Fishkeeping - Week1 of a moray eel in a tanganykan + crab tank

Thanks again for more insight.

If it does not workout, I will learn my lesson.

At the beginning of my fish hobby 12 years ago, I did everything that
either the shop advised to do or what the newsgroups would recommend.
I gave daily feedings, I did water changes, I vaccum the gravel floor,
yet
I still got itch diseases, algae growth, and water that would become
brownish.

Everytime I would go on business travel, I would setup those automatic
feeders, but after I get back home, the food was not dropping into the
tank because the water evaporation would clutter the feeder hole, and
make the
hole very small for flakes to fall thru.

One business trip about 7 years ago, I just left for one month, and
when I
came back, my tank was intact. All my cichlids were alive. That was
the time
when I decided to try my new ways of "low maintenance" fish tank.

To make the story short, for the past 5 years, I have not changed
water by the
bucket, only replaced evaporated water. I live in california, so I
removed the heater as well inside the tank. I cover the whole tank
with a dark towel (prevent algae buildup during daytime), and feedings
is once a month. I am sure
one could feed every week or twice a week, but I am always on the
road.

I should post pics, if I get a chance of my hectic schedule.

But back to my moray eel, I guess I will enjoy it while it last.

Cheers

duane wrote in message . ..
On 16 Jan 2004 10:45:03 -0800, (Chip) wrote:

Thanks for the insight.

I will keep posted on the status.

My baby tetracephalos and calvus are around 1 inch length.
I say "baby", because in san diego zoo, I saw an aquarium of tanganykan
cichlids, and they were at least 5inches in length! I never thought they
were that big in the wild. In the shop, I have seen 3 inches at most, but
I prefer "baby" size because I do not have a "very big" tank.

That moray is NOT a freshwater fish, it wont last long in less than
brackish conditions. even the page you posted states that it is not a true
freshwater fish.
another concern is that it's feeding trigger is movement. it wont eat dead stuff
period so the dead goldfish and shrimp arent going to work out for you.
Shops have sold them for years as a fresh water eel but they wont last more
than a couple months in a fresh tank.
marine salt is not the same salt you put in african tanks FYI.

as far as Lamprologus tretocephalus size goes it depends on the fish itself
I used to have a breeding pair in a 29 gallon and the male had to have been
about 5 inches and the female 3inches
but in my 230 gallon african show tank I haven't had one get bigger than 3 inches
no matter how long they were in there ( I have 2 pairs in there now )
I would imagine it's because there's a lot of bigger fish in there and that seems
to hamper or promote growth depending on that particular fish YMMV

If you're really into keeping eels ( I am ) why don't you just make a small
investment in a 20 gallon long tank and start a brackish tank just for him.
or even go to a full salt tank for fish only, salt is pretty easy unless you're
trying to keep a reef setup. to keep an eel all you would need is a regular
water filter, dead sand bed, regular lights and a heater. nothing fancy until
you want reef type stuff.

As far as I know there are NO freshwater moray type eels and NO moray
eels that are scavengers. You might get it to eat something dead if you're lucky
and it's hungry but I doubt it.

I'm not trying to tell you that it wont work just because I haven't heard of it
because some people get lucky and have stuff that works that no one would ever
even consider ( once a month feedings)
I wish you the best of luck trying though
Duane

duane wrote in message . ..
On 15 Jan 2004 11:22:13 -0800, (Chip) wrote:

Hi,

The shop advised me to add salt if I were to put a moray eel.
Since I already have a successful formula in keeping a tanganykan tank,
I did not add salt, even though tanganykan cichlids can sustain some salt.

It has been one week since inception of a 1 foot moray eel.

At first, the moray eel would just hide inside the rock, with head
slightly peeking out.

Research on web: they have poor vision, but great sense of olfaction.
Nocturnal hunters. Indeed, last night, I removed my tank cover (to prevent
algae buildup during daylight), and I saw the eel in all of its splendor
swimming around tank. Beautiful!

Shop advised that it may take weeks for them to start eating.
Indeed, I throwed in some recently dead goldfish and shrimp, but only the
cichlids and the crab went for it.

My tank: 3 baby tetracephalos, 2 baby calvus, 1 3inch leleupi, 2 red crabs,
1 king crab, 1 5inch female fiddler crab, 1 foot moray eel.

Cheers

you'd need brackish water to keep it alive for more than a few weeks,
brackish water is too salty for the africans and not really enough salt
for the eel. Lots of times you can get the eel to accept less salt..
i.e. full salt moray to a brackish tank, or a brackish eel (silver dragon)
to a fresh tank by gradually lowering the salt mix over the course of a
few weeks but I really doubt you'll make the moray work in an african
tank.

another thing you'll find out is that the Lamprologus tretocephalus and leleupi sleep
on or near the bottom at night (not sure on the calvus because I've never
had them) and an eel, any eel will eat anything that fits in their mouth at night.

your once a month feeding thing will be the death of your africans from
the eel if the eel makes it long enough to survive the fresh tank in the first
place

a full grown Lamprologus tretocephalus is about the size of a nice moray snack
and it's my favorite african by far.... what a waste.

I had a moray for years until it outgrew my 180 gallon salt tank so I do have experience
with them and I've kept africans for almost 20 years and one thing I can tell you is
that if you have enough salt to register on a hydrometer you'll kill them for sure.
but then again I'm sure the guy at the fish store knows his fish and as soon as they
get some nice pacu in he'll sell you 2 or 3 of those too ;-)

Duane