So that is a snowflake moray eel, image courtesy of Wikipedia. When I first started working at Petsmart I was not super interested in fish keeping and saltwater aquaria in particular seemed equal parts intimidating and uninteresting; the only thing I could fathom wanting to keep was an octopus, and it hardly seemed worth the effort to learn how to keep a saltwater aquarium stable just for that. However, sparked in part by customer questions as well as falling in love with some other species of fish (Oscars, for one) I began to read more about saltwater aquariums and became more and more enamored of the possibility of keeping one.
I've been reading voraciously on and off about their upkeep and various species, but this is one I keep coming back to. I've seen them in pet stores and they always just seem so adorable to me; they curl up like a snake and lift their head to peer out of the tank, looking directly at you. Lindsay is horrified by them, but I think if we ever do get a saltwater aquarium I'll win the argument over what I'm allowed to put in it, at least as far as this little guy is concerned. With lionfish she could argue they are venomous, but these guys are mostly harmless.
Snowflake moray eels can reach three feet in length, and need reasonably large aquaria. A 55 gallon would probably be an ideal minimum, although if I started with something in the realm of 40 gallons I would undoubtedly be unable to resist the urge to buy one, and such is not unreasonably small, especially as in captivity it is rare for one to reach three feet, and moray eels are not terribly active. Although similar to how I initially had no interest in saltwater aquaria at all, when I initially read about these guys I had no interest in reef tanks, only in FOWLR systems (fish only with live rock); I now of course do have interest in reef tanks. Nevertheless, I probably would not house this guy in a reef tank; although they are safe with corals, they love to eat crustaceans, and they are in general very messy eaters, which means you need to be extra diligent to keep your corals alive with one of these in the tank.
Thus it would probably be in a live rock only set up. If I start with a 40-55 gallon, his tankmates would likely be few. If this is my first saltwater aquarium, I might initially add in a pair of clown fish and an anemone, since the clown fish at least are a good "beginner's" salt water fish, and it'd be good to test the tank out before adding in something as large and potentially finicky as a moray eel - although I do not get the impression they are generally hard to keep. Snowflake morays generally do not eat fish, although it certainly can happen; they prefer crustaceans, and if well fed are generally peaceful. I anticipate the clown fish may be fine due to protection from their anemone; certainly I'd give them better odds than a damselfish, the other good "beginner fish", who has no such protection!
If I am starting with a larger tank, on the order of 125 gallons, then it would likely be an exclusively predator tank. No clown fish here, for sure. Potential tankmates would be blue-spotted groupers, lionfish, dwarf zebra turkeyfish, and possibly a triggerfish or pufferfish. Obviously I'd need to limit it based on what all could fit, although a book I read I think recomended as a 125 gallon set up 4-6 turkeyfish, 1 lionfish, 1 triggerfish, and 1 eel, so probably something similar to that. I might get two eels, since they can get along fine and they're so adorable.
