What eel is this?

[bluezing]

[reeftask]

Snowflake Moray Eel (Echidna nebulosus)?

[Cryptic]

actually i don't think it's a snowflake, snowflakes are alot slender, this one i think some kind of fish species la, not eel i think la, saw a few at ML, so can check with Henry.

[bubblefish000]

its a kinda goby

henry sell sometime

[bluezing]

oic....a goby that looks like an eel...

[reeftask]

oic....a goby that looks like an eel...

no la its a crab looks like an eel. Used to eat them with henry at the coffeeshop behind.

[Dispar_Anthias]

Pic is kinda blur but from the looks of it, I would go with engineer goby

[bluezing]

got video...here!

[reeftask]

got video...here!

yeah! its a goby on the left! OK, one crab and one goby? or two gobies? LOL

[bluezing]

yeah! its a goby on the left! OK, one crab and one goby? or two gobies? LOL

[bluezing]

with no rocks to hide....haha..here it is...

[reeftask]

thats a zebra! in water!

[bluezing]

ok confirmed its an adult engineer goby..hee

This fish is an absolute delight. Pholidichthys leucotaenia, variously called the convict or engineer goby/blenny is neither a goby or a blenny, but still a very interesting aquarium specimen.

Most folks have only seen this fish when it’s small, when it greatly resembles the common eel catfish, Plotosus lineatus in both appearance and behavior. Both are eel-shaped, social animals that “hang out†near rocky areas. The engineer goby is also overall blackish with a silvery white dorsal body line as juveniles… becoming more striped (convict suit-wise) with growth. And yes this fish can grow. Almost always in good health, and amongst the last to perish from disease, poor environment or catastrophe, Pholidichthys is never “late to the dinner tableâ€â€¦ and can grow to more than eighteen inches in length… in your reef to fish-only system.

Engineer gobies are unusual amongst coral fishes in their total lack of antagonism toward other fishes or invertebrates. They will eat very small fishes, crustaceans and worms, but otherwise leave larger-than-mouth size organisms totally alone. Reciprocally, all but the meanest of fishes leave them be, letting “live and let live†with the Pholidichthys residing in their dug out caverns and caves.

Though indeed an “oddball†as marine fishes go, the engineer goby, convict blenny, whatever you call Pholidichthys leucotaenia is a gem of a marine fish for aquarists. It’s hardy to the extreme, accepting of almost all food and tankmate situations, intelligent and interesting behaviorally. It’s only downside as a captive specimen is its prodigious digging behavior, and this is easily checked by careful arrangement of large rockwork being set solidly on their tank bottom to prevent toppling.

[reeftask]

perhaps you want to ask henry if he is interested. He has few giants now.

[bluezing]

giants..haha...ok noted....