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melev

A tiny eel

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In July 2007, a group of us from DFWMAS drove south to Galveston to join the MARSH club for their annual collection trip. Here's the link: http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/07/07/portA.html During that trip, I came home with a tiny eel. I have no idea what kind, and he's lived in my suncoral tank ever since. For a couple of months, he vanished and I thought he was dead, but I found him swimming in my sump one day. I scooped him up and put him back in the suncoral tank.

Last Saturday, Albert came over to help me get rid of everything in the living room and kitchen. It wasn't too bad, but I only took one picture because I was ready to get it done and didn't want to delay progress. I was on a mission to put the house back into order after nearly 7.5 months of this mess.



When I removed the suncoral tank, I poured out all the water and carefully sifted through the 3/4" sandbed to find my little guy. I used forceps and ran them through the substrate vertically and horizontally checkerboard-style. Several times. No eel! I kept trying to find him. The area is only 9" x 9" after all. I poured out the last of the liquid and worked my fingers through the sand hoping I'd find him, all the while being painfully aware that there were definitely bristleworms in there as well.

Finally, success. He was slithering through the sand. I was elated. I removed him as gently as possible, while he tried to elude me. But where to put him and not lose sight of him? The 400g wasn't an option, and the refugium is 58" long. I didn't like that either. So I put him in this fry-catcher compartment, used by breeders usually.





Since I'm about to go on a trip, I thought he'd be okay for a few days in there. However after observing it, I grew wary that the water wasn't actually passing through the slits and oxygen levels were sure to drop. So I tried to think of other options. I had a colander with tiny holes. This is sitting in a soup/cereal bowl for a sense of scale.





He tried just about every hole, but never made it through to the bowl beneath.



Still, I didn't trust it. I found a bigger net in the garage with normal net mesh on the sides, and finer mesh for the main portion. This allowed me to pour in sand for the eel and keep the sump relatively clean, and water would flow through easily. I inserted the net through some foam to float upward. If a power outage occurs, I didn't want the water to rise up and let the eel swim free. The idea is that it will rise and fall and still be reliable.





That's his head poking out, out of focus. Sorry, I tried three times and then gave up.



If anyone has any guesses what kind it is, let me know. He eats mini mysis and cyclop eeze. He loves it.

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Comments

  1. symptom39's Avatar
    Marc,
    It looks like you have yourself a yellow garden eel. I had one in the past, and they are pretty hard to come by here in Utah, but mine was a little darker. The food choices and size are what gave it away to me. Of course if you can rule that out I would love to hear your input. By the way, it was great talking you to you in Utah when Reef Addicts stopped by! I had a bottle of Crown for you, but you seemed a little sick of the crowd and eager to get your set cleaned up. Anyway, I know the pictures you normally see on line show them with larger eyes, but mine looked the same as yours. Good luck in your search!
    Amazing work on the tank by the way! Hopefully I will be able to document my 300 gal build as well as you did yours!
    Here is a link that might help. http://www.ehow.com/video_4961495_co...arden-eel.html
  2. Eric B's Avatar
    I would have to agree with "symptom39" as a garden eel.
  3. melev's Avatar
    If that is what I have, I'm going to have to provide a deeper sandbed for him in the frag tank.
  4. Alaska_Phil's Avatar
    Cool Marc. Glad to see that little guy is still around.