Fire Eel

[cjohnston]

Does anyone please have any experience of Fire Eels, I purchased one three days ago, has settled in nicley apart from does not appear to be eating despite temptation of blood worms. Any ideas? or will he come round eventually

Thanks

 

[jasonskillz]

just drop some worms in at night and give it time
it took mine 3 months until it really comes out to eat
if you give it a good hiding place and put food inside it, it will eat by itself

 

[cane76]

how big is the eel?they are quite shy at first and can be quite fussy eaters

 

[cjohnston]

Hi there,

He is about 15cm, today he has started comng out more, he has made a home for himself under some bogwood.

Thanks

 

[cane76]

i wouldnt worry about the feeding they can go a while without food.it will eat once its settled in my 19" fire eel gets fed once a week on river shrimp all you can eat buffet every thursday

 

[cjohnston]

Thanks very much.

Cheers

Cara

i wouldnt worry about the feeding they can go a while without food.it will eat once its settled in my 19" fire eel gets fed once a week on river shrimp all you can eat buffet every thursday

 

[cjohnston]

Hi guys, thought I'd let you know that my fire eel ate yesterday. This time though he was given live bloodworm, not frozen - picky buggar!!!!

 

[cane76]

i have had 2 fire eels in my time and i couldnt get either one of them to touch frozen foods

 

[ringham]

I have 2 fire eels and both of them are very much bloodworm addicts. Fire eels are amongst the more fussy eaters when it comes to f/w eels. if you can find where it is hiding try very carefully placing a variety of frozen foos (mainly bloodworms in front of where it is hiding and then once satisfied turn off the lights and clear the room. Be sure that the other fish have eaten a sufficient amount before doing this to ty and prevent the food being nicked.

If you are still not convinced that it is eating then you can try either moving it to a hospital tank or some equivilant, or if you don't have a spare tank then find it's hiding place and try to watch it feed by placing the food on it's head (presuming that it is under the substrate).

 

[cane76]

the mistake i think i made with fire eels is panicking about them not eating and offerieng live foods to soon then not being able to wein them off it.have you seen my eel feeding video in the pic section

 

[cjohnston]

Hi,

Yes, I did watch where you fed the fire eel by hand, I thought it was great. How often do you offer food? Somebody has advised once a week, is that how often you feed yours I gave the live food under my local fish suppliers advice, I could try frozen again.

the mistake i think i made with fire eels is panicking about them not eating and offerieng live foods to soon then not being able to wein them off it.have you seen my eel feeding video in the pic section

 

[cichlidcrazy]

Hi we have a fire eel and we have found that they are very fussy eaters .We feed ours on river shrimp and earth worm as we have tried various foods and these are the only ones he eats .

CANE
have you tried freezing the river shrimp and defrosting when needed ,we do this with ours as we were finding it dificult to get hold of the shrimp on regular basis so buy in bulk and freeze .Our eel eats it just the same we feed him every other day he eats about 10 large shrimp or 5 worms .sometimes he wont come out for food we just leave him and he usualy comes out that evening or the folowing day.

 

[cane76]

no i have not tried freezing the shrimp its a great idea and i will be trying it on my eel sometimes i buy a lot and keep them in a little tank with a spare filter in the garage.

 

[ringham]

Hi,

How often do you offer food? Somebody has advised once a week, is that how often you feed yours I gave the live food under my local fish suppliers advice, I could try frozen again.

the mistake i think i made with fire eels is panicking about them not eating and offerieng live foods to soon then not being able to wein them off it.have you seen my eel feeding video in the pic section

Depending on the size of any eel I feed them the apropriate amount of food once every 2 days. I think that feeding them once a week is a VERY bad choice. It may not die etc. but it will not get the required nutrients and energy from the food it consumes because there is so little of it. once every 2 days id normally a good guideline.

Also eels will willingly accept frozen foods, they just need to get used to the fact that it is food.

 

[cane76]

my eel is 100% fit and healthy and its as thick as my wrist and i DONT choose to feed it once a week