Tesselata Moray Eels

[M.E.Milz]

I know that this is not a reef question, but many of you keep FO tanks as well. Anyways, I have an aggressive FOWLR tank with triggers, puffers, and 2 morays (a 30" Zebra and a 16" Dragon). I have been considering adding another eel, and right now I am leaning towards a tesselata (although I am also considering a geometric/gray). I figure that the tesselata will be aggressive enough to hold his own against the dragon. However, I am aware that the tesselata may eventually become to big or aggressive for my 175. If so, then I will have to move him to a bigger tank.

Anybody have any experience with these particular eels? And if so, what are your opinions on keeping one with a Dragon. My assumption is that he should be about the same size as the dragon (i.e., 16"-20"). And what is their growth rate, assuming that I can get one that is in the 16-20" range?

Thanks in advance,
Mike

 

[M.E.Milz]

Anybody??

 

[DonK]

ME:

My experience was not good. I had a medium-sized (18-24" if memory serves) in my 300. First it ate a dog-faced puffer. Next it ate 2 large lions. I wouldn't have believed it had I not seen it. The first lion "disappeared" after I had done some cleaning/re-arranging and I foolishly convinced myself it was hiding. The next day the larger of the 2 lions (7-8") was gone. I could see 2 of the lions spines hanging out of its mouth.

At that point I relocated him to my 240 (with my other large eels: G moringa, G undulatus and M lentigosa and a large louti grouper and sailfin tang)--I hadn't thought it was large enough to go in this tank, but the lion eating changed my thinking. All was well for a few weeks, then one evening it ate the back 1/3 of the 10+" louti grouper.

It was beautiful (more so as it got bigger AND it grew gast), never mean in the sense it wnet after other eels, but it would ANYTHING it could catch.

Eventually, it someone managed to collapse the rock structure on itself (my stupid @$$ fault).

IME I would worry about your pufer and triggers as it grew.

How aggressive is the dragon? I'm thinking of one of these and wondered if would end up like the tesselata and eat everything else?

DonK

 

[M.E.Milz]

Thanks for the info. I was really surprised to hear that the tesselata became such a problem while still relatively small. I am going to have to re-think this, because I would be very upset if any of my "pets" got ate.

Any suggestions as to other morays? Maybe a white mouth or a golden tail. I am looking for something with lots of color and/or personality. I am also still thinking about a gray/geometric, but they are pretty hard to get hold of.

By the way, the Hawaiian Dragon has not been that aggressive. Although he gets excited when I feed, I have never seen him go after any of the fish (although I keep a small school of damsels in the tank, and their number tends to dwindle over time). In fact, it is not unusual to see my dragon, zebra, dog-faced puffer, and fuscus trigger all sitting together in the same cave. Sometimes, the dog-faced puffer will even sit on the eels head.

The biggest problem I have had with my eels has been when my Zebra accidentally grabs hold of a fish by mistake during feeding. The fish is usually not harmed, but it is not to happy nonetheless.

 

[DonK]

Mike:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by M.E.Milz:
<STRONG>Thanks for the info. I was really surprised to hear that the tesselata became such a problem while still relatively small. I am going to have to re-think this, because I would be very upset if any of my "pets" got ate..</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yeah I was too. Maybe mine was just a renegade, but ...

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote

<STRONG>Any suggestions as to other morays? Maybe a white mouth or a golden tail. I am looking for something with lots of color and/or personality. I am also still thinking about a gray/geometric, but they are pretty hard to get hold of..</STRONG>

I had golden tail for several years: nice eel, not too aggressive, and attractive. Mine had personality more akin to a snowflake, so I don't know if it would be assertive enough to get along with the dragon (though your description of your dragon sounds like it might work).

I had a geometric for about 3 years. I was away on a trip and came home to him dead with yellow tang caught in its throat. My suspicion is that my family slacked off on food which led to attack. He was somewhere between the golden-tail and tessselata in terms of temperment, so if you can find one this may be good option.

I have seen white-mouths but never kept them. Their teeth look serious enough to work, but without experience I hesiate to say any more.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR><STRONG>By the way, the Hawaiian Dragon has not been that aggressive. Although he gets excited when I feed, I have never seen him go after any of the fish (although I keep a small school of damsels in the tank, and their number tends to dwindle over time). In fact, it is not unusual to see my dragon, zebra, dog-faced puffer, and fuscus trigger all sitting together in the same cave. Sometimes, the dog-faced puffer will even sit on the eels head.

The biggest problem I have had with my eels has been when my Zebra accidentally grabs hold of a fish by mistake during feeding. The fish is usually not harmed, but it is not to happy nonetheless.</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks for info on dragon--one is defintely on my short list, though price and rarity make it difficult. Where did you get yours?

Yeah, nothing really likes getting grabbed by a moray. I have had 2 zebras, the first was a total wuss. My current one is getting increasingly aggressive and also mistakenly grabs fish, though it has never harmed any. It also unleashes feeding attacks on my cleaning utensils, which is making me nervous (and cautious) when I clean.

DonK

 

[davelin315]

I had a tiny tesselata a few years back. He was only about a foot long and not at all aggressive. I kept him in a pond (actually, he kept himself there, couldn't catch him to remove him) with a couple of leopard sharks and cat sharks. He lived in the rocks piled on one side of the pond for a year. I never noticed him to be aggressive, but then again, he was the smallest one in there. However, I have seen other eels going after the slow moving cat sharks. Keep in mind mine was very small (never seen one as small as him, maybe it wasn't even a tessalata - I only bought him because I thought he was a tessalata and I only paid $15 for the "miscellaneous moray eel"), but I would think that each eel also has it's own demeanor, and most can be trained to be "friendlier" to a certain extent.

 

[Anonymous]

I upped this old thread to see if there have been any additional opinions.

Shortly after I last posted to this thread, I deceided to add a whitemouth moray to the tank. The dragon harrassed him pretty bad for a few weeks, but things settled down fairly quickly. The three morays lived peacefully together, even occupied the same hole in the rockwork, until my dragon died this past spring for a still undetermined reason. The whitemouth has now grown to about 2' in length and 1.25" in diameter. The Zebra, which rarely comes completely out of the rockwork is probably at least 3' long by now.

Anyways, I am back in the market for a third eel to replace the dragon that I so sorely miss. I am inclined to go with the geometric, but am still fascinated with the tessalata. A tessalata would obviously be more aggressive than a geometric. But it would also be more active, which is what I liked about my dragon.

Any thoughts?

 

[Len]

a ghost visiting his own grave ....

sorry; couldn't help myself