# Gorgeous.



## caferacermike (Oct 3, 2006)

Really wish my computer hadn't crapped out. If it was online I could post pics of my newest addition. Today I recieved, as a gift from a lfs hand delivered to the house, a 3 foot long blue ribbon eel. All I can say is, wow. Truly amazing creature.


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## Mike (Jul 16, 2006)

Sounds awesome, CRM. I'm looking forward to seeing it once your machine is back online.


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## Melissa (Nov 28, 2006)

they are very stunning looking eels.


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## gymnothorax (Sep 20, 2007)

they're beautiful, but they are much harder to acclimate to captivity when they have already matured to their blue coloration, (the male stage of their lives), i've only had success raising the blacks and still haven't had one reach white before somehow finding it's way onto my floor, let me know how he does though......

p.s. saltwater acclimated black mollies are said to be the best method to inspire them to feed, but the 2 i've had better success with offering them raw shrimp and squid than anything else


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## gymnothorax (Sep 20, 2007)

sry, I meant to say the 2 things that i've had better success with......


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## caferacermike (Oct 3, 2006)

Still alive and eating frozen silversides. In fact I bought a second and the 2 of them are a pair. They eat together and swim all over together.


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## gymnothorax (Sep 20, 2007)

do you have 2 blues or a blue and a white, b/c technically it is impossible to have a pair of blue ribbon eels, they are protandric hermaphrodites meaning that they change from male to female as they mature, the blue stage is male where as the whites are females. I'd love to get a pair going though, congrats on your success


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## caferacermike (Oct 3, 2006)

I have a blue and a black. It is not impossible to have all blues as we order them from the lfs and get whatever comes in. They are a community fish that prefer to pack up.









My larger female blew up in captivity. When I got her she must have been starved a bit. She was about the thickness of a pencil. 6 months later she was as big around as a thumb and 2" tall, 50" long.









It is a good idea to start with one. When you get it eating then others will usually catch on. I started mine on a very long process. I would buy about 100-150 ghost shrimp and gut load them with fish food for 2 hours. I'd also drop in a garlic supplement to mask the scent and give them a transferable smell. After 6 months of doing this once a week I finally got some pictures of it eating.







I never knew for sure if it was. Once I knew for sure it was eating I began adding silversides coated in garlic at the same time as the ghost shrimps. After about 6 weeks of this they began to readily eat the silversides and I've never given another ghost shrimp.


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## gymnothorax (Sep 20, 2007)

I never said they were impossible to keep together, I said it's impossible to have a pair of blue ribbon eels b/c the blues are males, a pair is classified as a male and female. Rhinomuraena quaesita will change from blue to almost solid yellow as it matures and enter's the female stage of it's life.


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## caferacermike (Oct 3, 2006)

Ok well not to argue, if you look back in several of my posts you'll realize I've said just that. You don't keep eels like this alive without already knowing as much as you can about the subject. I've said just that numerous times before. But in regards to your last reply "pair" means 2, not necessarily mates. And mine are black and blue which then leads to the idea that I might have a pair that could mate later in life. The correction would only be valid had I ever said "I have a mated pair of blue ribbon eels". However that indeed could be true as well as nobody really cares that the males are technically black. If you know the eels then you know that one will be black. Blue ribbon eel implies all whether blue or black.


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## Mike (Jul 16, 2006)

That is an incredible looking eel, Mike. Thanks so much for sharing the pictures!


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## herefishy (Dec 14, 2006)

In a word ....... WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## gymnothorax (Sep 20, 2007)

first off, i'd like to apologize if my earlier posts sounded provocative at all, that was not my intention. You got me beat on the pair discussion, my mind jumped to conclusions and assumed that you were implying that you had a mated pair. I would like to state in my defense, however, that above one of the pictures posted earlier, that you had referred to a blue ribbon as a larger female. Regardless, your success is impressive and i'm curious to know more about the setup, filtration, tankmates, and most of all, your methods of confinement, (basically how you prevent them finding there way out). I'll say it again, beautiful eels, congratulations on your success : )


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## caferacermike (Oct 3, 2006)

My method of confinement is to use an open top system. Keep them fat and happy and they stay on the bottom. 75g with a 40g sump/10g fuge. Eheim 1262 return pump. Euroreef RS180 skimmer. 2x IceCap 250w Pheonix 14KDE, with 2x 95w power compact super actinics on Fulham ballasts. Temp 78F. Salinity 1.026-7. PH 8.4 steady. Alk 10DKH. 3" Aragonite sand bed. 200lbs live rock encrusted with SPS polyps and a huge Ritteri Magnificent anemone. Only RO/DI water with auto topoff from a 125g storage bin ran through Dow Filmtech membranes.


The plan is to set up the 400g tank in the next 3-4 months, cycle for 2 months and then I'll be planning to keep 2 dozen blue ribbon eels and see if they will pack up in one hole like in the wild.


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## gymnothorax (Sep 20, 2007)

you have to post pics when you get the 400 up and running


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## caferacermike (Oct 3, 2006)

Look around for pics of the 400g and skimmer at the house. There here somewhere.


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