Moray Eel

[rhiannoncum]

Hi,

I bought this moray eel (freshwater snowflake) about a week ago.

Bit worried at first coz i've never kept one before but he's settled in really well!

He lives with my young oscar and two fire eels and gets on with them fine.

His name is Harry and he's about 1cm wide and a foot long!!!!

Anybody know anything about this type of eel would?

Would be great to get some info, Thanks.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

If it really is a snowflake moray eel, it will grow to about 3ft long, however yours looks a lot different to most of the snowflake moray eels i have seen- i don't think its a snowflake;

http/www.wetwebmedia.com/morays.htm


True snowflake eels are also saltwater fish as far as i am aware;

http/saltaquarium.about.com/cs/eelprofil.../a/aa082901.htm

(revised);

http/saltaquarium.about.com/cs/eelcare/a/aa090501.htm





This eel looks a lot more like what you have got in your tank (Gymnothorax
tile);

http/saltaquarium.about.com/gi/dynamic/o....cfm%3FID=17266

But its actually a brackish moray eel and not a freshwater one, despite its common name;

http/saltaquarium.about.com/cs/eelprofil.../l/blfweels.htm

 

[rhiannoncum]

Yep, the common name for the Gymnothorax tile is freshwater snowflake, i have got a little salt in the water so its slightly brackish, not too much so my other fish dont mind. Thanks for your info.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Yep, the common name for the Gymnothorax tile is freshwater snowflake, i have got a little salt in the water so its slightly brackish, not too much so my other fish dont mind. Thanks for your info.

It will slowly die though if you don't keep it in a proper brackish tank (i think they are brackish going on marine fish too, and not brackish going on freshwater), but if you make the tank brackish, your freshwater fish species will die.
Really, these fish shouldn't be mixed due to their habitat/water type requirements- if you just add a little salt, it will make little difference to the eels well-being and will also have a negative effect on the freshwater fishes health.

Salt is as important to salwater fish as vitamin C is to us- if you deny them of enough or any salt, they will start getting serious health problems in the near future and will eventually die at a young age. Sometimes it is a slow process, other times they die very quickly.

My advise would be to set up the eel its own tank, with a suitable habitat for it- this would be the responsable and best thing to do .

I'm no expert on these sorts of fish at all, but the basics of keeping fish in the right environment remain the same and the fate of brackish or marine fish put into freshwater (or water not salty enough) have the same sort of doom sooner or later (i.e. fish gets very ill or gets a a course of repetitive or untreatable deseases, loses weight, stops eating and dies) unless something about their situation is properly changed .

 

[AMS]

Adding a little salt hardly makes your tank brackish. You need marine salt, not tonic salt to make brackish water. G. tiles won't do well in freshwater for life, they do best at high end brackish conditions (1.010 and up). You really need to return it to your LFS or set up another brackish or marine aquarium.

 

[~T~]

I kept a G.tile for a while (set up a brackish tank for him) they are fun fish to keep but need propor conditions.Adding "a little salt" wont cut it.

 

[flamingonhot]

If I remember correctly, they are usually found in all ranges of water, fw, bw, and sw. More likely found in brackish water though, and swimming into saltwater when spawning. I read this a few times in books, etc. but I can't seem to remember which ones...I know most info on the internet tells the opposite of this. They always ay they live in saltwater, and go in to freshwater to spawn which doesn't make much sense to me....


But back on track, you have one species of "freshwater" moray eel that needs a higher range of salinity, like said, 1.008 and up would be best. If it's kept in freshwater kidney failure, liver failure, etc. could proceed. And just like any other brackish fish with no scales kept in freshwater, they'll develop a thick white skin slime months later and die. It's simple, they're brackish, they need brackish, you don't have brackish..don't keep it .

HTH

 

[andywg]

If I remember correctly, they are usually found in all ranges of water, fw, bw, and sw. More likely found in brackish water though, and swimming into saltwater when spawning. I read this a few times in books, etc. but I can't seem to remember which ones...I know most info on the internet tells the opposite of this. They always ay they live in saltwater, and go in to freshwater to spawn which doesn't make much sense to me....

A large number of fish spend their adult lives in marine/estuarine conditions but spawn in freshwater. Look at Salmon. It has been hypothsised (though I have read no authorative articles) that Green Spotted Puffers do the same - hence their being collected in freshwater when young.

I can't think of any fish that spawns in SW while living in light brackish or freshwater, though have little doubt there are a couple of species that do so.

I can only assume that there are less predators of larval stage and tiny fish in rivers than in the sea.

Morays are known to make forays into freshwater, but seem to need a fair amount of salt to properly osmoregulate. There is one possible exception (whose species I cannot remember know but will edit in later) that is known to live in lower salinity ares and spend more time in freshwater.

EDIT*

The moray species found living in freshwater is Gymnothorax polyuranodon. It has been found in freshwater in Indonesia and possibly Australia and Fiji too.

However, as it is also found in full marine it may be that it is more known for forays into freshwater than living there for any extended periods when an adult.