Ribbon Eel

[michael stern]

It's been a while since I took any pictures/movies of ribbie (I know, not the best name, but it wasn't my choice), my sons now 2 year old ribbon eel. This thing eats like a champ.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7570492361034625178

And here are 2 pictures, 1 finishing up the huge piece of squid, second the belly bulge.

 

[Phyl]

Nice. We haven't taken pictures of our eel in a while either. I need to take some new ones. He (?! Why do we assume it's a he?!) hides in the rock so much that I didn't notice how big he'd gotten until recently.

How many pieces of squid do you typically feed? Are you using fresh squid or LFS packaged? We're up to about 25 pieces of krill for our eel in a sitting!

 

[michael stern]

What kind of eel?

I usually feed these boys 2x per week.
Maybe 6 krill between them, or 1 large shrimp cut up, or 2 pieces of squid (supermarket).
I'm careful not to overfeed, since it's a small tank, week filtration (12 gal standard eclipse)

 

[Phyl]

Here he is:

He's a yellow morph of a golden moray. He's probably about 2' now.

 

[samksy]

Wow!!! nice picture, now i really want to get an eel. Are they reef safe in ur reef tank?

 

[Phyl]

He's pretty safe. He doesn't eat any of the fish he homes with (in spite of the fact that they could fit in his mouth). He does enjoy shrimp way too much to bother trying one in there with him. He'll hunt ghost shrimp for sport. And he MUST have a covered top. He would bring a whole new meaning to carpet surfing. I wouldn't try keeping him with SPS as he'd probably break them if the water quality could be kept good enough. He does eat quite a bit at a sitting. We keep him with softies, mushrooms, zoas, etc. and he doesn't bother the corals.

 

[samksy]

Thanks Phyl!
No eel for me.

Originally i wanted to get a ribbon eel but i read it's hard to get them to eat and other stuff.

 

[michael stern]

They can definitely be tricky

 

[1UCKY]

Beautiful eels guys:splitspin.....

 

[NYreefNoob]

is that a banana eel ? what you you say is the most reef safe eel and if any, any chance my cleaner shrimp would survive

 

[Phyl]

Our eel is commonly referred to as a banana eel, but I'm of the understanding that the banana is supposed to be a dwarf morray. The dwarfs have a black stripe through their eye though and they stay small. That's not the case with the one we have as he's already beyond the "stays this small" size of a dwarf and he doesn't have the tell tale stripe through his eye.


There would be no chance of your shrimp surviving in my tank. YMMV with other eels.


Looks just like a banana though, doesn't he?!



.

 

[Tangs Rule]

Awesome eels. I would love a tessalata but I know they have to pretty much be kept by themself.

 

[michael stern]

is that a banana eel ? what you you say is the most reef safe eel and if any, any chance my cleaner shrimp would survive

Zebra's your shrimp would have a chance.
Dwarf goldens as well, but they are quite pricey.