Spotted Garden Eels belong to the Congridae family (conger eels) and the heterocongrine subfamily. The heterocongrine subfamily of eels all use their tails to dig burrows in the sand. In the wild they live in large colonies where they each reside in their own dug burrow. Garden eels have the ability to fully retract into their hole but they generally expose most of their body length in order to catch zooplankton that drifts by with the current (Smith 1989). Spotted Garden Eels are a tropical fish found mainly in the Pacific, Indian and Red shallow seas (Shedd Aquarium 2011). My experience and expertise is solely with the Spotted Garden Eel but this also happens to be the species most often offered to the aquarium hobby. A very similar species commonly named the Splendid Garden Eel (Gorgasia preclara) is less frequently available to the hobby but shares many of the husbandry needs of the Spotted Garden Eel and are sometimes even housed together in the same exhibit at some public aquariums (Randal & Allen & Steene 1997).