how to start with saltwater/marine (??) tanks??? + questions about eels

[_eels]

hello all, ive barely used reef2reef before, but ive never had a saltwater tank and was wondering if anyone had tips on how to start, ive watched alot of videos about it but im still a bit lost so if anyone could help me learn about that that would be great.

ive had freshwater tanks for 6 years, and never thought about getting into saltwater (is that even the right term lol) tanks, until i saw eels at my local pet store a bit over a year ago, they had all sorts but i adore the brazilian yellow canary eel.. enot sure if eels are a good first choice for a beginner with saltwater aquariums, but ive researched everything i can find about them and im clear about their care.. except tank size, ive seen it range from minimum 20gallons to minimum 140gallons, i was wondering if anyone knows what they'd actually be comfortable in, and if it would be okay for me to get an eel as my first animal in this type of tank.

the biggest i can really fit in my room is 34 gallons, so if thats not big enough for them theres no way id get one, but if that's okay for one id be overjoyed i asked the guy at the store and he said like 25 gallons is fine.. but i dont know if i believe him given its a pretty large animal.

if its not an alright tank size would there be any eel alright in that size tank? like a snowflake eel or something?

any other tips about saltwater tanks are also heavily appreciated thank you sm

 

[SALTY 75]

hello all, ive barely used reef2reef before, but ive never had a saltwater tank and was wondering if anyone had tips on how to start, ive watched alot of videos about it but im still a bit lost so if anyone could help me learn about that that would be great.

ive had freshwater tanks for 6 years, and never thought about getting into saltwater (is that even the right term lol) tanks, until i saw eels at my local pet store a bit over a year ago, they had all sorts but i adore the brazilian yellow canary eel.. enot sure if eels are a good first choice for a beginner with saltwater aquariums, but ive researched everything i can find about them and im clear about their care.. except tank size, ive seen it range from minimum 20gallons to minimum 140gallons, i was wondering if anyone knows what they'd actually be comfortable in, and if it would be okay for me to get an eel as my first animal in this type of tank.

the biggest i can really fit in my room is 34 gallons, so if thats not big enough for them theres no way id get one, but if that's okay for one id be overjoyed i asked the guy at the store and he said like 25 gallons is fine.. but i dont know if i believe him given its a pretty large animal.

if its not an alright tank size would there be any eel alright in that size tank? like a snowflake eel or something?

any other tips about saltwater tanks are also heavily appreciated thank you sm

My experiences with eels have all be positive they are pretty hardy fish for sure. I would say you could get one as a beginner but they have special considerations that are different from more typical starter fish. They can escape like no other so that can be tricky, no one wants to come home to a dried up fish. They also get large and eat a lot which means they poop a lot and can make their water dirty pretty fast.

I would say whoever told you 25 gallons is fine is either intentionally misleading you to sell live stock or is just horrendously misinformed. Not surprising though I had a LFS tell me that my 14 gallon bio cube could house a snowflake eel for its entire life which it most certainly cannot.

From what I know about eels I can’t think of one that would fit in anything smaller than a 75 gallon bare minimum except for maybe the golden dwarf moray, and I’m not sure what size golden dwarfs need.

 

[SALTY 75]

hello all, ive barely used reef2reef before, but ive never had a saltwater tank and was wondering if anyone had tips on how to start, ive watched alot of videos about it but im still a bit lost so if anyone could help me learn about that that would be great.

ive had freshwater tanks for 6 years, and never thought about getting into saltwater (is that even the right term lol) tanks, until i saw eels at my local pet store a bit over a year ago, they had all sorts but i adore the brazilian yellow canary eel.. enot sure if eels are a good first choice for a beginner with saltwater aquariums, but ive researched everything i can find about them and im clear about their care.. except tank size, ive seen it range from minimum 20gallons to minimum 140gallons, i was wondering if anyone knows what they'd actually be comfortable in, and if it would be okay for me to get an eel as my first animal in this type of tank.

the biggest i can really fit in my room is 34 gallons, so if thats not big enough for them theres no way id get one, but if that's okay for one id be overjoyed i asked the guy at the store and he said like 25 gallons is fine.. but i dont know if i believe him given its a pretty large animal.

if its not an alright tank size would there be any eel alright in that size tank? like a snowflake eel or something?

any other tips about saltwater tanks are also heavily appreciated thank you sm

If you have never had a saltwater aquarium it might be a good idea to start with something like a 35 gallon and just really get the basics down. Plus just because you can’t get a moray eels right away doesn’t mean you can’t get something smaller that would be an approximate substitution. I’m thinking Pike blennie or maybe an engineer goby.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

To deal with the eel questions first - 34 gallons is too small, and the suggestion that 25 gallons is enough is irresponsible at best for any eel available in the hobby at this point. The smallest tank size I can recall being recommended as a bare minimum size is 50 gallons, and I’ve heard multiple times that that’s still smaller than ideal even for the smaller, less active species.

