melev

At MACNA, I spotted a pair of Golden Dwarf Moray eels on Friday that I was sure would sell immediately. They were paired up already, best friends for life. Come Sunday afternoon, they were still for sale much to my surprise. I've been wanting one for a long time, but two is twice as nice, right?!

Little haggling was done. We agreed upon a price and they attempted to bag them up. The first one went into the bag with no fuss, but the second one escaped the process and ended up going into the larger section beneath filled with corals and a rack support system. That meant I'd have to pick it up after they broke down the tank that evening. Fortunately for me, my flight wasn't until 9:00 p.m. so I told them I'd check back. During the breakdown, everything was removed and the second eel was netted.

I left the convention center with 10lbs of water and two eels, wondering how I was going to get these guys on a plane. I knew they were swimming, technically a fish.

Armed with that knowledge, I felt better about my chances of getting them home but debated putting them in the suitcase or trying to carry them on. Flying with Spirit Airlines, they charge you for everything, and if you show up with an extra item at the gate, you'll get hit with a $100 surcharge on the spot. I already had my backpack which contains my camera gear and iPad, which I will never check. The eels fit into my run-around camera bag, but it looked like a relatively large second item and would end up being a no-no at the gate.

We went to dinner, eels in hand. I debated what to do. It would have been easier if someone else had bought them, but that point was moot now.

When we got to the airport, I checked my suitcase weight and it was 40.5 lbs. The eels in their bag was 10 lbs. However, Spirit limits bag weight to 40 lbs. During the check-in sequence, I gritted my teeth and told the girl at the check-in counter about the eels and asked for her advice. "You have eels in there?" she asked. I nodded. She agreed that the second item at the gate would be a costly decision. Adding them to the suitcase put the bag at 50 lbs, which added a $25 surcharge. Being that was the lesser of two evils, packed them in the suitcase and headed to TSA. I did have the girl put a nice FRAGILE sticker on my overweight bag since I had to pony up some extra funding.

A friend was texting me that TSA was not only fine with livestock, but that they were excited to see the corals, fish and invertebrates MACNA attendees were taking home. If you didn't have something, they were disappointed. Most of us worry about TSA, fearing we will be turned away and doom the item to inevitable death. But even if TSA is fine with it, the airline may obstruct your plans so it really is a 50/50 shot of success. Get the right agent, the right inspector, the right gate handler, and you could head home happy as a clam.

When I got to DFW, mine was one of the very last suitcases to come off the conveyor. No TSA inspection tag inside the bag, surprisingly. One of the bags had leaked slightly. By 2 a.m I was finally home, and the eels were ready to get out of their bags. They'd been cooped up and throw around, traveled across state lines and into their new system over the past nine hours.

Acclimating them seemed simple enough. Add some fresh water to the bag every five minutes or so. They are sensitive to medications, so I didn't dip them in anything. One eel behaved, the other was quickly stretching up and out of the water, wriggling up the open bag to escape. I have a thing about snakes, and this didn't help. I kind of smacked it back into the bag, but it came up again and again until it jumped out and onto the floor. Wriggling around, I scooped it back up and tried to put him in the bag again which seemed a little silly initially and then tossed him into the 60g cube. He swam straight across the surface like a river rat instead of heading down into the rockwork where I wanted him. At least he was in the water. I focused on the second eel, and pour her into the tank and she went straight down. Perfect. Looking for eel #1, I heard something and it was on the floor again! This time behind the stand, I was able to gently pick it up and place it back into the tank. It swam into a super narrow spot between the overflow and the side pane of the tank, with no room to turn around or even turn over. It looked upside down, and I wondered how it could breathe with limited space to expand its gills.

Observing it for a few minutes in that horrible spot, I decided my next action would be to poke it with a stick, sorta. I had a neon-green acrylic rod that is 1/4" in diameter, and I used it to gently prod the eel to come out of that area and into the display where it could find its mate. Taking my time, I was able to coax it out gently over a ten minute period. It swam into the rockwork, out of sight.

I cleaned up the big reef mess, constantly checking on the eels expecting them to be on the floor about a thousand times, but they were in the rockwork each time.

They are actually fun to observe. I do have to seek them out as they aren't plainly out in the open as I might hope, but it's barely been two days so that may change. They are active when food hits the water. Rod of Rod's Food suggested I use some Pacific Plankton (which is their version of mini mysis) that the eels were quick to accept. The bits are tiny, but they shake their heads like they are trying to rip it off or turn it so it goes down their throat the right direction.

They have been exploring, and this one stuck his head inside the clam looking for a possible meal it seemed. The clam closed down on it for a second and the eel retreated. I did ask others if clams were on their diet because I'd never heard of that before, and others agreed it should be fine. So far, so good.

The clowns are tank raised, and as far as I'm concerned have never seen an eel in their life... they haven't been fighting, but they definitely have been aware of their new neighbors.

They have been free-swimming a little, which is why everyone advises that the tank have a top piece.

Due to the warnings that they will definitely jump out, I made a temporary 3" wide perimeter, but I think it's going to need a woven top of some kind to assure they stay wet. NextReef is drawing up something they can make on their CNC machine today.

They are about 10" long right now. Watching them move small pebbles as they investigate select areas is downright cute. The shrimp in the tank seem guarded, while the eels seem to have no desire to eat them. That may change at some point. I saw one eel get close to a peppermint shrimp, letting the antennae stay in his mouth -- I think he was hoping for a Cleaner Shrimp cleaning like I've seen on National Geographic.

I'll name them at some point when I can think of appropriate ones.