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Advice on Garden Eel

Dace

Dace

Advanced Reefer
Location
Manhattan
Rating - 99.7%
393   1   0
They are pretty hard to keep. Must have a well establish tank with at least a 5" sand bed. I've kept garden eels for at least 3 years now. I had 6. Last year I had a crash do to a fire. 5 out of 6 died. The one that lived is doing great. I would of replaced the 5 but I'm thinking of removing sand bed in my tank. The only thing that's kept me from doing so is the eel, 2 leopard wrasse and a radiant wrasse in my tank.
 
Imbarrie

Imbarrie

PADI Dive Inst
Manhattan Reefs
Location
New York
Rating - 100%
61   0   0
JasonE said:
Jonathan,
We have had limited success with garden eels. We currently have 13 in our display aquarium that are doing fairly well. That being said the original number introduced was close to 25 individuals. That, to me, is proof positive that this should not be considered a success, and I am ashamed of the losses we have incurred. We feed that tank over 6 times a day, as garden eels will not leave their holes to find food. Food needs to blow by them on a regular basis. Also these are not reef inhabitants, they live colonially in their thousands in sand beds, constantly feeding on zooplankton. We felt our tank was large enough (580 gallons) to be able to sustain a small colony and afford them some (limited) semblance of their natural environment.
We do not , and will not sell garden eels. Much needs to be learned about their husbandry requirements.
We may try to "push the envelope" as it were, at the store, to try and understand the husbandry of certain animals. However we have a lot of resources available to us, including being able to feed a vast array of foods, as frequently as we choose.
I am rather shocked that these are being offered rather frivolously by online vendors, along with ventralis anthias, bluespot jawfish, moorish idols and the like.
Please do not consider the limited success we are having with these wonderful (heck, fricking awesome) animals, as a reason to try them.
As we better understand what these animals require for long term success, (remember, we have only had ours for 10 months) we'll be sure to pass it on, but right now we are only in the learning phase, and hope that hobbyists understand why we are reluctant to sell them.
Click to expand...


Never mind this says it all.
 
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