Grey Face or White Eyes
We get it, not everyone is an eel person, in the end, we're all wrong about something... Okay, for the rest of us who think eels are just about the coolest fish in the sea, we'd like to introduce you to one that you might not have heard of yet. The White Eye Moray goes by the scientific name Gymnothorax thyrsoideus. It has a couple other common names that you might find it labeled as, Grey Face Moray, Freckled Moray and Mottled Moray, in order of likelihood. All these names make sense when you look at the eel, but the real defining characteristic is the glaring white eyes, which nearly glow under actinic lighting. Since eels like to hide a bit, often just sticking their heads out of their dens, this white eye in a smooth grey face really pops.
Many eels in the Gymnothorax genus get quite large, and this is not a problem for those of you looking for a more diminutive eel to call your own. They pretty rarely get bigger than 20 inches long with a much more common adult length of around 14 - 16 inches. Combined with their sedentary nature, you could keep single adult in an aquarium as small as 75 gallons throughout their life. This aquarium needs to have a really tight-fitting lid, and you should take this very seriously. Eels can force open most aquarium lids and when the eels fall out, they dry out. In addition, White Eyes are also fish and invert predators, and when they surprise a small fish at night, if the fish lives, it will bolt, which could launch them out of the tank, with disastrous results. Get a lid. A good lid.
Decor for this display is pretty easy. You need very stable rock work, so it doesn't get undermined by the eel doing some home renovation. You should provide it with a few caves to choose from that are big enough for the entire eel to fit inside. These can be made of rock, or just be a PVC tube, it really doesn't matter to the eel. Ideally, you'd make all the caves so that you can see into them during the day when your eel will likely just be peeking out at you. Your White Eye Moray is unlikely to bother corals, but it will try to eat inverts like shrimp, crabs and clams, perhaps even sea stars. They also like large meals and thus take large dumps. So, your filtration and water changes will need to be up to the task of maintaining water quality that is appropriate for whatever corals you might choose.
Speaking of those large meals, in house we feed them Gamma Whole Fish, Whole Mussel and Whole Cockle. Smaller specimens will also do well with Krill Superba or Pacifica for the really small ones. White Eye Morays under ten inches get fed once a day, but specimens larger than that can go a day or even two between feedings. Give them as much food as they'll take in a feeding before swimming back to hide. They'll tell you when they are full. The only real challenge is that occasionally they'll be hesitant to feed initially. In the wild, this fish is nocturnal, and it will take some training to get it to realize that feeding happens during the “lights on” periods. Start feeding them right after lights out or before lights on. Use a feeder stick to give their food some motion just outside their hidey spot and this will usually get even hesitant fish to try a morsel of food. The stick part is important; morays hunt mostly by smell, and have very poor eyesight. They can easily bite you on accident (or on purpose, who knows), and their mouths have a very high bacterial load which could leave you with a nasty infection. They will also take live food, though usually at night. If you have a clean source for Saltwater Mollies (or are breeding them yourself) these can be added to the tank, just make sure you feed the mollies heavily before feeding them to the eel, so their nutritive value is spiked as high as it can be.
That preference for live food should be taken into account when you choose tankmates for the eel. A well-fed eel isn't going to be looking for extra food, but if it's hungry and there is an unprotected sleeping clownfish on the bottom of the tank, it's going to end up as a snack. Keep your White Eyes with larger, but peaceful fish (or at least fish that will ignore it) and always, always avoid nippers. We've seen countless displays that feature eels with smaller wrasses, damsels or pseudochromis etc, and this can last for a long time, as long as that eel is always well fed. Safer choices are bigger wrasses like those in the Thallasoma genus. Blue Throat, Niger and Crosshatch triggers (and other peaceful planktivores) would all work well. Many Tangs and Rabbitfish fit the bill nicely too. You can often keep multiple eels in the same display, including ones from the same species, though it is likely best to add them at once, and make sure there is enough space, food and private residences for each eel.
Like most Morays, White Eye Morays aren't all that hard to keep; there might be some challenge in getting them to eat initially, and getting bit by one carries the risk of substantial infection. For these two reasons, most Moray Eels get lumped into the “only for advanced aquarists” category but really shouldn't be. White Eyes are as good as any Moray and better than most because of their relatively small adult size. There isn't much in the aquarium hobby that is odder either, so if you're looking for something different, it's hard to beat Gymnothorax thyrsoideus. If you and your tank are ready for one (including the lid, don't screw that up) then ask your Local Fish Store about getting you a White Eye Moray from Quality Marine today!