Crazy question I know. I've wanted a salt water aquarium for awhile but recently I saw a precious youtube video of a guy at a petstore petting and rubbing a moray eel! I've always been interested in the animals, I'm a big fan of eels..I think they're adorable. Certain kinds are apparently pretty low maintenance You just need a well saved aquarium for them.
I had a couple of small ribbon eels in a mixed marine tank at one time. Any eels really are not the best animals to keep, especially morays. As they grow they will take any small fish in a mixed aquarium and spend most of their time hiding away amongst your tank decor.
You want different, interesting? At one time I had a small, 3"-4" grouper, another fast growing large fish. This little guy had character though. He would lay a lot of the time on the substrate and you could see him taking in everything going on around him.
When I walked to the tank he would immediately perk up and start looking to the surface. If I slid open the top for feeding and went to drop mysis or whatever into the tank he would literally shoot to the surface and jump from the water in an attempt to grab the food, or my fingers. On one occasion he actually cleared the tank and landed on the carpet.
Eventually, because of the speed he was growing and the fact he obviously intimidated the smaller fish in the tank he was returned to the dealer and exchanged for something more suitable for a small marine community.
Yes, I had heard before that eels had a rather bad affinity for chomping up other tank denizens, I didn't expect them to be social flowers either. I just thought the novelity of having a eel would have been very neat, they are one of my favorite sea creatures and animals but I agree probably not the best decision or purchase in hindsight. Your description of the grouper sounds very interesting to me, I had not realized people kept those in aquariums! I really love any kind of fish or creature that's traditionally viewed as "ugly" or has monstrous qualities, not necessarily because I want a baby Godzilla in my tank I just think they're fascinating to watch. Do you have any recommendations for a tank or conditions to keep a grouper? How difficult was he to take care of, excluding your issue with him pretty much outgrowing his tank.
I used to have a bichur eel, more commonly known as a dinosaur eel. He was really neat and used his fins to walk on the bottom of the tank. He ate fish flakes, blood worms, and little minnows. He used to follow my finger around the bottom of the tank. I say used to because my ex roommate stole him. Nothing could be done about it. Eels do need a heater to regulate warm temperatures in the aquarium. I do not have one anymore, but am determined to have another and another Bichur one day.
There's a great documentary on netflix about eels called Nature: The Mystery of Eels. I would highly suggest checking it out if you enjoy and are captivated by eels. Eels work well with some fish, like large angels,grunts/sweetlips, lions/scorpions, and tangs/surgeons. If tank size is an issue, I would suggest getting a dwarf eel (golden dwarf). I think eels are decently low maintenance. They are not picky eaters and a spot feeding session once a week does the trick.
Crazy question I know. I've wanted a salt water aquarium for awhile but recently I saw a precious youtube video of a guy at a petstore petting and rubbing a moray eel! I've always been interested in the animals, I'm a big fan of eels..I think they're adorable. Certain kinds are apparently pretty low maintenance You just need a well saved aquarium for them.
