Help with fire eel!!!!!

[rwaterman]

I just got a new fire eel approx. 8-9" in length but only size around of a quarter. I have heard that they are shy eaters at first.

I am wanting to see if there is any tricks to get them to eat at first with you? Mine has just been hiding out in his "cave" for 2 days. I know it hasn't been much time that has passed but want to make sure that he will eat and make sure that I am feeding him the right things.

Please help with any info and help on these awesome creatures.

[SubRosa]

Fire Eels are worm eaters by nature. Live Blackworms are a great food for smaller ones, but at 8" they can take Redworms sold for fishbait. Do not use Nightcrawlers until he gets bigger, as they will choke to death if the food is too big. You know that animal will easily exceed 3' in length. The last one I kept went from 3"-4" to 18" in a little over a year.

[groovitudedude]

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=160707

[rwaterman]

Fire Eels are worm eaters by nature. Live Blackworms are a great food for smaller ones, but at 8" they can take Redworms sold for fishbait. Do not use Nightcrawlers until he gets bigger, as they will choke to death if the food is too big. You know that animal will easily exceed 3' in length. The last one I kept went from 3"-4" to 18" in a little over a year.


I bought him some redworms for him, he just hasn't ate yet. I guess I am looking for the best way to feed him to get him used to the food and also how to get him used to it so I could feed him by hand as time goes on.

Looking for people that have kept them with there own personal comments from their experience.

Yes i know of the size he will get and we are prepared for it.

[rwaterman]

Also wanting to know if anyone has good luck feeding these guys ghost shrimp

[Hurley]

Were the redworms alive or frozen. My eels will only eat live wriggling worms. They also tend to be nocturnal so he may be eating at night after the lights are off. You might want to invest in moon/lunar lights.

If he's big enough I think he will eat ghost shrimp. I know people feed theirs frozen shrimp when they get bigger.

[rwaterman]

The redworms were alive. i have dropped a few of them in there now and he hasn't ate any of them as of yet. But I also just didn't want worms floating around the bottom of the tank. But i was going to try ghost shrimp here toward the end of the week if I still have yet to see him eat

[SubRosa]

Put the worms in after the lights are out at night and remove any left in the morning.

[gotglock]

Use a plastic petri dish to keep the worms in, works every time.

[rwaterman]

I didn't have a petri dish but I did use a very small bowl (used for cocktail sauce). The problem I had though was it seemed like the worms would squirm around and float out of the dish. I put quite a few of them in there last night and woke up and didn't see any worms this morning but I have no clue if the fire eel ate them or if something else in my tank ate them?

I put some ghost shrimp in there this morning but they only had 5 at the store. I just don't want this guy to not be able to eat.

[Mudfrog]

When fire eels are first introduced to a new tank they can go 1-2 weeks before eating. Just give him time.

[rwaterman]

Well the ghost shrimp have disappeared and I actually have seen him eat a few worms!!! So good news so far... I am just assuming that he is the one that ate the ghost shrimp though.

With fire eels would you suggest daily feedings or should you go everyother day? (ofcourse once he isn't so picky)