Golden Dwarf Moray Eel (Gymnothorax melatremus)

[Chaloupa]

My new eel...."he's" only about 7-8" long...just got him from J&L on Friday. Good thing they double bagged him...many holes in the bag from him biting it! Seems to have settled in and as of today is eating.....
First pic to give some perspective to his small size;


Closeup to show detail and his blue eyes;

[Borderjumper]

Awesome hes eating for you. Good job Sarah!

[Delphinus]

I was hoping someone on here was the one who snagged him and would post pictures. I was soooooo tempted but just not a good time for a big purchase like that. But thank you thank you for sharing "him" with us (his photos at least). More more more more!

[Chaloupa]

Hey Tony...it was a big purchase but worth it! I'm really glad that I got him. He is still very very shy but getting better. He ate well today so I think things should work out....just getting him comfortable has been tough...we re-arranged the tank the day after we got him to catch an angel that was giving us grief...and surprisingly he toughed it out .... I'll take more as he becomes more agreeable to us...and the camera!

[Delphinus]

Which tank do you have him in? Did you arrange the rock special to creates caves and what not, or did you get lucky in that there were already caves like the one he's in?

Can't wait to see more. That's awesome, hope he does really well for you!

[Chaloupa]

I have him in my 120g that has changed ALOT over the last year.

I lost my Scribbled Angel still have NO idea why, as no other fish was looking "off" or anything and 2 hours prior the angel was eating..then dead. So after that we replaced the glass as it was BADLY scratched and very well used, (we had a new 120g in the garage waiting for the day we got brave) did a swap out of the tanks in a 24 hour period...so rescaped the tank.....then had purchased a Lemon Peel Angel from a fellow reefer that just turned out to be a terror to a few fish and now we realize the extent of it's nastiness as the tank is much calmer....but to catch it we had to take out some rock, rip apart things....(all of which the eel had been in the tank for less than 24 hours but the angel was becoming a really really big concern) then it gave us an even better chance to change the rock to make more caves for the fish and give the eel some dark spots.

Right now he is living in a hole in one of the rocks..it has a hole that reaches from one side to the other so he has 2 places to come out of....and at least I can target feed him easily where he has chosen!

[wickedfrags]

Great purchase, a facinating animal. These are awesome eels that stay small, and at that size it is pretty much full grown.

[ElGuappo]

i am going to asume that these are not reef safe????????

[Delphinus]

On the contrary actually!

Well, technically, anything that fits into a moray's mouth is food. But the golden drawf moray is about 12" max size and said to have the body diameter similar to that of a pen ... so basically all but the smallest of the small are fairly safe with this eel.

In fact they say a 20g nano tank would make an ideal home for one of these!

[justinl]

imo i dont think any eel should go into anyhting less than a 50 including these guys. but at any rate, yeah these guys are "reef safe" in the sense that they dont really bother corals and their body size is thin enough that they probably wouldnt topple the rockwork like some bigger eels; they are also the kind of eel that preys more on inverts and generally leaves most fish alone. but anyways, yours is a beautiful critter for sure. Hope you have a lid on his tank.