snowflake eel behavior

i got a snowflake eel today. Everything i read about them says they are great animals, easy to care for, etc. Mine started out very shy but he's going a little crazy at the moment. I did feed him after this display but he just kept on going all over the place. He was even trying to slither up into my penguin filter. And yes, I locked everything down tight so he cant escape.... unless he is reeeally crafty... is this how it is always gonna be or will he calm down? He was open mouth charging after the butterfly fish and the lion fish at times but i think he was just kinda putting on a show

video:
https://youtu.be/vgRAEAgze5U

when mine gets wild ..he gets WILD.he should calm down after a bit but he will get trained so to speak to act up when he thinks he will get food.this could mean opening the lid of the tank or even changing a filter,whatever is the trigger.I believe redskulls is the same.lurking in a cave until he thinks it is meal time.

yeah my snowflake is actually pretty calm hiding in his rock (they really need good hiding spots), but should i open that lid he will race up and down and all around the tank, even lunging his head out a bit to snap at me, but really he just wants food. i handle this by only feeding him at specific times and that seems to keep him calm. he gets a silverside roughly every other day...
when i first got him he bit me and tried a "death roll" to rip my hand up, it gave me a tiny cut, but no biggy. now he will lunge at me, but doesnt really want me, i assume i dont taste too good to him. he has nipped me other times and that feels more like a pinch with tweezers.
watched the video you attached and i would say that is normal feeding behavior. they really dont see very well and mostly go after movement. the lunges at the angel are empty threats in my experience. mine goes after my blue damsel and even when it has the chance it wont do anything to it. but it will still chase it like that, i think they just sense the movement and like a cat chasing string cant help themselves. actually if anything my blue damsel taunts the eel at times. every so often i give the eel a mollie or guppy to keep him on his toes and oddly the damsel will attack and drag the tiny fish to the eel, to seemingly get rid of the invaders. the two also often share a trench in my tank they all like. so i dont think your eel is being weird at all, more likely its getting a feel for its new tank as it doesnt have good vision...
as to the filter issue just be sure he cant get into it. i have a powerhead that mine likes to wraparound and when he was smaller he could stick his head inside, i was very scared he would get hurt...
give him some time and im sure he will do great, but i think he will always act like that when he expects food...
i love mine and would recommend one to anyone as their first eel.

awesome info, thank you both. that's some great insight redskull... there's a lot more to know about anything you get even when you think you know enough! I am really psyched to get this eel because it adds a lot of character to this tank (which is my first predator tank). I do hope he calms down a bit so he doesnt freak out the butterflyfish.

Do you think this 30 gallon aquarium is big enough for him? He's a bit bigger than I had intended to get, but I figured he would be curled up in the rocks. I will add more rock, btw, for the butterfly and for the eel. I just have to watch my hands when i add it since there's a dwarf lion in there too.

So I guess when I open the lid i need to be prepared for an eel lunging out at me. If he gets out do I just pick him up and throw him back in and hope he doesnt bite me?

I put the covers on the filter and wedged another piece of glass against it so there's some weight on there. That eel seems pretty strong. I am going to have to figure out how to make an attractive escape proof lid. It looks like he could squeeze out of any small hole if he wants.

Anyway, fun first day with him. THanks for the reassurance. I did feed him while he was running rampant and he basically bumped into the krill and mowed it down. The bulge slithered down his body- pretty cool How big of a piece of krill or silverside can it handle?

yeah i have had several eels hit the floor for onw reason or another and its always just back in thetank with them and everythingis alright.even several minutes later i have heard of people finding an eel out of water for quite some time and have it live through the ordeal.and he will most likely outgrow yor tank depending on how many fishes you got in there.

i know what you mean about learning more and more when you get a new creature. i too love my eel and think they add a lot to most tanks. it also makes me a bit paranoid of getting a large moray like i wanted at one point.

my eel is also getting pretty big and i keep him in a 35gallon hex tank, but have been thinking of converting a 55gallon i have going, but would need to dump the mudcats and turn it marine and with my other hobbies i just dont have the funds or time. i would think the tank you have him in is fine for now, but bigger tanks for such things are always better. how big is the tank he is in now?

my eel only sticks maybe an inch or so of his head outta the water usually (when he grabs at food he can get a bit over excited). the bites they give arnt all that bad (if it were a moray i would be much more scared), i mean the snowflake eels teeth are on the blunt end of the spectrum. so yeah if he falls outta the tank just drop him back in. like badx said i too have heard of eels living for a very long time out of the tank, at least more than one would expect from a fish...

i feed mine by tapping on the rim of the tank with long planting tweezers and then he comes to them and i give him his food, he just takes them from the tweezers. he can eat far more than one would assume. i give mine like 1 or 1.5 silversides every other day.
but i also think i spoil him...

he's om a 28 or 29G bow. Fits really well in there bc he has tons of open rock and sand. The only other creatures are a butterfly fish and dwarf lion so they all have their own space.

I am feeding him 1 krill every day or two. Always wants to eat when i open the top to feed the butterfly and lion. He pokes his head out whenever i walk by. Very inquisitive. He has not come out without some sort of provocation. He is super freaking awesome and beautiful

frequent water changes... but i change all my tanks every week or two no matter what. That's the key to a clean tank. I dont even have a skimmer on this tank right now! I do need to get one... need to get more $$$ first too

update:

well it seems my snowflake eel has eaten my blue damsel. i wasnt there to see this transpire as i was at my gf's. i came home and checked o all my tanks as usual and noticed i am missing a fish (it was his feeding day) and he seems fat and lethargic... im not angry at him as blue damsel isnt an especially expensive fish and she was a bit aggressive towards others, but still its not behavior i need in an eel. i mean the fish may of died and he just helped himself, but i somehow doubt it, he has been growing lately and eating more and more, i certainly didnt help the situation as i feed him silversides (thus building up his taste or fish flesh).
also this morning my smaller green brittle star was waving a chunk of flesh with blue scales, but neither of my green brittles are full, their discs are not bulging as would be the case if they had eaten a large fish...
at least he didnt eat the cleaner shrimp...

thats too bad man.your gonna have to get something that can defend itself at some point or let him be a loner.soft corals maybe.

so my last eel jumped.. through a TINY hole... maddening. My new eel is fiesty. He goes after anything, even his dang self. Just an aimless puncher with that mouth but when he hits something he can be ferocious.

I have him in there with a dwarf lion and he learned quick to leave him alone. Then I got a red choris wrasse about 4" long and he instantly chased it for 5 minutes trying to eat it before i took it out and returned the fish to the fish store. I got a 4" big fat puffer instead. This did the trick. he went after it a few times but then realized that the box xhaped thing in the tank that moves around is not food. During a feeding frenzy he will poke at a fish but he realizes it isnt food and doesnt bite down.

from my limited experience i would say that an eel (depending on the individual) is best housed in a tank with fish it will quickly learn it cant eat.

And never feed it live fish. my dwarf lion is gonna be bummed he wont get guppy snacks anymore but he can fill himself with krill

oh and sorry for your loss... that always sucks, cheap or not...

my eel sticks his head outta the water, but hasnt jumped yet. once he grabbed onto the feeding tongs and came out with them, but quickly dropped back in the water...

he will likely be a loner for his foreseeable future...