Ribbon Eel

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Comatose;3991501; said:
Please don't buy a blue ribbon eel. Do some reading on WWmedia: 99.9% do not survive more than a couple months in captivity, so even if you afre successful, you're supporting the business of killing 999 eels for your one. Further I think you're tank (40 gallons) is way too small for this species. If you absolutely must do it, do some serious reseach on setup; others that have been successful lay a network of PVC piping under the sand bed for the eel to live in. Make sure you watch the moray eat at the LFS, don't just assume it's feeding if they say so.

I don't mean to be a party pooper; I've been keeping morays for 10 years or so, and the blue ribbon seems to be the only exception to a class of amazing and hardy animals. Have you considered any other species? For a take your size a bannana moray would be absolutely awesome. I've kept them and they are incredible and hardy.

Best of luck in whatever direction you go!

So you attack me personally to make up for a stupid suggestion? Thats nice and mature of you. I didn't check the join date, my mistake. Yes i have had morays fight, have you ever had more than one moray in a tank? Many others have, and how do you know if an eel is going to attack another? its called trail and error and you would know that right?

My post was nothing negative towards you, you posted information that wasn't the best, and i corrected it. Thats what people do on mfk, take a hit bro its good for you. I think you meant the gold dwarf moray would be a good choice.

Pretty pathetic you jump down my throat attacking me personally when all i did was point that the information might be wrong.... I didn't question your experience with morays or anything else for that matter.... :screwy:
 
I know what I meant, which is why I used the latin name G. miliaris, not G. melatremus, which is fine in a 10 gallon tank if filtration is proper and it's kept by itself. I didn't recomend that becuase melatremus isn't as pretty, and tends to hide most of the time.

I'm not sure what qualifies as a personal attack on your end, but I'd consider accusing me of being novice and giving bad advice in line with attack, espescially when you're giving terrible advice. The blue ribbon eel is notoriously difficult to keep, needs a very large tank with a specialized setup, and even then will often not survive. This isn't just me saying it; it's essentially every respectable source on the issue.

I'm not sure what qualifies as stupid in your book, but suggesting a fragile 4 foot moray would be better suited to a small tank than a hardy 2 foot moray certainly makes the cut for me.
 
Comatose;3993919; said:
I know what I meant, which is why I used the latin name G. miliaris, not G. melatremus, which is fine in a 10 gallon tank if filtration is proper and it's kept by itself. I didn't recomend that becuase melatremus isn't as pretty, and tends to hide most of the time.

I'm not sure what qualifies as a personal attack on your end, but I'd consider accusing me of being novice and giving bad advice in line with attack, espescially when you're giving terrible advice. The blue ribbon eel is notoriously difficult to keep, needs a very large tank with a specialized setup, and even then will often not survive. This isn't just me saying it; it's essentially every respectable source on the issue.

I'm not sure what qualifies as stupid in your book, but suggesting a fragile 4 foot moray would be better suited to a small tank than a hardy 2 foot moray certainly makes the cut for me.


The girth is the problem. Also people don't post success stories of having blue ribbon eels. People mostly will post problems, and people will find their error. Without any errors this animal CAN be kept in a 40 gallon tank which is its appropriate minimum tank size. You suggested an eel that needs larger than a 40 gallon in my opinion.

The personal thing was you bringing up the fact that i am 18 yada yada yada...... That doesn't even matter when i am posting information and its correct. Everyone already knows who i am, thats why you where asked who are you? You come in here suggesting something that was not the best idea. ( not that post count or being here longer matters) Just trying to explain why others might have questioned you...

I would love to hear some of your data and research. Do you have any typed papers or anything? I would actually really enjoy reading it, cause 10 years of experience is a lot and i love morays. Or are you just someone who has kept various morays over 10 years in glass boxes for amusement?

G. miliaris= golden tail.... min tank size 30?

You suggested a banana moray, canary moray, etc.... min tank size 100... and you pay close to 500$ for the color morph of the animal.

Also just to be clear i didn't say anything was stupid or insult your intelligence, your doing that all on your own by getting so offensive.

Also he didn't mention it was a breeder 40 gallon so even if the eel stayed 24 inches it would be 2ft long in a 12 inch wide tank........... The ribbon eel has no problem with this because it gets as thick as a pencil....... not a small human arm.
 
They need a larger tank size because they are shy and not as hardy as some of the other eels. The banana also has reports of outgrowing the average golden tail that doesn't have the color morph. Which can be anywhere from 24 - 30'' long. Keeping such a larger eel that produces much more of a bio load then a blue ribbon would in a week, is a really hard tank to take care of. Good rule of thumb i hear for eels from my lfs, the tank should be double the length of the eel.

Excluding the ribbon eels.

Once again though, i am new to fish keeping, just like giving "experts" a run for their money. What do i know?

my opinion is that a ribbon eel would be more suitable for this tank than a golden tail.... we can agree to disagree.

There is already a ribbon eel thats at his lfs and its eating frozen, thats awsome! In the end the he will make the buy of whatever eel he wants. Just tossing my opinion out there, don't mean to bash your intelligence or opinion, i just have a different view.

sorry op for butchering your thread lol i need to quit doing this.
 
TheCanuck;3994050; said:
sorry op for butchering your thread lol i need to quit doing this.

Ditto. Agree to disagree; I think the OP has enough info from both sides to make an educated decision on his/her own, and I too apologize for hijacking the thread.

If you do decide to go with my suggestion, LiveAquaria has a 9" specimen (yellow form) for $399 in the diver's den section.

Again, whatever direction you go in I wish you the best of luck! If you end up with the blue ribbon and are successful, keep track of your endevours and share it with others; that way maybe more people will be successful with these animals.
 
welp not to be the weirdo but i enjoyed all the facts about the ribbon eel the pipes in the sand gave me a great idea for my moray in my Gsp tank Thanks. and that article was amazing Comatose
 
Comatose;3992554; said:
What does that matter...I'm a person that's been a member for almost 5 years and rarely posts. Why is it that polite advice is met with agression here? It's why I tend to stick with other forms.
you know i'm just twondering who you are i've never seen you around. way to jump to aggression. :chillpill:
 
I didn't mean to jump down anyone's throats... I posted my thoughts/experiences with this species and two people immediatly jumped topic and questioned my position. That's just the way I see it; sorry if I overreacted.

sao870;3994910; said:
welp not to be the weirdo but i enjoyed all the facts about the ribbon eel the pipes in the sand gave me a great idea for my moray in my Gsp tank Thanks. and that article was amazing Comatose


Glad you found it useful!
 
comatose i apologize i was really wondering who you were like mfk wise i wasn't doubting your knowledge apologies
 
MonsterFishKeepers.com