Golden Dwarf Moray!!!

[FutureInterest]

Well after 6 months of looking for a golden dwarf moray for my reef tank, I finally found one. Our shipment came in today from Hawaii, and the eels survived the 2 day trip in their respective bags. We didn't have any losses although I expected Chris's wrasse to die . Priority overnight from hawaii, is hardly overnight! Anyways, here's a pic of the lil guy. To give you an idea of how large they are, the pvc elbows in the pic are 1". This is essentially the max size of this species of eel!
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[sprayin70]

Very cool man!!! I'll have to check him out next time i'm over.

 

[FutureInterest]

I'm sure I'll tire of it, and eventually it'll end up in your tank with all my other former fish.

I've also got a lil bunny fish for yah.

 

[tnyga]

Still wish I had gotten one very nice..

 

[linda lee]

Ours is just too cool. He's in a 20g until the 54g corner is set up this weekend. We can't stop staring at the tank ~ Loren even volunteered to let the dogs out late in the evening (something that almost never happens) just so he could go downstairs and get one last look for the night.

Jin, has yours eaten yet? Ours nabbed a piece of silverside last night and dragged it into his pipe cave, but he only ate about half of it. This morning he ate a couple small pieces of raw table shrimp. The guy who helped me yesterday @ CapBay also recommended frozen krill, but they were out so we've not yet tried that.

Keep us posted on yours and we'll do the same. This was kind of a scary/big purchase for us, but we're thrilled. Thanks for placing this order!!!

~Linda

 

[FutureInterest]

It can be hard to get your eel to eat frozen foods... so its really good that yours ate both the silverside and the raw table shrimp. Everything I've read though says that this species is very easy to care for, that they will eat frozen food with no issues.

Unfortunately, I tried mysis, ocean plankton, and krill. He didn't care for any of them, at this point I'm getting spazzy... Finally I tried some raw table shrimp cut up and he went for it and ate a huge piece! Relief! I think the difference was in the freshness of the seafood? I dunno, but I ran out and bought a pound of shrimp for him.

Anyways, I'm glad you guys are happy with the eel! You guys have excellent taste . I don't know about yours but mine escaped from the fish trap I had him in with relative ease and found a nice lil cave. I just hope my tank defenses are up to par...

 

[jjw]

Nice.... snake... Hmm, has the RBTA in the pic split yet?

 

[melissa]

Dang - if I had known Fluffy was going to go belly up....

More pictures!

 

[linda lee]

FutureInterest;76951 wrote: I don't know about yours but mine escaped from the fish trap I had him in with relative ease and found a nice lil cave. I just hope my tank defenses are up to par...

Loren bought a piece of acrylic that he's going to cut to fit the corner tank. He's going to clamp it to a pegboard and use that as a template to drill holes. Two years ago I bought him these pricey drill bits for Christmas (can't remember what they're called, but they're shapped like a cone and have markings for different diam holes). He used one of those bits to drill a hole for the airline to fit through and put the whole piece of acrylic on top of the 20g. I should take a picture ~ it's pretty comical @ this point. Acrylic is held down by a houseplant, a mag 5 pump, a 5gal bucket (1/3 full) and a large jar of seashells. You would think we're trying to contain a gorilla!

Regarding the shrimp, was it shelled or unshelled? We read that we should feed these guys things with shells, like shrimp and blue crabs. I'm wondering if there's a problem with their teeth growing out if they don't have these things in their diet. If ours continues to eat shrimp, that would be great (if it's nutritionally complete?).

 

[linda lee]

and by the way +1 !!!

I just love the eel; it was so great of you to offer to share this order with fellow reefers. Hope you'll continue to let us know about these great rare finds!

 

[izib]

So what is the going rate for one of these guys? They look soooo cool.

