Swordtail mafia

[kyuubi3160]

In one of my tanks i have a striped peacock eel that I have trained to eat from my hand. I did this because he only eats bloodworms and just leaving them sitting on the bottom made it too easy for my 5 swordtails and firemouth cichlid to shove the eel away and take it all for themselves.

Recently the swordtails have become used to my hand in the tank and swarm it everytime i try to get bloodworms to my eel. I constantly shoo them away but with five of them in there they just keep coming. They sometimes try to pluck worms right from the eels mouth and nip at him when they swarm me. Lately he gets so startled by them that he hardly eats anything before he makes a break for it.

The last few days I have been fed up with them and put them in a bucket for a couple minutes so he can eat in peace. I've thought about using some kind of container the hold the worms but right now the eel is about the same width as the swordtails so i don't think I could keep them out.

If anyone has any ideas on how I can keep the swordtail gang at bay i would greatly appreciate it.

 

[abrahamavelar]

feeding the eal at night or u could feed the swords at the sametime that u feed the eal so they get distracted while the eal eats

 

[kyuubi3160]

feeding the eal at night or u could feed the swords at the sametime that u feed the eal so they get distracted while the eal eats

I've tried feeding them at the same time but they are always more interested in my hand than the food, even if they are on opposite sides of the tank.

I am going to attempt to feed him at night but I'm not sure if i can get a level of light that will let me see what i'm doing without them coming to check out whats going.

 

[abrahamavelar]

oh ok also u could use both hands and put one whenre the eal is and the other one on the opposite side