Crazy EEL!

[krisalexander]

Well I woke up this morning and went to feed my eel and couldnt find it anywhere, so i moved some rock around, with no luck. So I looked around behind the tank, no luck .Beside the cabinet there is a ledge and i cleaned out the stuff that was there and couldnt find it, there was some bags and inside a paper bag I saw something so I opened the bag and there was my dried up snowflake eel, it was stuck on to the bag and I couldnt move it off, I took my tongs and tried to get it out couldnt, then I ripped the bag open and was walking outside to throw it out in the garbage, and I see its mouth which was closed was open now, so I ripped off the square that the eel was on, and put the square into the tank, and dipped it in, and however it was stuck pretty good as it was dried out onto the paper bag, and with no energy I thought it was dead. The flow started to peel him off the paper when he took off and swam to the bottom and into its hole!!! A pretty crazy night for the young guy, I am still amazed how he got out, the only space is underneath the intake of my HOB skimmer. Anyway I have no idea how long he was out but he is doing great so far it looks like.

Crazy morning!

Kris

[Scavenger]

It' pretty common for these guys to go "intertidal" both in the wild while searching for crabs ect and tanks not 100% sealed up top. I had a similar experience myself. I damn near stepped on mine.

[GrimReefer]

i had a similar experience with a picasso trigger. i came home to find him crispy and dried to the carpet. when i peeled him off, he made a grunt. so i threw him back in. he sank like a stone but eventually he could swim again and went into hiding. unfortunately he died a few days later.

[bulletsworld]

I keep hearing of fish that dried out, looked dead and were throw back in the tank and lived. I had it happen to me with a jawfish once. Thought for sure he was dead but through him back just in case, sure enough he lived. Sold him a year later and heard his demise was carpet surfing again, but he didn't make it.


Hope your eel's doing well. Thanks for sharing! :mrgreen:

[dunl]

Mine almost didn't make it as I was 15minutes from going to Edmonton for the New Year's weekend.

http://albertaaquatica.com/index.php?showtopic=11154&hl=

[justinl]

yeah eels are notorious for carpet surfing. it's a good thing they're also notorious for being able to dry up and rebound to life once put back in the water!

oh, and ladies and gents, this is a classic example of why all eel tanks need a tight fitting lid with no spaces for an eel to escape. and i do mean NONE.

[krisalexander]

that little 1 inch whole has now been covered. So there will be no more escaping.

Kris