 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Pet Forum / Aquaria / Cichlids / March 2004Week1 of a moray eel in a tanganykan + crab tank
Hi, The shop advised me to add salt if I were to put a moray eel. Since I already have a successful formula in keeping a tanganykan tank, I did not add salt, even though tanganykan cichlids can sustain some salt. It has been one week since inception of a 1 foot moray eel. At first, the moray eel would just hide inside the rock, with head slightly peeking out. Research on web: they have poor vision, but great sense of olfaction. Nocturnal hunters. Indeed, last night, I removed my tank cover (to prevent algae buildup during daylight), and I saw the eel in all of its splendor swimming around tank. Beautiful! Shop advised that it may take weeks for them to start eating. Indeed, I throwed in some recently dead goldfish and shrimp, but only the cichlids and the crab went for it. My tank: 3 baby tetracephalos, 2 baby calvus, 1 3inch leleupi, 2 red crabs, 1 king crab, 1 5inch female fiddler crab, 1 foot moray eel. Cheers >Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > >Cheers you'd need brackish water to keep it alive for more than a few weeks, brackish water is too salty for the africans and not really enough salt for the eel. Lots of times you can get the eel to accept less salt.. i.e. full salt moray to a brackish tank, or a brackish eel (silver dragon) to a fresh tank by gradually lowering the salt mix over the course of a few weeks but I really doubt you'll make the moray work in an african tank. another thing you'll find out is that the Lamprologus tretocephalus and leleupi sleep on or near the bottom at night (not sure on the calvus because I've never had them) and an eel, any eel will eat anything that fits in their mouth at night. your once a month feeding thing will be the death of your africans from the eel if the eel makes it long enough to survive the fresh tank in the first place a full grown Lamprologus tretocephalus is about the size of a nice moray snack and it's my favorite african by far.... what a waste. I had a moray for years until it outgrew my 180 gallon salt tank so I do have experience with them and I've kept africans for almost 20 years and one thing I can tell you is that if you have enough salt to register on a hydrometer you'll kill them for sure. but then again I'm sure the guy at the fish store knows his fish and as soon as they get some nice pacu in he'll sell you 2 or 3 of those too ;-) Duane Are you sure its a morray eel and not some freshwater eel sold as a moray eel? Jim > >Hi, > > [quoted text clipped - 47 lines] > > Duane Mine is a Freshwater White-Cheeked Moray http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fwmorayeels.htm I am pretty sure I got the right merchandise. > Are you sure its a morray eel and not some freshwater eel sold as a moray > eel? [quoted text clipped - 63 lines] > > > > Duane Thanks for the insight. I will keep posted on the status. My baby tetracephalos and calvus are around 1 inch length. I say "baby", because in san diego zoo, I saw an aquarium of tanganykan cichlids, and they were at least 5inches in length! I never thought they were that big in the wild. In the shop, I have seen 3 inches at most, but I prefer "baby" size because I do not have a "very big" tank. > >Hi, > > [quoted text clipped - 47 lines] > > Duane >Thanks for the insight. > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >were that big in the wild. In the shop, I have seen 3 inches at most, but >I prefer "baby" size because I do not have a "very big" tank. That moray is NOT a freshwater fish, it wont last long in less than brackish conditions. even the page you posted states that it is not a true freshwater fish. another concern is that it's feeding trigger is movement. it wont eat dead stuff period so the dead goldfish and shrimp arent going to work out for you. Shops have sold them for years as a fresh water eel but they wont last more than a couple months in a fresh tank. marine salt is not the same salt you put in african tanks FYI. as far as Lamprologus tretocephalus size goes it depends on the fish itself I used to have a breeding pair in a 29 gallon and the male had to have been about 5 inches and the female 3inches but in my 230 gallon african show tank I haven't had one get bigger than 3 inches no matter how long they were in there ( I have 2 pairs in there now ) I would imagine it's because there's a lot of bigger fish in there and that seems to hamper or promote growth depending on that particular fish YMMV If you're really into keeping eels ( I am ) why don't you just make a small investment in a 20 gallon long tank and start a brackish tank just for him. or even go to a full salt tank for fish only, salt is pretty easy unless you're trying to keep a reef setup. to keep an eel all you would need is a regular water filter, dead sand bed, regular lights and a heater. nothing fancy until you want reef type stuff. As far as I know there are NO freshwater moray type eels and NO moray eels that are scavengers. You might get it to eat something dead if you're lucky and it's hungry but I doubt it. I'm not trying to tell you that it wont work just because I haven't heard of it because some people get lucky and have stuff that works that no one would ever even consider ( once a month feedings) I wish you the best of luck trying though Duane >> >Hi, >> > [quoted text clipped - 47 lines] >> >> Duane Thanks again for more insight. If it does not workout, I will learn my lesson. At the beginning of my fish hobby 12 years ago, I did everything that either the shop advised to do or what the newsgroups would recommend. I gave daily feedings, I did water changes, I vaccum the gravel floor, yet I still got itch diseases, algae growth, and water that would become brownish. Everytime I would go on business travel, I would setup those automatic feeders, but after I get back home, the food was not dropping into the tank because the water evaporation would clutter the feeder hole, and make the hole very small for flakes to fall thru. One business trip about 7 years ago, I just left for one month, and when I came back, my tank was intact. All my cichlids were alive. That was the time when I decided to try my new ways of "low maintenance" fish tank. To make the story short, for the past 5 years, I have not changed water by the bucket, only replaced evaporated water. I live in california, so I removed the heater as well inside the tank. I cover the whole tank with a dark towel (prevent algae buildup during daytime), and feedings is once a month. I am sure one could feed every week or twice a week, but I am always on the road. I should post pics, if I get a chance of my hectic schedule. But back to my moray eel, I guess I will enjoy it while it last. Cheers > >Thanks for the insight. > > [quoted text clipped - 91 lines] > >> > >> Duane oh my god.. here we go... >Thanks again for more insight. > [quoted text clipped - 129 lines] >> >> >> >> Duane they get fed everywhere else troll. > Thanks for the insight. > [quoted text clipped - 57 lines] > > > > Duane |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2009 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.