Large Moray Eel Care Acclimation Feeding The Good & Bad Tessalata Saltwater Coral Reef Aquarium

This video is on large moray eels in your home aquarium. I will talk through the good and the bad.
Ultimately providing you enough detail to answer the question for yourself - Do You Really Want One?
We are going to talk through:
- Buying and Tank Requirements
- Acclimation to their New Environment
- Tank Mates / Reef Safe?
- Feeding
- What to expect after it is Settled In
The large moray eel I have that will be used in this video is a Tessalata Moray Eel - also known as a Honeycomb or Leopard Eel
Buying and Tank Requirements
Buying - I suggest looking locally for an eel that another hobbyist is trying to get rid of, as these are a common regret purchase.
- These eels are very expensive and many people are willing to get rid of them for pennies on the dollar or even free if someone is just willing to take it.
Tank Requirements - Large Moray Eels need large tanks.
- I see a lot of different recommendations online, with requirements posted of tanks up to 180 gallons. Personally I think if the tank is 6’ long to give them room to move around, it is sufficient.
- Large moray eels grow to approximately 6’
- Lots of rock, stacked in a formation that allows for numerous caves and crevices to move through. Caves should be large enough to accommodate a large eel.
*My rock scape has the whole back as 1 cave to allow for movement and flow. I have a Powerhead blowing across the back through the cave with multiple holes in the rock scape that he can move in and out of.
*These requirements are why many hobbyist choose smaller moray eels, such as the popular Snowflake Moray Eel, which can be housed in tanks as small as 50 gallons.
Acclimating to their New Environment
- While acclimating to their new environment, large moray eels can do some serious damage to your rock scape and sand bed.
Sand Bed
- Large moray eels are going to dig in the sand and shift it around the tank. You will see puffs of cloudy water from the eel digging and moving the sand around. They will dig all the way down to the glass in some areas.
- The “perfect” sand bed is not obtainable with a large moray eel in your tank.
Rock Scape
If your rock scape is not glued together they will crumble it!!!
- Rocks should be placed in the bottom glass prior to adding sand if you plan on housing a moray eel, as the digging in the sand will cause the rocks to shift if they are not placed on the glass.
- Glue the rocks together! If they are not glued together, as the eel burrows, digs, and shifts things around to make caves and holes, the rock scape will be knocked over, potentially onto itself, which could kill tank inhabitants, even itself.
Tank Mates / Reef Safe?
Tank Mates
- Basic concept for large moray eels. If they can get it in their mouth, they will eat it.
- Tank mates need to be large enough to not fit in the eels mouth. If they fit in its mouth, they will likely be eaten.
Reef Safe?
- Large moray eels are considered reef caution. Mostly because of the damage done to rock scape during acclimation.
- Another consideration is reef cleaners such as shrimp. You cannot have anything like this as the eel will eat it.
*Snails and hermit crabs will be fine.
*In my tank I am housing this eel with softies and a carpet anemone. In my tank I have:
- Carpet Anemone
- Yuma Mushrooms
- Green Palys - couple different ones
- Captain Jerk Palys
- Blue Mushrooms
- Green Mushrooms
- Pulsing Xenia
- Gorgonian
- Green Cabbage Leather
- Green Sinularia Leather
Feeding
- One of the biggest things people don’t realize when they get a large moray eel is the feeding costs.
- It costs me about $30 a month to feed this guy.
I feed:
- Raw Shrimp
- Silversides
- Squid / Calamari
What to expect after it is Settled In
- After they are settled in and you have gone through weeks of them destroying your tank, it is time to enjoy your new pet.
- They typically hang out of their favorite cave.
- They come out during feeding time and actively feed.
- This is typically when you would start seeing smaller fish disappear if they are in the tank with a large moray eel.
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[@dkruse8372]

I don’t even own a salt water tank and I like this video. Super informative and well organized!

[@cjrisktaker4261]

Good insight

[@devincoyle3336]

Great video very informative! I have had many giant eels and have a very large dark moray atm only thing I’ll disagree on is the cleaner shrimps I think 99.9 % if you have a cleaner or fire added before they will not eat even the tess. I have added fire shrimps after I’ve had eels months after and had no issues the eels always recognize them and use their cleaner abilities for their own