A Star is Born

Echidna nebulosa goes by more than a few common names, which is understandable because it has an absolutely astounding native range. It inhabits pretty much every rocky shallow tropical marine environment from the east coast of Africa to the West coast of the Americas. In English it is called “Starry, Cloudy, Snowflake, Bosch's, Nebulous, and Floral eels; it has a few dozen names in other languages as well. In north America, we most often call it the Snowflake Eel, though many call it the Starry Eel, so to eliminate confusion, we here at QM call it both. It can be found on our stock list as the Starry Snowflake Eel.

In a few places where it is commonly found, Snowflake Eel populations support a minor commercial fishery as a food fish. Commercial harvest of this eel is inhibited by a few factors, including that it difficult to catch in large numbers, being a primarily solitary animal, and the preparation of it is tedious, and it's flavor / texture has been described to us as “mediocre as far as eels go.” This not exactly ringing endorsement is ok with us as it is among the best eels for aquarium keeping, and we are happy to have more of them in aquariums and less of them on dinner plates.

In the aquarium, Snowflake / Starry Eels make amazing pets. They are very hardy, being resistant to almost every common aquarium fish malady. They stay relatively small with the vast majority of them never getting much bigger than two feet long; while this may sound like a daunting size, the mostly sedentary nature of this predator means they don't require a large swimming area to be happy and healthy. A well designed tank as small as 75 gallons would make a perfectly good long term home for this Echidna. These eels love extensive rockwork to hide in, and those rocks should be very secure, as they will jostle the rocks around a bit if they are loose, or badly supported. We suggest keeping eels singly, though many have reported long term success keeping pairs of eels and even having them share a burrow! These eels are also sometimes kept in reef environments as they generally don't bother corals; just be sure that filtration can keep up with the bio-load generated by these big eaters. Unlike most eels, E. nebulosa is frequently active during daylight hours, meaning they are more visible more of the time, and easier to feed. They are also very engaging animals, quickly recognizing the people who commonly feed / interact with them.

Snowflakes get along well with almost any fish you house them with, assuming of course, that those fish are too big to be eaten by said eel. While we are on the topic of predation, hobbyists should be cautioned that Echidna nebulosa primarily hunts and eats crustaceans and other invertebrates in the wild, a behavior they will continue with gusto in captive environments. They are beyond likely to consume all the shrimp, snails and crabs that you would incautiously place in their aquarium; hobbyists should be prepared to replenish cleaner crew stocks over time. On the topic of diet, Snowflake Eels should be fed a meal of this sort, meaty chunks of marine fish, shrimp or similar, sized to fit in their mouths. A good schedule is once every few days. While the internet abounds with videos of people hand feeding their eels, this is a practice we discourage strongly. Nearly all eels suitable for aquarium keeping have a mouthful of formidable teeth and can inflict a painful bite in their zeal to eat. We use a feeding stick to target feed them here, feeding tongs are another popular tool for this purpose.

There aren't very many downsides to Snowflake Eels as a choice for your aquarium. The primary problem that can arise with them is one of wandering. In the wild, this fish will leave water and transverse rock and sand to move between tidepools where they hunt down shrimp and crabs. On the plus side, this makes them naturally accustomed to living in environments that are aquarium sized. The downside of this is that they are also very adept at leaving these environments; this is one of the aquarium hobby's most experienced escape artists. Your aquarium should not only have a tight fitting lid, it should be secured to prevent your new pet from exploring your aquarium room, and likely perishing before it can get back into the display.

If you are looking for an amazing and different animal to add to your display, the Snowflake Eel fits the bill nicely if you are willing to take the necessary steps to ensure its well being. Feed them sporadic, big meaty meals, give them lots of places to hide, cover the aquarium and you'll have an interesting pet for years to come.