red sea garden eel

[sn4k33y3z]

OK, I saw these cool looking eels at the GA aquarium and have wanted them ever since, but I never knew what they were... I'm assuming they are either non-reef safe or avaliablity isn't there?!?!
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[shanepike]

LiveAquaria sells them:

 

[sn4k33y3z]

ShanePike;867000 wrote: LiveAquaria sells them: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+29+123&pcatid=123">http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+29+123&pcatid=123</a>[/QUOTE]

Interesting... I haven't seen anyone keep them before. Can it be done?

 

[landon]

Saw a bunch of garden eels diving in St. Kitts the other day. Shame they won't let you get close.

 

[jdavenp3]

I believe a couple of reasons that they are not too popular is that you need a pretty deep sand bed and they are very thin which means super tight fitting lid. I am not positive about this, but they could be picked on pretty bad by aggressive fish since they do not really roam in different areas-basically open targets.

They are cool looking eels though.

 

[sn4k33y3z]

jdavenp3;867003 wrote: I believe a couple of reasons that they are not too popular is that you need a pretty deep sand bed and they are very thin which means super tight fitting lid. I am not positive about this, but they could be picked on pretty bad by aggressive fish since they do not really roam in different areas-basically open targets.

They are cool looking eels though.

Liveaquaria recommends a min. 6" sand bed... I've never seen them leave their burrow. Howver, they can grow over one foot in length :wow2:. Surely someone on the ARC has attempted raising them before.

 

[schwaggs]

A LFS that went out of business had a tank full of these for a while. I know of one ARC member that had 3 of these in a mixed reef. He had pretty good luck with them but he has since left the hobby.

 

[rizmaher]

Keen Reef in Decatur had them, the shop shutdown a couple of years ago.

 

[picoreefguy]

yea they need a ridiculously deep sand bed im surprised liveaquaria says they only need a 6" bed. ive wanted one for a very long time but for them to be truly happy they need to be able to bury their entire bodies under the sand bed and they would have to dig sidways to accomplish this in a 6" sandbed. and i saw one in about a 4 inch sand bed one time and you could see parts of his body sticking out kind of like the mcdonalds arches from the sand because he couldnt bury himself completely

 

[hiimsean]

I'm pretty sure someone on reefcentral has (I believe) a 93cube with a few. He has a deep sandbed on one side the slopes to a more normal depth on the other.

 

[chefsung]

i had 4 in my 110 cube with a 9inch sand bed mixed reef they dont seem to bother anything really. kinda hard to feed tho when its a mixed reef since all your fish attack the food and they dont come out of their hole. i woul recomend if any one doing these keep just the eels and not add other fish. had to pull them out and brought it back to the store.

 

[sn4k33y3z]

Tmahoneyjr;867126 wrote: I got mine at King Reef on Jimmy Carter Blvd, and my tank is mixed reef and fish!

How long have you had them? Any major hurdles to overcome?

 

[rjrgroup]

They need more like 10-12" sandbed and non aggressive tank mates. They are difficult to keep in a reef because they require so much feeding. If the food hits the sand, they won't eat it. Food has to be suspended in the water column. They are also very shy at times. I think garden eels are awesome but I'll stick with my jawfish.