My new male Japanese Dragon eel
 

Picked up my new male Japanese Dragon eel today and thought I'd share some pics of him (very bad picks but hopefully when he comes out of hiding I can actually get a good one lol ). A big thanks to Wendel at Ocean Aquatics for getting him in for me and for always being right on top of things and being the most helpful store owner by a long shot. He's about 2 feet long right now (not Wendel lol) and have to say it's much more impressive in person than the pics I've seen of them or of the ones that I took . Anyways I'm gonna leave the lights off for a few days and just let him settle in (except for water testing cause a fairly new tank) and when he starts popping his head out will try for a better shot of him.

very nice
 

Thats sweet post up some more pics when ya get'em.Gotta love OA.Clint

WOW! That is a very cool addition! Can't wait to see more pics.

Wendell is a great guy, I gotta agree, he's always been more than helpful!

Updated
 

I updated the pics above cause he had his head sticking out when I went to check on him so snapped a couple pics off. Had one great shot of him where his mouth was wide open and showed off his long jagged teeth and red chin but was all fuzzy. What can you do me and picture taking just don't go hand in hand lol.

very nice eel must have cost a pretty penny!

Very cool Jim. I guess I just missed you and it. Janet and Wendell where still talking about how amazing it is.

J

Whow Jim that is one fine (fish) eel.

Once he is settled in I will have to drop buy and have a long hard look.

Tom R

Ya not cheap but Wendel got it for me for less than half of what the other stores wanted for a Hawaiian dragon and the Japanese are the hard ones to get up here (the other stores couldn't even get me one) so can't thank him enough . When I went to pick it up he said it ended up costing him a $100 less than he thought so he took it off the original price where most stores wouldn't say anything and just kept the extra hundred (very cool of him). I ended up bringing home a sweet red and white australian acan as well thanks to the extra hundred dollars

Ya thanks man. Well Janet was drooling away cause were both into eels and I'm sure she's now bugging Wendel to track her one down as well lol. Next time you go should give me a call and can both head down seeings were so close

Hey Tom your always welcome and still wanting to have the wife come out and see your tanks in all there glory lol

Gorgeous score man. That is one beautiful specimen. Can't say that I've ever seen one around here that was more colourful, that's for sure.

Anthony

Well you know I bought it just to try and out do you with your achilles and powder blue tangs lol. The Japanese male dragons are always much deeper in color especially red over the Hawaiians that you normally see available thats why I wanted to hold out for one. There the same eel and they say the color really varies but from every pic I've seen the Japanese and hawaiians are two different color varients of each other

Well done big man... stunning Eel... i envy you and it makes me want to get back into it now :neutral:

Are you placing him in his own tank, or with the other eels that i gave you?

He's in his own tank. I put him in a newly set up 120 gallon tank thats going to be a reef when it's a bit more established. Gonna move some hardy corals from my 210 into it in the next few weeks as long as everything is going smoothly. The white eye eel and snowflake went to Janet at OA who is in love with the white eye. Was going to keep them all but when the opportunity came around to get the dragon eel I had to part with them cause compatibility wise wasn't sure if the dragon would get along with them or not. Would have hated to see such nice eels fighting and having to seperate them .

eel
 

Your eel is going to double your food bill but its worth it.They love formula one cube/octupus and squid.You can buy baby octupus at asian speciaty stores.Remember if he grabs your finger dont pull back.He will know you are not food after chomping on you for a couple secs.Causes more damage to your finger if you pull back.Mine grabbed me one day and did the alligator roll. You still pull back

Yep same with snakes they say don't pull back but how can you not when you see a mouth full of teeth flying at you lol. You try not too but just a natural reaction. Have you seen the clip of the guy hand feeding a large moray and it takes off his thumb then they stitch on a toe to replace it? I think I'd rather be thumbless than be toe thumb guy lol. It looked horrible

updated pics again lol
 

I actually got some decent pics of him tonight. Didn't think it was gonna happen so thought I'd post a few more

TomR & I are gonna come over one of these days soon to see this beauty in person:biggrin:

I'll see if the wife will bring home fish and chips again just hopefully we'll be on time and they won't have been sitting in the oven for hours drying out again lol

That is a beautiful eel. Congratulations.

you just bought Wendel (is that ocean aquatics) some business from me...
talk about looking out for the greater good of the hobby.
sounds like a hobbyist who happens to be a retailer rather than the other way around....

Well he deffinately deserves the business cause both him and Janet are by far the most honest store owners I've met. They genuinely care about the customers and most importantly care about the livestock they sell. I just started helping out there part time in between being mr. mom lol but I said that before I did and they have almost all my business from now on

Very nice.

I am just wondering what you do for a lid to prevent escape.

Also is there any kind of protective glove/sleeve you can wear when you've got your hand in the tank.

I am just thinking ahead several years to when I get a predator tank.

For a lid I have a very heavy glass and no protective glove although he keeps coming over to my hand as soon as it's in the tank like it's food so maybe a good idea lol especially seeings how fond he is of toppling corals lol