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Snow Flake Eels for Sale
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Here
is a Snow Flake Eel for sale
in our facility. Click
here for more about buying a
Snow Flake Eel from us. Snowflake
Eels like this one prefer to live
inside a cave like this piece of
plastic pipe. |
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Scientific Name:
Gymnothorax tile. |
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Comments
You may prefer to give a Snow
Flake Eel a more decorative home or a more natural
looking home than a piece of plastic pipe.
But whatever type of home you choose for your
eels, be sure the materials are safe and will
not contaminate your aquarium. Click
here for more information about how to avoid
contaminating your aquarium.
These Eels are called Snow Flake Eels because
they are covered with small marks that look
like snow flakes.
"The Big Katuna" says, "Snowflake Eels are usually
peaceful, sticking their heads out of a cave,
checking out the surroundings, and chillin'.
These Eels are active, when the lights are off,
and often feed just after the lights go off.
Snowflakes can be trained to eat a piece of
fish off the end of a wooden skewer. Watch out
for those teeth of theirs." This is a quote
from someone with experience.
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Appropriate Home
Eventually a Snow Flake
Eel will need an aquarium with at least 50 gallons
of water, an
exterior power filter with a BIO-Wheel,
a maximum of 1/4 inch of
gravel, and an
aquarium heater adjusted to keep the water
between 75 and 82 degrees F. Click
here for more about warm water aquariums.
Be sure each Snowflake Eel has its own piece
of plastic pipe or a cave to live in.
These Snowflake Eels do better with about 1
Tablespoon of Aquarium Salt per each 5 gallons
of water. Click
here for more information about Aquarium
Salt.
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Most Eels, Sharks,
and
Loaches
love Cichlid Stones,
which are natural
looking ceramic aquarium
caves . Click
here for more about
Cichlid Stones.
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Recommended Diet
Ghost Shrimp,
Black Worms, and Guppies. Larger Snow Flake
Eels may eat Live Comet Goldfish, and pieces
of fish and shrimp bought at the grocery store.
Click
here for more about Black Worms. Click
here for more about feeding fish.
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Compatibility
You could keep one Snowflake
Eel in an aquarium with other fish that are
too big to be swallowed by the Snow Flake Eel.
Or you can keep several Snow Flake Eels together
in a group with other fish that are too big
to be swallowed. But keeping just a few Snowflakes
together usually doesn't work because the dominant
Snowflake Eel will make the others miserable.
Some good tank mates for Snowflake Eels are
Large Tinfoil Barbs,
Clown Knife Fish,
Pangasius Catfish,
Large Rainbow Sharks, and
White Tip Shark Catfish.
Snow Flake Eels are often seen in aquariums
with
Oscars, other
Neotropical Cichlids, and most medium and
large size tropical fish that are too big to
be swallowed by a Snow Flake Eel.
Click
here to read more about several other groups
of compatible fish.
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Size and Life Span
These eels
can live for several years and grow to be 24"
long and sometimes longer.
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Customer
Comments
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I have a
snowflake
eel that
doesn't
appear to
be eating
anything.
The
store owner
told me
that they
are kind
of like
snakes in
that they
don't have
to eat all
the time
and can
go a couple
of months
without
eating.
Is this
true?
What should
I be feeding
it?
I do have
cichlids
in the tank
with him
and they
don't seem
to bother
each other
at all.
Any help
you can
give me
will be
greatly
appreciated.
thanks,
ART
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Reply. Hello
Art. Getting Snowflake Eels to eat
can be a problem. The comment that
the store owner made to you is certainly
false. No Snowflake Eel should go
more that two or three days without
eating. A Snowflake going two months
without food is ridiculous.
Snowflake
Eels are nocturnal, which means
that they tend to eat at night,
when the lights are off. I recommend
that you turn off the lights on
your aquarium then darken the room
and add a few Ghost Shrimp, some
live Black Worms, and a few small
fish like guppies to your aquarium.
Your
Cichlids will not be able to find
these live foods in the dark, but
your Snowflake Eel probably will
find them and eat them.
I
recommend you increase the temperature
of the water by 4 degrees F., then
increase it an additional 2 degrees
each day, until your Snowflake starts
to eat. Do not exceed 84 degrees,
and after your Eel starts to eat,
gradually lower the temperature
back down to about 78 degrees.
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Customer Comments
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Are you sure that the
eel you are selling
is Echidna nebulosa?
That species can't live
in fresh water very
long at all, and even
doesn't do brackish
very well. It is also
a totally different
color. The species I
think you have is the
Freshwater Moray Eel
(Echidna rhodochilius).
There are also a few
other species of moray
eel that can live in
brackish and even fresh
water to include Gymnothorax
afer, Gymnothorax fimbriatus,
Gymnothorax polyuradon
and Gymnothorax tile.
There are actually several
others, but the Snowflake
eel is not one of them.
You can examine the
Nominal species list
for moray eels at
http://www.fishbase.org/Summary
/FamilySummary.cfm?ID=56
and see a list based
off of that of moray
eels that may be kept
in brackish or fresh
water at
http://saltaquarium.about.com/library/blank/blfweels.htm
I cannot
see the moray well enough
in that picture to determine
which of the freshwater
species it is, but if
it eats primarily crustaceans
then it is Echidna and
if it eats fish then
it is probably a Gymnothorax
sp.
Respecfully,
Curtis W.
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Reply. Hello
Curtis. You're right, and we had the Scientific
Name of the Snowflake Eel wrong. We checked
with some other experts, who think we have Gymnothorax
tile, which was one of the possibilities you
listed in your email. Thank you for your help
in straightening us out. |
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Customer Comments
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On your page where you
advertise "snowflake
eels"
http://www.aquariumfish.net/
... / ... /eels_moray.htm
I'd just like to give
some constructive criticism
if you don't mind. Since
you advertise these
guys as being compatible
with Large Tinfoil Barbs,
Clown Knife Fish, Pangasius
Catfish, Large Rainbow
Sharks, and White Tip
Shark Catfish ect, I'm
assuming you're actually
talking about what is
commonly sold as the
Freshwater Moray Eel
or Freshwater Snowflake
Eel.
In that case, the scientific
name Echidna nebulosa
you sell these as is
incorrect. Echidna nebulosa,
the true snowflake eel,
is a strictly marine
species, and actually
looks nothing like the
eels you have pictured
for sale.
Typically, there are
two species commonly
sold as the freshwater
moray eel, Echidna rhodochilus
and Gymnothorax polyurandon.
As juveniles they can
be kept in freshwater,
although both are true
brackish fish, which
also do well in full
marine conditions, but
should not be kept in
freshwater for long
term health as you seem
to suggest by the fish
you mention as tankmates
... I hope you guys
find the information
helpful.
Thanks for taking the
time to read,
Amber L.
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Reply.
Hello Amber. Thank you for the information in
your email about the scientific name of Snow
Flake Eels. We think this fish is Gymnothorax
tile. Click on the next line to go to the page
in FishBase at,
http://www.fishbase.org/ ... /SpeciesSummary.cfm?
... =tile
Which has a link
to synonyms for Gymnothorax tile at,
http://www.fishbase.org/ ... /SynonymsList.cfm?
... =tile
Where Gymnothorax
polyuranodon is listed as a misidentification
of Gymnothorax tile. But your information was
better than our information, and we thank you
for helping us get it right.
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