My reedfish aka ropefish aka snakefish.

[krissy82]

I've had this guy and my spiny eel for years and they're both pretty big for what they are. My spiny eel is actually HUGE, but hides a lot, so it's hard to get videos or even pictures of his whole body. This reedfish is my favorite though. I love all eels and eel-like fish and I love snakes too, so the reedfish (snakefish) is perfect for me. My mom doesn't like his face, because it does look so much like a snake. Everybody loves watching him swim around though!



www.youtube.com/watch?v=tibadDJ8W3A

[Carl]

Thanks for sharing! A very active and healthy Reed fish

I too really enjoy reed fish, eels and similar snake like fish. I had many marine tanks with Moray eels and some ribbon eels over my years in aquarium keeping too.

I also enjoy snakes as well. I kept many as a kid and even kept a Rattlesnake for a short time before my Mom found out.

Carl

[devonjohnsgard]

That's funny Carl...

I've also enjoyed some eels. When I got my first, it was by far my favorite. I think my other fish picked up on that. Since he was a baby when I got him, I would hand feed just him. I should have feed all my fish something good right at the same time. My semi aggressive fish got jealous and bet up on the little guy... Wouldn't mind getting a couple others.

[devonjohnsgard]

Thanks for the video btw. Enjoyed it.

[krissy82]

You had a rattlesnake?!? Not even I would even keep one of those! When I was younger, I used to catch snakes and salamanders all the time up at our cabin. I learned where to look for them and years later, in my early 20's (I'm 33 now) I told someone that I missed having a snake and I bet I could go to the park down the road and find one. Of course, he did not believe me (it was the middle of the night, or else I would have just gone to a pet store). I walked a bit down the park's path into the wooded area, saw a big log, turned it over and there was a garter snake. Very 1st place I checked. The guy was speechless. I have a snow corn snake right now, Snake Plissken (Escape from NY/LA) and he is so incredibly pretty and has only bit me once, not that it hurt, just saying he's a good snake. I had 3 garter snakes in my teens, when our whole family lived in our house still, and they were great at escaping, but would only come out of hiding when my poor mother (who is afraid of snakes) was home alone. They'd always pick that time to come up out of the heating vents and scare the crap out of her.
Aren't moray eels pretty dangerous too?

[krissy82]

I remembered I took a video yesterday of my snake because he looked so fat. I did not realize a used my sailor's mouth in it though! Here's a link if you're interested.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNkUeciukeY

[Carl]

Beautiful snow corn snake.
I have not personally owned any corn snakes, but I have had many in Pet stores I worked/managed. Usually these are quite mellow, not too prone to biting

The crazy snakes I have owned were Gopher Snakes, these snakes were mean and would hiss a constrict on you.

I too have had Garter Snakes, although they are much more common here in Oregon than where I lived as a kid in So. California.
For me, the greatest escape artist were the Ring Neck Snakes. These small snakes could get out of anything. They also released a nasty smell out of their anal glands all over you when held.

I once found a Rosy Boa while working as a farm hand in an avocado orchard, but since I was "on the job" and 100 miles from home, I had to release this beautiful snake (I was quite dissapointed too)

King snakes were my favorites that I personally found and kept

Carl

[Carl]

Moray eels are dangerous in that they are quite blind and often go after your arms/hands when cleaning the tank with their rather razor sharp teeth.

When we took care of aquariums with Moray eels, we kept a stick in one hand and the cleaning tool in the other. We used the stick hand to beat off the moray eels if they got a little too frisky.

I surprisingly never got bit, but one of my employees (who now runs my previous aquarium maintenance company) seemed to have bad luck and get his hand slashed open on a few occasions. One time he made quite mess at a customers with his blood and all the employees there had to come and see the "gruesome" scene.

I on the other hand had bad luck when it came to lionfish. I on a occasions lost track of the lionfish in the aquarium while cleaning (usually because I was in a hurry) and accidentally trapped the fish while performing maintenance resulting in a rather painful sting. One time resulted in a hospital visit since they have a neurotoxin (similar to a Cobra, but a much smaller amount is injected during a sting)

Carl

[krissy82]

I live in Michigan - metro-Detroit aka too close to Detroit. I've lived in this area my whole life, but our cabin is up in Lake, Michigan (the small town, not the lake) and there's everything from frogs, toads, salamanders, and snakes to porcupines, bobcats, coyotes, and bears around that area. If you look at your hand as a Michigan map, our cabin is pretty much right in the middle.
I once lifted up a thin wooden plank up there and found a huge 5-6 foot long garter snake. When I picked him up, he got REALLY mad and tried to bite me, couldn't, so he released that nasty anal secretion all over me. It worked; I dropped him.

[krissy82]

Wow. I knew moray eels had sharp teeth, but I did not know lionfish were poisonous! I've never had saltwater tanks. I know I wouldn't be able to care for them enough.

[devonjohnsgard]

When I was rock collecting last week for an aquarium I'm helping with, I came across a mountain king snake. Very bright. Scared me for a second, since I'm not a snake person. Sounds like I should have grabbed it for Carl. He could have had a new pet!

[parker002]

I have a "snake stick". Some guy made it out of a tree branch - it's a walking stick about 4-feet long with a Y on the end. I like picking them up by the tail.

[angelminx]

My 1st snake was a gopher snake, back when I was in high school (still living in California). We had a gopher problem (El Cajon, in San Diego County), so a friend of my Dad's brought one from his place up in the mountains. We kept him for about a week before releasing him on the gophers (did a great job, too), and I was the one who cared for him. When we got him, my brothers were like "lemme hold him!" But whenever they tried to pick him up he would bite them. Then I went and picked him up, and no problem. They were so mad. They never could touch him without getting bit. They were always so upset that I didn't act like a normal girl and run off screaming whenever they tried to chase me with a snake or something. I would be like "Oooo! a snake, it's sooo pretty, let me hold it!" I named the gopher snake Bulldozer, because the terrarium we kept him in was lined with small wood shavings (not quite sawdust) and whenever he would lift his head he seemed to have a pile of "sawdust" on his nose.

I've always wanted a ropefish (actually a group), but they are so many fish that I would like to keep, and am only allowed the one tank (not counting the quarantine tank), so I never got the chance (? so far).