Garden eels in a mixed reef?

JeanR

Well-Known Member
BRS Member
Does anyone have experience keeping garden eels in a reef tank?

I have a 34g mixed reef full of very peaceful fish. I'm very tempted to put a 6 inch sand bed into a corner of the tank and give it a try. Am wondering how terrible an idea this is...
 
Garden eels are very challenging to keep. They're easily frightened (even by peaceful fish) and need to be kept in large groups. Some aquariums have used mirror backings to simulate a larger group but the lowest number if memory serves was 10 individuals. Garden eels live among or nearby sandgrass beds and are not true reef animals. Awesome animals for a species tank but not advised in a mixed reef.
 
They also need to be on decent flow as well. They look wicked though! I always love visiting them at the New England aquarium. I would think they may need a full 6” bed across the whole tank Incase they start moving around.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
My experience (not with garden eels) is that you can set up a nice perfect deep sand bed in only part of the tank, but burrowing fish do not necessarily select that area. They may luck into it, but they also may chose the dinky 1" sand area adjacent to your nice 6" sand bed...

I tried this a few ways with jawfish. With 3 fish at different times, only one ended up in my deep sand area. That one actually burrowed in from the side through the rocks, instead of the open sand bed freely available 3" away.
 
IMG_0194.jpg


Well, I couldn't resist. I added more sand to one one area in the tank to make a 4-5 inch bed and Marty and Gabi at European Aquatics hooked me up with some sweet spotted garden eels. These guys are spectacular and very fun to watch - just turn off the return pump, let the MP10 keep the current going and add food to keep it moving in the water column.

They are very peaceful so far and don't seem to bother anyone else in the tank, they also don't seem scared on the other fish (which are all pretty peaceful). Great eaters too, don't seem too picky.
 
I wanted to circle back and update those that are interested.

In preparation for this experiment I added a 5 inch sand bed to a quarter of my 34 gallon mixed reef in late August. In early September I bought 3 garden eels and added them to the tank. When you add garden eels they want to drill into the sand and hide immediately, so I placed them in the area I had prepared for them and temporarily used a flat piece of plastic to keep them in that area. Within about 5 minutes all 3 garden eels burrowed into the prepared area and I could remove the plastic.

Two of the three garden eels started eating immediately (mysis, fish eggs) and I saw them quite a bit. The third never ate, never came out, and was lost within 48 hours. I had read this happens as they don't travel well, so I had bought 3 with the goal of having at least two survive. So ... as expected.

The two that survived did great for about two months. I fed heavily 3 times per day (mysis, fish eggs, hatched brine, white worms) - they ate robustly and spent a lot of time out as pictured above. To feed them I would turn off my return pump and leave my MP10 so the food staying in suspension and drifted by them.

One issue I was noticing is that my pistol shrimp was burrowing under the deep sand area and causing minor cave ins. I would just go in and move the sand back and that seemed to be ok. One day, one of the garden eels didn't come up and was never seen again. This was the dominant garden eel that ate the most and bullied the other a bit, so I was really surprised to loose this one first. The second one is still alive and has been on his own for the last month. He moved around the tank a few times trying to find his happy place. I only see him once ever few days, so I don't think he is happy. He has been camped out in the same place for about 2 weeks now - it is not a great location for feeding/viewing, but it is one of the few areas where the pistol shrimp does not dig. I am not optimistic that this guys is going to live too much longer as he does not feed robustly.

I don't plan to get anymore of these guys as they are too fragile. I also think it is a bad idea to add them to a tank that has a pistol shrimp or some other fairly aggressive burrowing creature. I truly hate my pistol shrimp and wish I had never added him to the tank - beyond burying corals I suspect it is also responsible for a number of fish disappearing. I didn't think of it before hand, but have since read that other people came to the same conclusion that garden eels and pistol shrimp don't mix well.

If anyone else is thinking about getting these I would recommend thinking about it deeply. Even with 3 feedings per day I suspect they need more. Keeping a deep sand bed in just a portion of the tank is tough and not very pretty to look at. Choice of tank mates is important - there is a debate about whether or not they need a species-specific tank. I have heard of people having success using different styles of tanks, but most people seem to agree they are a lot of work.
 
Believe it or not years ago I saw these at the New England aquarium and these were what sparked my interest in the hobby, I have to say I followed you through this and I give my applause to you because you truly gave it everything you could.
 
Yes, I tried once a while back with similar results. They just don't do that well long term in a reef system unless you go to extreme lengths. If I were to try again I'd use a very large tank with deep sand, and essentially nothing else in the tank. I like the mirror idea as well (mentioned above). I'd also have a strong water flow in one direction continuously. These might just be a fish that also needs to eat a lot and be fed very frequently, and this is difficult to do unless you really can deal with the bioload. If you look at their bodies they are really quite large (but of course very thin). I'd also suggest that there be very little rock work and a very wide open area. They really want to be able to see stuff from a long way away. They don't want to be snuck up on. I've seen these while diving and they go into their holes long before you get anywhere close to them. Too bad...very cool fish, but really difficult to keep long term.
 
Upcoming Events

April 21, 2024
Paul B
Club Meeting

Back
Top