Need help with Feeding a Fire Eel

[FishHottieWithaBody]

Hi i just purchased a small fire eel a day ago. The people at the store suggested using a tear dropper to feed him frozen blood worms, the problem is i can not tell if he is eating them. I keep dropping them right by the rock he is currently under. Any advice is welcome, thanks.

 

[Mr Miagi]

nothing works better than live bloodwrosm or garden worms.

Eels are very shy and may not take frozen food at all. In my experience they have never shown any interest in prepared food like flake, so i wouldnt bother for now with flake.

Try turning the lights off and leaving him alone with some worms and watch what he does.

Eels do go on hunger strikes when they first arrive in your tanks and may not eat for 2 weeks, which isnt healthy, this can lead to death, but im sure if your using bloodworms, even though they are frozen, he will come back out and eat.

If you watch him closely at feeding time, he should show a sharp forward movement towards his "prey" or in this case the worms. You should be able to recognise feeding when u see it.

Goodluck, i think there is a profile of a spiny eel in the fish section or under oddballs, im pretty sure its in fish profiles under odballs, ill find a link in a tick.

 

[Mr Miagi]

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=41583

even though it is for a diferent species they are very similar and it should mirror pritty much except for fish size and tank requirements.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

livebearer fry! everybody loves fry! i'd bet a quarter your LFS has various sorts of fry swimming all through their tanks. try and buy some off of them and put them in with your eel. you should soon have a rapidly diminishing headcount.

ok, i just have to say these things so pardon me if you know them:

1) fire eels can quickly grow to 3ft in length. hope you're prepared for that eventuality.

2) spiney eels are notorious escape artists, so lower the top of your water level a bit and cover even the tiniest holes.

best of luck and wish i could own one!

 

[Paul_MTS]

also try dimming your lighting when you feed, or turning it off altogther, keep a room light on or a dull torch to check if he's eating after about a minute of putting the food in.

Mine feeds very keenly now, i put my food in the tank with a net to take it straight to the bottom and my fire eel quite happily climbs in the net to get first dibs on the food.

You may notice they don't grow length wise first but more so in girth (round-ness!!)

Hopefully you have him on sand and that way when feeding live foods they can't bury away from the eel, in the sand I'ved seen my eels hunting live bloodworm that have buried down.

they put there nose on the sand gently moving it around then manage to dart straight down to the food.....quite fascinating!

 

[FishHottieWithaBody]

Hi guys thanks for all the help, and yes we do have sand and are ready for the size of the fire eel, (we named him stewie). I finally got him to eat today, kinda by accident. I bought some ghost shrimp to help clean the pellets and blood worms i had been trying to get him to eat, and within about 10 minutes Stewie was kickin ass and takin names on those little guys. It has been about an two hours now and he has eaten 2 out of the 5 shrimp. So i guess i would have to recommend those to anyone with a eel. Also it was awesome watching him hunt those down. Thanks for the help, and i hope that perhaps helps someone else.