Moray in Reef tanks

[danmhippo]

Anyone keeping moray in reef tanks? What kind? I have no shrimp or crabs. The smallest fishes are the tomato clown (2"). I want to add some diversity into the tank. Would moray pose threat? If possible, what is the best specie to be kept? (something that stays relatively small, of course.) The tank is 150G.

 

[Diane]

The two species of eels that I have kept are the blue ribbon and a ghost eel. I have had things from a Mandarin, wrasses, cinnamon clown, puffer and tangs...the only fish they even picked on was the wrasses. They have never messed with the starfish...however watch out a snail could wind up lunch if it's not in the greatest condition health wise. Out of the two I liked the blue ribbon the best personality. But the ghost is definetly the easier of the two to keep. I wouldn't worry one bit about your clown...I would think it would be just find with either of these eels.
HTH
Diane

 

[danmhippo]

Diane, you got a problem with blue ribbon finding its way to the sump? How long do they get?

 

[phoenix1]

The dwarf yellow moray is probably a better choice. Max size 12". Downside is price - cheapest I have seen is from the marine center @$175 but have seen them as high as $500 in LFS in Atlanta.

 

[FMarini]

Hi:
all morays are reef safe in that they have little interest in corals...However many will eat all your fish and inverts.
IMO there are really only 2 fish safe morays. The G melatremus, dwarf golden moray stays under 1 ft and is as thin as a pencil. The other is a zebra moray, they have NO interest in fish at all. However they get big, thick and are exceptionally clumsy. So unless you have serious rockwork which is tied down, the zebra when its gets older will knock stuff around.
other choices are the other pebbled toothed morays, like chainlink, and snowflake. Both are pretty safe bets as youngin, but when they get older and bigger they will potshot fish.

Blue ribbon eels will also leave many larger fish alone, but they do eat fish, so its a crap shoot when they will grab their tankmates.

Please remember there are a number of morays available to the hobby. Think of it this way, if it has pointed teeth its eats fish, if you can't see the teeth most likely its eats inverts(like crabs)

Last point, if you do decide on an eel, please know up front that you must target feed these fish. All are almost totally blind and hunt by scent. W/ my zebras i have to hit them in the nose w/ the thawed shrimp before they relize what it is. Therefore your other fish will eat first.
my opinion
frank

 

[Diane]

We had a nickname for our blue ribbon...evil kenievel (sp?). This eel loved to find it's way into everything it didn't belong in!!! If you have any opening on your tank especially at the top you better find a way to cover or seal it up. This species loves to explore...and did I mention dig!!! Ours dug a cave under a very large piece of LR. As for size my blue ribbon was at least 4 feet long...from what I hear that's a good size. However I truly don't know what the maximum size is.
Diane

 

[Anonymous]

I had a snowflke in mine for a few years. It got to be about 2' long and 1 1/2" in diameter. As Frank said, it was blind as a bet. I hand fed it until I got tired of being bit

. The only time it was a problem was feeding time if I had neglected it. It would cruise the tank with little to no regard for what it layed or cruised over. All in all it behaved well. It didn't even eat the damsel

. It was visitors favorite animal. They always wanted to see it eat. It was pretty cool, it would grab hold start to swallow and then just tie itself in knots to kill the dead shrimp or squid or whatever. I may get one for this tank, but they are kind of messy and I am running skimmerless.

 

[Rays]

You can't go wrong with a snowflake, very easy to feed, they aren't blind, but rely mostly on smell. You can get them as small as "8-"10. It takes a while to reach a couple of feet.