New and found an eel Help please

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LiLsTephii143

Registered Member
Jul 25, 2005
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Hi everyone,

I found an american eel in an harbor and i brought it home. Its about 2 inches long. I have it in a container with freshwater and sand from the beach ( so there was some salt in it) . But would any one know what I can feed it ? Im not sure if this is under salt water fish or Brankish.

Thank You
 
What are you plans for accomodating the eel?

American eels get large--up to 5 foot, and are voracious predators, prone to aggression towards anything in the tank--including your fingers. If you don't have the tank, and no plans for getting one, check to see if you can legally return the eel to where you caught it. If not, see if you can find someone willing to take it, or euthanize it.

If you plan on getting a large tank for the eel, you'll need to get it soon and start cycling it. The ell can be kept temporarily in a container that will provide it with shelter and temperature stability--you'll want to perform DAILY water changes with treated freshwater (the eels are born in brackish and migrate to fresh water). Start researching cycling.

For food--small bits of meaty, raw shrimp or other fish flesh should be appropriate. You can try prepared foods, but WC animals often refuse them.
 
:read: Im looking it to it and I was thinking about keeping it. I have it in about 2 gallon container. Its really tiny so I dont think I'll be needing to get a tank yet. Also do Pet shops sell food for eels . I havent heard of that. I also put a crayfish which I caught with it but its much bigger then the eels head. I'll try to take a picture today and post it. Thanks
 
2 gallon will be a joke for the eel very quickly. It will also cause some problems to keep clean--the smaller volume of water becomes polluted very, very quickly. You need a cycled setup, and with a predator, small tanks can be almost impossible to maintain--too much waste is produced.

Pet stores will sell ghost shrimp, which will be an ideal starter food, though not for the long run.
 
I've caught a few young eels (10 inches or so, big around as a pencil or less) and tried, mostly they just crawled out and dried up. After killing the second one, I quit trying.

I'd personally either toss it in a local river or give it to someone with a big tank.
 
I've kept the European eel, essentially the same beastie.

It's extraordinarily hardy, doesn't really require anything much (even a filter). Don't let it get too warm though. Anyway, I kept the water level halfway down the tank, so the fish couldn't get out. A lid is essential. They don't like bright light.

Hunts by smell, so anything smelly will be taken. Bits of clam, fish, earthworms and so on.

The European eel doesn't grow quickly, and I don't imagine the American eel is much different, so don't worry too much about finding a new tank yet. One scientific estimate I saw on the web is less than 3 cm a year.

They really aren't aquarium fish because they do eventually get rather large and will need to be released, but for a few months or years they are definitely kind of cool. Releasing the fish into the wild does carry a risk of introducing freshwater aquarium parasites into the local environment. So definitely do not keep this fish with things like goldfish or koi if you plan on releasing it. We kept ours isolated and in a research lab with other wild, coldwater fish, and then released ours into an estuary (they are truly euryhaline) to reduce the risk further.

Cheers,

Neale
 
I currently have a snowflake moray eel. very cool. i generally feed it ghost shrimp, mussels, brine shrimp, and other frozen foods. a two inche one will most likely eat brine babies.
 
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