Help with fire eel !!!

[Justin144]

How big and how active will the yoyo loaches be ? And should I just try to feed him once a day rather than trying to push food twice .

 

[manbeast]

I usually fed mine every other day, didn't take to long until he's was taking food straight from my hand

 

[Babakapusta]

I agree, every other day is good. When he comes to the window and wags his tail at you and his eyes are begging for food, you know he is hungry.

When he is hungry he will dig in the sand and swim about looking for any tidbits that might be on the bottom of the tank.

I think there are probably things that live in the tank that are microscopic to us but that they will eat readily.

 

[Justin144]

Ok mines really shy so I ( sadly ) doubt he is going to come beg for food it's his 4th day in the tank but thank you for the info , I was trying to push food to him 3 times a day ... Oops

 

[Babakapusta]

Think of your eel for a minute. He probably isn't that old. He was either caught from the wild or lived in a pool with other baby eels. Then he was shipped to your pet store. Then sent to your home.

He is probably afraid that he is going to be moved somewhere else, or those big hand monsters will grab him. Of course he is shy and the more you poke and prod and mess with him, they more shy he will be.

Leave him alone for a few days. Put some blood worms in your tank and leave them there. With a sand substrate if they aren't eaten right away they will bury their bottoms in the sand with their heads sticking out. When your eel is hungry he will eat them.

Don't worry about seeing him eat. He isn't going to starve to death in a couple of days. Once he feels safe then just put your hand in the tank and let it stay there. Don't make any gestures it would consider threatening. Just be patient.

Try to remember your first day at a new school. You looked for kids that were familiar or you tried to blend into the group. You didn't want to attract the attention of the bullies, you didn't even know who they were.

Do you see what I mean? Be patient.

 

[T1KARMANN]

I wouldn't worry about feeding until its not taken any food for 1 month

Fish can go a long time without food people always panic after a few days or a week

I have a rule in my tank EAT OR DIE I have used this method on $1000 fish and not lost anything

Only a foolish fish will starve to death when you are offering food daily

 

[Babakapusta]

I agree Tikarmann, I think overfeeding is a much bigger problem than underfeeding. Even I fall into the trap every now and then.

 

[Justin144]

Ok I will let him be and I have been feeding frozen blood worms so should I go buy live worms ?

 

[Justin144]

I understand to leave him be and I feel childish . But I'm just so excited to finally have him !! You people know how exciting finally getting fish in your new tank is

 

[T1KARMANN]

Ok I will let him be and I have been feeding frozen blood worms so should I go buy live worms ?

No leave him and only feed the tank like normal

Live foods of any kind are addictive

What I have found is once you put a new fish in a tank and give it live it will hold out for live all the time as he will know its coming

Just feed like normal

Larger fish are not like your average community fish that will eat right out of the bag

 

[Justin144]

See this is my first big harder to keep fish . !! I have slowly became addicted to this hobby I will avoid live foods then and will give him time . He has amazing coloration . He is about 7 inches long and is really fat but all I have are pics of his head

 

[Babakapusta]

Mine was getting blackworms at the LFS and that is what I've been giving him. I tried some sinking carnivore pellets but he hasn't eaten them at all. I would like to get him to eat frozen blood worms, but I'll have to try that later.

Someone else wrote that only a stupid fish will starve to death. If they get hungry enough they should eat.

My birchir eats flake sometimes, I'm sure the eel could do that as well.

 

[Justin144]

I asked the lady at Aquarium adventure Columbus what they had him on and they said they had them eating frozen blood worms as their man with supplemented love black worms and ghost shrimp . So I have frozen blood worms and I have some ghost shrimp in another tank but I'm avoiding it due to an earlier comment of them getting addicted to live food

 

[Babakapusta]

Good luck. I'm sure your eel will outgrow his tank quickly. They look awesome in a 125 when they swim around although my eel usually came out at night. I had a night bulb on my tank so I could sit in the dark and watch him. I fed him around twilight.

Is that your picture with the horse?

 

[Justin144]

I will eventually upgrade ... Shh mom won't be happy and yes that's my 5 year old chestnut full quarter horse mare , lil red is her name

 

[Babakapusta]

Its a beautiful horse, do you live on a ranch?

Getting the big tank won't be as bad as telling her she has to hand feed a 3 foot long eel, when you are away at college.

My grandfather was from Latvia, we ate eels when I was a kid. They are very good smoked.

 

[T1KARMANN]

Is the are eating frozen blood or black worm soak the pellets in that over night then feed

 

[Justin144]

I do live on a farm and yes she won't be so happy to hear about the eel during college ... And this morning he was extremely active swimming all over the tank and he found a live ghost shrimp that must have lived and been hiding in the tank , very cool to watch him strike !!! so I know he has eaten some

 

[Babakapusta]

That's truly great. I'm glad you can stop worrying about him eating.

 

[Justin144]

Next challenge is to get him on a staple food and not ghost shrimp ...







He's very hard to get a photo of...