Peacock eel won't eat.

[k2snowboards88]

I've had a peacock eel for over a week now and i've never seen him eat. I used to think he scavenged at night but now i have alot more fish and there isn't really any food on the ground at night. I"ve tried feeding him freez dried blood worms bye dropping them in the tank and using a turkey baster but it doesn't work. I've tried frozen krill on the end of a skewer and by just dropping it in the tank, but he won't eat that either.

I'd try live food, but theres only one good aquarium store here in the capital region of NY that i know of. The only live food they sell is guppy fry and i don't think you can feed that to a 5" eel.

I need some help before he dies.

 

[CFC]

Almost all eels are difficult to feed and are best not kept with greedy tankmates like Cichlids and fast moving Cyprinids (Barbs etc). For many eels it is a case of them only eating live foods though after some training many will accept frozen foods, freeze dried and pellet foods will almost always be ignored. All i can suggest is getting some live or frozen bloodworms and keeping up with the turkey baster trying to get some food to the eel.

 

[Genero]

You should definitely do what CFC suggested - target feed your eel live/frozen worms with an eye dropper, turkey baster or feeding stick for raw shrimp/krill.

Most eels will refuse anything but live foods. If necessary, buy your worms from Aquatic Foods. Ideally, you would want to separate it until it's feeding because your other fish may associate the turkey baster with live worms. My clown loaches are adorable but they're pure evil when they see the turkey baster. I have a hard time feeding my fire eel. If you don't have a spare tank, another option is to place smaller eels in a breeders net until they're feeding and then release them but 5 inches may be too large.

In any case, live blackworms may be your only option if raw shrimp and frozen bloodworms are not accepted.

 

[Oddball]

Always perceviere with a picky eel, try to get it into a routine, i know mine becomes active at nine o clock when i scoop a little tank water out to defrost the food. Also it responds to my finger tips on the waters surface as i hand ffed it now. When it was younger i bought it with two peacock eels (this is a tyre track eel). The peacocks fed readily but this one wouldn't after a while i learnt where it hid ou and placed some food in its hole where nothing else could get it. As it didn't die for a month or so he musta fed

 

[k2snowboards88]

Well i bought some live bloodworms today. He ate them. Is there anyway to keep bloodworms? It woudln't be a problem except that the only place that sells live food is 28 miles away. And i don't want to make the trip more than once every 2 weeks. They also sell blackworms, guppy fry and brine shrimp. If you can't keep bloodworms, is there anyway to keep those other foods. And will an eel eat them?

 

[Genero]

Here is a good write-up on any live blackworm care Aquatic Foods Blackworm Care