Hawaiian Dragon Moray

[Darth_Kirk]

I have 2 tanks of around 460 gallons, I’ve moved all the fish from my 8x3x2.5 softy reef into my fish only. My intention is to turn this into an Eel tan with the featured eel being a Hawaiian Dragon. I have a LFS that is confident they can commandeer one. 2 Eels that I’m confident would work well with the Dragon would be a Jeweled Moray, and a Leopard (Fimbriated) Moray, I think this would be reasonable.

I am curious if anyone has ever kept
a Tessy with a Dragon? My general knowledge says eels rarely eat other eels unless they’re ridiculously smaller, however I’m not risking a $1000+ Dragon’s life.

Curious also if anyone has had luck keeping Cleaner Shrimp with Eels like this?

I’m out of touch, I would typically email such questions to wwm, but just went to the site and learned of Bob Fenner’s unfortunate passing in 2020.

Thanks

 

[Cthulukelele]

IME eels will leave cleaner shrimp alone until they're hungry then snack time. I had a cleaner that cleaned my snowflakes teeth for it for over a year. One day he got hungry, and the shrimp got munched.

 

[lion king]

2nd that cleaner shrimp are almost always temporary, I've never had them last long, and that's every eel not just fang tooths.

I would actually be more concerned of the fimbriated vs the tessa. If sized properly from the start the tessa is very dangerous to fish, but not as much toward eels. You'll have to decide your risk factor. Look into swapping the fimbriated for a goldentail. They come in 3 color morphs; the common what people call brown will actually be more golden if fed a fresh healthy diet and pics don't do them justice. The red which is sometimes called a fire eel, and the yellow which you know as the banana eel.

It's not about eating as much as it is in injury, which can turn into a bacterial infection and death; if not just murder. Your size tank is a good size for an eel tank.

 

[Darth_Kirk]

2nd that cleaner shrimp are almost always temporary, I've never had them last long, and that's every eel not just fang tooths.

I would actually be more concerned of the fimbriated vs the tessa. If sized properly from the start the tessa is very dangerous to fish, but not as much toward eels. You'll have to decide your risk factor. Look into swapping the fimbriated for a goldentail. They come in 3 color morphs; the common what people call brown will actually be more golden if fed a fresh healthy diet and pics don't do them justice. The red which is sometimes called a fire eel, and the yellow which you know as the banana eel.

It's not about eating as much as it is in injury, which can turn into a bacterial infection and death; if not just murder. Your size tank is a good size for an eel tank.

Interesting….The Fimbriated Eel is the only eel I have ever had an issue with in a FO tank (though I haven’t keep large eels). He got an Achilles Tang (ouch!!), and I think 2 Maroon Clowns, though I don’t have proof. It’s the only fish I’ve ever traded in, took me weeks to catch him.
I came across some of your posts in my search, have you kept a Tess?

BTW there is a Dragon in LA DD that they say will only eat live food. This struck me as odd, I’ve never had an issue getting eels to eat food from tongs, you?

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

ive had dragon with jeweled , no issues, would not do that with a tessatallatta eel, the tessy will kill the dragon eventually

 

[lion king]

Interesting….The Fimbriated Eel is the only eel I have ever had an issue with in a FO tank (though I haven’t keep large eels). He got an Achilles Tang (ouch!!), and I think 2 Maroon Clowns, though I don’t have proof. It’s the only fish I’ve ever traded in, took me weeks to catch him.
I came across some of your posts in my search, have you kept a Tess?

BTW there is a Dragon in LA DD that they say will only eat live food. This struck me as odd, I’ve never had an issue getting eels to eat food from tongs, you?

I'm raising a tessa now, only about 2' now, I've only had him a few months. He's alone in 210g and pretty shy at the moment. I'm good to hime being alone, but an considering options which may bring him out of his shell.

Yeah most eels except for the ribbons will always come around to eating off of tongs. There's really no reason to have to feed a dragon live food, other than just in the beginning to get acclimated to captive living.

Its hard to find super small tessa's but raising a small one does give a better chance at a community eel, obviously based on very selective tank mates.

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

there is no such thing as a community tess, unless you have a pool sized thank...
eventually it will realize it can kill everybody
if the fimbrated is one of those yellow headed i would not risk the dragon they get mean too.
i would pair a dragon with a zebra or jeweled if you want multiple eels.