Zebra eel

[Ctmadden]

My brother just got a zebra eel two days ago and it hasn't eaten yet. We've put food in for the rest of the fish, but he wasn't interested. I'm sure that's okay, but how long is the typical period in which they don't eat? And how many times a week shod he feed it?

 

[Zer0]

The eel will only eat larger pieces of chopped meats like squid and shrimp. You can't just broadcast feed the tank and expect the eel to go searching for the food. It needs to be dangled in front of them to entice them to eat it.

Don't do it with your hands though because you don't want to get bitten by the eel, as the bite will be extremely painful and usually gets infected. You need to get a nicely sized piece of chopped up fish, squid, or shrimp and use long feeder tongs and wave it in front of the eel and allow it to rip it off the tongs. That's really the only way to feed those predatory fish.

 

[Ctmadden]

How regularly do they eat?

 

[Zer0]

The eel should be feed a couple times a week, possible more often.

Also, how large is your aquarium you keep him in, and are there any other fish/crustaceans in there? These eels are rather aggressive and will make a meal out of smaller fish and just about any crustaceans. They also grow to be about 60 inches long and shouldn't be kept in an aquarium less then 200 gallons.

Just so you know...