That said, for questions about tank size, a generally good place to look is LiveAquaria (not saying to buy from them, but their tank size recommendations are usually reasonable). For the eel you like specifically, the recommended size is 125 gallons, and - personally- I wouldn’t go lower than that (as you said, these are relatively big fish).

Now, for the starting question; knowing that you have a max size you can do for the tank, I’d personally:
- get that 34 gallon tank, decide on substrate/aquascape (sand vs barebottom, dry vs live rock, how much of each, etc.), and decide on equipment to use (sump, pumps, powerheads, heaters, filters, lights, etc.) and setup the dry tank
- figure out what you want to keep (fish, corals, inverts, etc.) that can stay in a 34 gallon long term (plenty of blennies and gobies can, as well as a few wrasse, basslets, etc. - LiveAquaria has a “Nano Fish” section in their “Marine Fish” category that’s not perfect, but it can give you some ideas of what would work)
- Figure out your stance on medicated quarantine vs observational quarantine vs no quarantine vs Pre-Quarantine vendors (I can elaborate on this if you want), and figure out where you’re going to buy your livestock from
- Figure out what parameters you want for your tank and what parameters (such as Calcium) you’d need to measure to keep your tank in good health; buy a salt that matches those parameters or modify a cheaper salt mix (like Instant Ocean brand) as needed to get those parameters with your saltwater, and buy the test kits you need to measure the parameters you need to keep in check. (Randy has a great article on suggested parameters here on R2R with a couple of tables that show recommended parameters ranges; he has recently started suggesting that people just stop testing Magnesium, and he has a thread on that/what to do instead.)
- Mix your salt and fill your aquarium
- Figure out how you want to cycle your tank (old school method of dropping in a table shrimp and waiting a month, instant cycle like Dr. Reef does with Fritz TurboStart 900/Biospira/Dr. Tim’s One and Only, etc.) and cycle your tank (for any cycling confusion, see Brandon429’s threads here on R2R)
- Once cycled, begin buying and adding livestock (being careful not to add so many at once that you overwhelm your tank’s biofilter)
- Care for your livestock responsibly and enjoy!

The only other tips I have at the moment are to be patient with your tank and yourself, learn to keep parameters stable, and to read up on the ugly stages here on R2R (personal suggestion- avoid chemical treatments for the uglies and ride them out with more natural methods).

Edit: Oh, and take whatever your LFS tells you with a mountain of salt - it sounds like yours either doesn’t know what they’re doing or is willing to give terrible advice for sale, so I’d hesitate to trust anything they tell you for your tank. Bad advice aside, I’d play it safe and assume that the livestock are all diseased and that the rock and sand have “pests.”

 

[jda]

Dwarf Golden Morays often do well in pairs and they stay very small. They probably will work in a 34g tank. However, they are probably a few thousand dollars by now.

Most eels get way too big.

 

[_eels]

My experiences with eels have all be positive they are pretty hardy fish for sure. I would say you could get one as a beginner but they have special considerations that are different from more typical starter fish. They can escape like no other so that can be tricky, no one wants to come home to a dried up fish. They also get large and eat a lot which means they poop a lot and can make their water dirty pretty fast.

I would say whoever told you 25 gallons is fine is either intentionally misleading you to sell live stock or is just horrendously misinformed. Not surprising though I had a LFS tell me that my 14 gallon bio cube could house a snowflake eel for its entire life which it most certainly cannot.

From what I know about eels I can’t think of one that would fit in anything smaller than a 75 gallon bare minimum except for maybe the golden dwarf moray, and I’m not sure what size golden dwarfs need.

thank you!! i will figure out where i could put a tank that size in another place lol, if i got an eel id only want the best for them.

yes i have heard about them being escape artists.. ill be sure to secure everything.

i thought so, i knew there’s no way they’d be happy in that size THEY TOLD YOU 14 GALLONS? that’s horrible

 

[jda]

Frank Marini gets into some of the eels here... Most get 30-36 inches and I have seen them thicker than a golf ball. He recommends 40g as the minimum for super small ones... and they can grow fast.

Good read on pebbletoothed eels:

https://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-12/fm/

 

[_eels]

Frank Marini gets into some of the eels here... Most get 30-36 inches and I have seen them thicker than a golf ball. He recommends 40g as the minimum for super small ones... and they can grow fast.

Good read on pebbletoothed eels:

https://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-12/fm/

thank you sm! i’ll read that, and yes, i think ill try and get at least a 75 if i get an eel.. if that’s big enough, i want them to be happy

 

[_eels]

If you have never had a saltwater aquarium it might be a good idea to start with something like a 35 gallon and just really get the basics down. Plus just because you can’t get a moray eels right away doesn’t mean you can’t get something smaller that would be an approximate substitution. I’m thinking Pike blennie or maybe an engineer goby.

tysm