Freshwater Snowflake moray eel
- Thread starter oscarfish1395
- Start date
I don't think he was responding to your question. If you want answers to your questions, then make your own thread, don't bring up a 2 year old thread just to ask a question that is irrelevant to the thread's topic, that just annoys everyone.ohdannyboy;4222951; said:
First of all, greetings from South Africa!
I have had a freshwater moray eel before, when you see this in a LFS you def going to buy it right. Anyhow, i did research on it and found out that this eel does not exist. There is no such thing as a freshwater moray eel. The Moray eels live in the sea, but when they breed or give birth they come into estuaries (brackish water) and even freshwater, as there are less predators for there young and more food. This is where the people catch the young morays and tell the supplier/LFS they caught them in freshwater, hence the name. After maturing in the estuarie, they do return to the marine water. The Moray eel i bought lived for about 2 months, then died, as it went on a food strike, this is common for the freshwater morays when they not in the right conditions, he also moved around the tank quick abit swimming in the open, which is not normal for a moray eel, or any eel really(with exceptions, ie. tiretrack,etc). So in the end they die of starvation due to living in freshwater.
However, evolution does exist and im sure by now there are a few morays that have been bred in freshwater and are now fully adapted to freshwater. I now bought another about 6months ago, from a guy who said the eel is in complete freshwater and is eating and growing, so i checked it out and eventually bought the eel. I have had him now for about 6 months and he is growing and eating like theres no end! And he hides most of the time but is getting a lil friendlier with me. I do not see him dying on me anytime soon (touch wood)! The only problem is that he only eats live food (comets) and im trying to get him off it, but i feel as if im fighting a losing battle. LOL
I love him to bits! He is about 1meter in length and quite thick as well!
Hope i cleared up a lil confusion.
I have had a freshwater moray eel before, when you see this in a LFS you def going to buy it right. Anyhow, i did research on it and found out that this eel does not exist. There is no such thing as a freshwater moray eel. The Moray eels live in the sea, but when they breed or give birth they come into estuaries (brackish water) and even freshwater, as there are less predators for there young and more food. This is where the people catch the young morays and tell the supplier/LFS they caught them in freshwater, hence the name. After maturing in the estuarie, they do return to the marine water. The Moray eel i bought lived for about 2 months, then died, as it went on a food strike, this is common for the freshwater morays when they not in the right conditions, he also moved around the tank quick abit swimming in the open, which is not normal for a moray eel, or any eel really(with exceptions, ie. tiretrack,etc). So in the end they die of starvation due to living in freshwater.
However, evolution does exist and im sure by now there are a few morays that have been bred in freshwater and are now fully adapted to freshwater. I now bought another about 6months ago, from a guy who said the eel is in complete freshwater and is eating and growing, so i checked it out and eventually bought the eel. I have had him now for about 6 months and he is growing and eating like theres no end! And he hides most of the time but is getting a lil friendlier with me. I do not see him dying on me anytime soon (touch wood)! The only problem is that he only eats live food (comets) and im trying to get him off it, but i feel as if im fighting a losing battle. LOL
I love him to bits! He is about 1meter in length and quite thick as well!
Hope i cleared up a lil confusion.
In the northern top end of australia we have a freshwater moray eel that lives right up in the tropical freshwater streams of the rainforest.
this is a true freshwater eel, i believe and it will not live in the salt.The ones ive seen only feed on a little native prawn (shrimp) and don't seem to eat fish, the two that ive watched grow over the last 15 months have been in at tank of small clown loachs austalian rainbows, but you would not want to be a prawn or (shrimp).I will see if can get a photo of the eel and post it.
this is a true freshwater eel, i believe and it will not live in the salt.The ones ive seen only feed on a little native prawn (shrimp) and don't seem to eat fish, the two that ive watched grow over the last 15 months have been in at tank of small clown loachs austalian rainbows, but you would not want to be a prawn or (shrimp).I will see if can get a photo of the eel and post it.
Evolution is a long process - even if the eels are bred in freshwater (which happens in the wild anyway), their bodies are physiologically adapted to live in a salty environment, either brackish or marine water. This becomes especially evident as they get older, where they go on hunger strikes when kept in water outside of their preferred salinity range.Worm4882;4300884; said:
Also, try to get some more variety into your eel's diet. While comets will have some nutrients, many eels die in captivity at a young age because they don't get all the nutrients that they need. It will become important that you get your eel onto frozen foods, and then soak those in vitamins that you can buy from your LFS. Alternatively, just buy a really good range of frozen foods, ranging from shrimps, prawns, octopus, squid, fish and crabs.
I had my first snowflake moray for 10 years in a full salt tank (it jumped out after I rearranged his furniture on him, apparently I did it wrong).
My second one was 3 years old when I gave it away, also was in full salt.
I can't find a good picture of him right now, but this one will hold you over. He was in a holding tank while I rescaped his main tank. He was 27" long and about a big around as a the largest of the mag light flash lights when he died. I had him in a 75 gallon tank.
My second one was 3 years old when I gave it away, also was in full salt.
I can't find a good picture of him right now, but this one will hold you over. He was in a holding tank while I rescaped his main tank. He was 27" long and about a big around as a the largest of the mag light flash lights when he died. I had him in a 75 gallon tank.
