what a nightmare

So the other night my snowflake attacked one of my chromis. Who later died. We went to our lfs to get coral and saw the most beautiful tilefish. We couldn't pass him up. When we dropped him in the tank he got stung by the anem. And went stright for the eels home. Needless to say there was a fight. And we had go go in and separate it. Since the tilefish was stressed to the max we decided to try to catch the eel. (we had decided earlier in the day to give him his own tank anyway because of the chromis incident) after two hours of him completely ignoring the bait and going after the tilefish to finish him off we took out the tilefish and put him in the zoa garden instead. He didn't survive the night.
So the eel will definitely be getting his own tank. Il start off with the 29g I have until I upgrade my 55 to 125. Then the eel will go in the 55. its just better for everyone. Hel be happier alone (or with other eels havent decided yet) we could get another goby shrimp pair after hes out. And our tank will be peaceful again. But now my boyfriend hates the eel. he wants nothing to do with him and he's my baby. And I know its not his fault its his instinct to protect his territory.
Sorry for the ramble but im just very upset

 

That sucks and feel bad though I hope you realize that a snowflake Eel can be housed with fish however it will eat any fish that it can easily swallow. This was a hard lesson to learn..

 

Sorry to hear about your difficult times. Sounds like you have a good plan though.

 

Oh the joys of dealing with animals. Never know when they're gonna ruin your day. Sorry bout the loss.

 

Tell your bf to take a hike, snowflake eels are awesome!

 

I agree lol. I Love snowflake eels!!

 

Sorry to hear of your bad day. Kudos on deciding to make the situation right.

 

I knew that already. The fish wasn't small at all it was about 5 inches I thought it was perfect but he was too skiddish to fight back but I can assure u nothung like that will happen again in my tanks

 

Many fish will not fight back when first introduced to a tank unfortunately. Animal selection can be so tough because there are so many beautiful and unique specimens in this hobby that are not compatible. Try to avoid the impulse buy unless you know that the fish will be fine in the intended tank is all you can do.

 

If it helps, and you want some companionship with your eel, lionfish make good tank mates. But they can get somewhat big so you'd want to keep your focus to a smaller breed in just the 55. Not being an Eel owner myself, I took the liberty to read up on them. Most postings say they are very "reef" safe, but definitely not small fish safe. Kind of a conundrum when they say "reef safe", I suppose it should read "coral safe" instead.
Most inquiries I've researched say they will "attempt" to eat any fish that can easily fit into their mouth. Tangs, triggers, and lionfish make good mates, but when you just have the 55, you again limit yourself. I'd say either alone, or with just one of the aforementioned, but the lion being aggressive would be most suitable IMO.
GL