 

[sprayin70]

PM'd ya. Jin

 

[FutureInterest]

The cheapest I've ever seen for this species is around 350 and a few years ago they were 500 or so. Of course they have to have these in stock... They're hard to catch since they're so small. We got lucky and found a collector in Hawaii who net caught these himself. Our price was 75 + shipping.

 

[seedless reefer]

Cone shaped drill bits = step drill (everyone should have a set of these)
they are pricey but far superior to your ordinary bit.

Also it is really hard to tell if this guy is eating or not. I know for sure he grabs and I know for sure he bites.

I believe I just saw him eat some frozen brine a minute ago.

 

[jefft]

Linda Lee;76968 wrote: Two years ago I bought him these pricey drill bits for Christmas (can't remember what they're called, but they're shapped like a cone and have markings for different diam holes). .

Unibits.

 

[linda lee]

jefft;77102 wrote: Unibits.

Yes .. or step-bits (same thing)

http://www.mytoolstore.com/klein/59001.html">These</a> guys.

Handy-dandy.

[IMG]http://www.mytoolstore.com/klein/59014.jpg alt="" />

 

[FutureInterest]

Fed mine some squid today and some more shrimp. These things are lil piggies. I think if its grabbing it, its prolly eating. If it didn't want to eat it, it wouldn't bite it. I know for sure mine is eating due to the big bulge in its body.

 

[linda lee]

We're concerned about our eel not eating. He grabbed food the first day and took it into the pipe-cave, but later we couldn't tell from the remnants exactly how much he'd eaten. He has bitten at offerings since then, but it doesn't seem like he's actually consumed a proper meal.

I'm wondering if we're doing everything right? How exactly are you feeding yours? Are you using a feeding stick? Does your eel actually take the food from the stick or do you drop it right in front of him? How often should we offer food? Would you use any additive like garlic to make the food more appealing?

This morning I offered a small piece of raw shrimp at the end of a skewer while he was poking his head out of his pipe-cave. He'll go toward the shrimp and then vigorously shake his head. I've seen him do this before. We only have raw table shrimp and silversides on hand, so today we'll go out and get some frozen krill, squid, octopus and anything else we can find.

Loren is setting up a 54g tank for him and thinks he should go in there as soon as possible, but I'm wondering if this eel should stay in the 20g QT where we can keep an eye on him until we're sure he's eating?

Any tips or suggestions would be appreciated. Everything I read about these eels (and we can't find a lot of online sources) indicates that care is *easy*, so I feel like we're doing something wrong. If you have any links to share, I'd appreciate it.

Sure don't want to lose this guy. He's just the coolest!

Thanks!

~Linda

 

[FutureInterest]

I feed mine with a stick. It's just a wooden shishkabob skewer. From my understanding they only need to be fed maybe twice a week. As such, yours may not be hungry everyday. Without having seen your eel, I think yours has been eating. When they snatch food and take it back into their cave they are eating imo. Their stomachs are about 1/3 the way down their body, but are not that large. You should see a lil pudge from their last meal. Feces are small and white in coloration. If you see poop you know its eating... If you see a bulge you know its eating... With mine I can stare into its cave a lil bit and I've seen it swallow, so I know for certain its eating. Well that and the telltale bulge and the poop.

Keep in mind that they are really most active for feeding shortly after the lights go off. That's when they will naturally accept food most readily. In the wild it seems they eat a lot of worms, so you could try bloodworms as well. Ghost shrimp would probably work really well too if you want to be go that route. Keep me updated and where's the pics?

 

[FutureInterest]

Here's another pic of the lil guy. Some days he looks more golden than others... wierd. He's an ideal citizen, a lil shy though as he gets spooked by chromis and my maroons are constantly giving him the evil eye.

Anyways, thanks for the worm offer Rit. As always you're too kind . I've got plenty on hand though. As for where you get them from? I'll be ordering again from Hawaii in 3 weeks or so. This time we'll ship through delta instead of fedex, so shipping will be faster and cost less. I'll post on the ARC what fish the collector has available.
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