites at everything indiscriminately...like a reflex? If he were allowed to get too hungry, I wonder if that reflex wouldn't naturally occur with whatever swam by? We enjoy our eel so much...especially my teenage boys, he's their favorite...but I look forward to the day when he lives in a tank without gobies. When will that be? Probably soon than later.


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## angelsdice159 (Jul 2, 2011)

in my 125 i have,,............ a black clown,orange spot goby,coral beauty,pruple fire fish,red scooter blenny, bi color blenny, red fire shrimp, and two cleaner shrimp..also i wanted to add a blue mandrian..


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## Goby (Mar 21, 2012)

angelsdice159 said:


> in my 125 i have,,............ a black clown,orange spot goby,coral beauty,pruple fire fish,red scooter blenny, bi color blenny, red fire shrimp, and two cleaner shrimp..also i wanted to add a blue mandrian..


I don't have shrimp so I can't attest to how my eel behaves with them. But I have most of the other fish you listed and thus far there hasn't been a problem. That said, my eel is still a juvenile and he's catered to.


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## jaudlee (May 17, 2012)

I have a snowflake in my 55gal. he is about a foot long now and has yet to go after any of my fish. if anything, he has gone after my huma huma trigger which is much larger than a damsel, etc... he should be totally fine in the 125, i would just buy him small


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## angelsdice159 (Jul 2, 2011)

have u had any problem whit the snowflake jumping out or anything


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## jaudlee (May 17, 2012)

no i have not had problems with this actually and i do not have a secure hood. i have suspended lighting. i have heard from people that they do escape but no signs of it in my tank yet. keep him fed but not too much. once in a while he will swim to the top of the water as if he is going to jump out but never does


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## angelsdice159 (Jul 2, 2011)

@goby.... do u still have the snowflake......


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

I now have a snowflake eel in my 120 fowlr.He basically eats frozen prawn(as much as he can get).I do have a secure lid to keep him from "escaping".I watched him swim in and out of my overflows a couple times in the beginning,but cut tubing to raise their top to the lid an prevent this.
They don't really eat fish(much{like a blue ribbon eel}) but love shrimp.I would be comforable with him and reasonable sized fish, but not any shrimp. After his first night in the 120 I found a crab shell on top of the live rock(I'll assume he found him in the rock) as he goes through every tunnel and hole in the live rock.He has grown some ,but still remains well behaved.I don't have anyone he could eat in this tank.His tankmates are;lionfish,miniatus grouper,polkadot(panther )grouper,batfish and a bi color angel.I really enjoy him,but think he would eat shrimp without a doubt.


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## Goby (Mar 21, 2012)

angelsdice159 said:


> @goby.... do u still have the snowflake......


We kept our snowflake eel for over a year and he now lives in my brother's SW tank which is much larger than mine. I don't believe he ever ate a tankmate. We didn't have any problems with him, however my smallest shrimp at the time was a cleaner and larger than the eels mouth. I also attempted to keep him on a regular feeding schedule and always fed him in the same location. He would usually sit there for at least a few hours and wait with his head poking out. The good thing about that is he wouldn't go hunting, but the bad thing about it was that he was usually satisfied so we didn't get to see him as often as we would have liked. If I missed a feeding or left him waiting too long, he'd come out and swim up, over, and around every rock. He did get more sociable as he got older...or more hungry, not sure which. I have a lot of bottom dwelling fish and he always made me nervous. The kids miss him. I do too but I admit that I was glad to see him go cuz if was a 1" goby, I wouldn't want an eel living in my house. He was my son's idea during a moment of my weakness. He never attempted to crawl out of our tank that I'm aware of...I believe this was purely good luck. He ate uncooked mashed grocery store shrimp that I enriched with different fish foods...not sure if that was necessary or not. He would not eat the shrimp whole...only mashed. He never would eat krill. I saw him about a month ago and he could definately fit my cleaner shrimp in his mouth now. I'm guessing he's around 18+ inches and over an inch around. He was just a little baby when we got him...I dunno, maybe 5 inches? Little.

My kids would love to get another eel. I'd be comfortable putting another tiny one in my tank...but the problem is catching them when they mature, which is inevitable. The thought of that...no way. But if I were to try it again, I would go with a chainlink eel instead. I've been told they are more appropriate for a community tank with small fish.

And btw, I'm not even sure what you were going to ask me. )~


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