fish limit and prtein skimmer

[diztorcion]

hi everyone

so this is the deal i went to the pet's store just after moving from my old house and this one has a HUGE variety on saltwater fish so they had this 2 beauty full snowflake eels . you could say that was the closest thing to being in love that a 14 year old teenager ( me ) has ever been so of curse now i want one but guess what my current tank is only 20 gallon but i could upgrade to a 30 is there any chances of me having a happy eel in a 30 gallon it would most likely be the only fish along with some scavangers hermits , snails , starfish etc OOO and feather dusters im really not in a position to afford a 55 gallon tank that looks hot. at least not until i get a job and i don't see that hapening soon ( sneakers and christmas presents have my little pockets a little hungry for a lot of green salad ) i wanted an eel for so long but i just don't know what to think a lot of people in places like youtube and a petstore that tells me i could keep a banded shark in a 20 gal is definetly not helping .

thank you for any help
and bothering to read that long paragraph ? of mine


cinserely frank

[Poseidon]

Hi Frank!

Do some time reading here, and most of your questions will be answered. But for the immediate one, no, I would not keep a snowflake eel in a 20 gallon tank. Especially one with inverts like hermits in it... (Hermits are a food to them.)

[leebca]

The 30 gallon would be too small. Consider how long/large these eels get. If you are interested in keeping eels, you'll need to setup a large display tank(s).

[dendro982]

I join the opinion, that both tanks will be small for snowflake eel. No protein skimmer will replace the space, and efficient skimmer for the tank usually cost much more, than the medium-sized tank.

In time, I considered the blue-yellow ribbon eel (one of the moray eels) - quite impressive fish for me - for 90g tank, and after checking the adult size - up 36" - gave up. Didn't gave up though on another large fish and have to set $300 skimmer on tank, that barely cleans water.

If you can resist temptation, do yourself a favor and buy a smaller not territorial fish, that is critical. In 20g even brilliantly colored clown fish creates problems for other fish, IMHE.

But I have seen smaller eel-like fish: engineer goby or convict goby. You can see it through Google Image search. I'm not sure, if it will be small enough.

The last miniaturization of eel will be blue neon gobies. While nor evil looking, they have their own charm.

Granny Smith

--
No problem with reading long paragraphs
A lot of people still consider it a matter of honor to be able to swim, use stairs in hi-rise buildings without difficulties in breathing, know how to survive in wilderness and read 200 pages book in 2 hrs

[diztorcion]

i see thanks for answering i knew the hermits were food .
no im not going for a eel like fish you see i have a think for moray eel and i like theyr presence i guess but i think im going for a leaf scorpion is more expensive but i think it's going to be easier as long as i can find some nutritious life food have to ask the petsore

thanks