Deejaysims

Snowflakes bring great joy to my tank!

i first had a baby one in my 6footer, i wanted to watch it grow over the years.... it was very hardy and great to watch.

One of my friends then enlisted in the NSW airforce and needed to find a better home for his then 3foot snowflake, so i took it on board and gave it a new home... my LFS said that it was a hit and miss whether or not the big one would eat the little one... unfortunatly about 3 weeks down the track i never saw my little one again.... :-(

The most amazing thing about morays that i found out the hard way is just how hardy they are!

The night i put the 3foot snowflake into its new home, 6x2x2...i forgot to put one of the lids back on the tank... stupid me!! the next day i woke up and poked around trying to find it but couldnt see it at all anywhere.... i was running late for work so had to jet,,,, i came home with my girlfriend and wanted to show her my new addition.... but again i could not find it anywhere... after trying to coax it out with some food and having so success i got a little worried and decided to find it... i had to pull all my live rock apart carefully one by onw making sure nothing collapsed and keeping my arm clear of my 2 foot shark..... after about 2hrs of rock moving, there was still no sign of my new eel.... i was stressed and devastated and could not think where it could have gotten to...

we decided to look on the ground around the tank but being that it is out on my back patio my dog would have more than likely goten to it first...

THEN out of pure luck my girlfriend found it under a pile of old junk more than 2m away from the tank.....covered in dog hair and extremely dehydrated, felt like dry leather to touch i thought it was dead.... but AMAZINGLY it started to move.... i quickly got a bucket with some aquarium water in it and slowly put it in and removed all the dirt from it and cleaned it up....after about 15 mins it seemed to be back to life with loads of energy, i then transfered it into another bucket with fresher aquarium water, waited another 10 mins and then released it back into the tank.

The poor eel would have been out of the water for no less that 10-20hrs.... AMAZING! (it was raining on and off which may have helped its survival)

it is now fully healthy and has grown about 10cm in just a few months.

A VERY LUCKY EEL!!

has anyone else heard similar story's or is this a once off miracle??

Tom

That sounds very lucky. But is your tank outside? If not, how could the rain have helped ut stay alive.
Tom

lolagurl

the dog took it outside.....thats great!

Deejaysims

sorry, yep my tank is outside... i kinda purchased it before running the idea by my folks... they didnt like the idea of a 700L tank leaking in the house....(not that it has or ever will *fingers crossed*) we came to an agreement that it can stay, but out in our back entertaining area.. it is under a pergola, but where it was found was outside completly.

diver28

i guess makesure you have a chiller incase it overheats.

chris2

**** lucky eel. I can't have one. My wife hates them and I like my mandarin too much. =(

August_Jacque

My first eel died after only 4 hours of being left alone. That was a night on many tears. Those little BIG guys are so easy to love. You'll be glad to hear that my tank now has duct tape covering all holes and possible escape routes. The lid has a latch as well now.

Your guy is very lucky indeed.

Btw- Is it a saltwater tank? Or brackish?