Fire eel not eating

DyingBreed1995

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 20, 2015
7
0
0
Flemington, NJ
I have a fire eel (he's about 6 inches long) and I got him about a week ago. Everything was fine. He was active day and night and was eating freeze dried blood worms every day. A couple days ago, I did a full water change. I put him in a large bowl with my black ghost knife, and at one point he jumped out and landed on the floor (about a 3 foot drop.) I know, it was stupid of me not to put a covering over the bowl since fire eels are jumpers. He didn't seem injured or phased by the fall at all though and I had him back in the water in seconds. I put new water in the tank, made sure it was the right temperature, put all the fish back, and added bacteria supplements and water conditioner. Ever since, he hasn't eaten once, he's less active, and he keeps trying to burrow into the gravel, which he never used to do. Should I be concerned? Should I try a different food? Why is he trying to burrow? I'm new to owning a fire eel so try not to judge me too hard haha
 

Blkpiranha

Polypterus
MFK Member
Jun 8, 2007
2,553
111
96
You don't pull fish out of the tanks to do water changes and you don't do full water changes!! You basically just stressed out all your fish and your fish won't be good until you yourself know what you are doing!

Back to square one.
 

DyingBreed1995

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 20, 2015
7
0
0
Flemington, NJ
Thanks for letting me know that! All the other fish are completely fine is the thing though. It's just the fire eel that seems disrupted. I put stress coat in the tank yesterday and he's perked up a bit but still spends a lot of time lazing around and still won't eat. Everyone else is super active and eating like there's no tomorrow
 

DyingBreed1995

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 20, 2015
7
0
0
Flemington, NJ
Also should I change the substrate to sand so he can burrow?? Right now he's trying to burrow like crazy and I feel bad for him that he's not strong enough to move the rocks around. Could he be stressed out because he can't burrow?
 

Fat Homer

Mmmmm... Doughnuts
Staff member
Moderator
MFK Member
Mar 16, 2009
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3,688
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Don't change the substrate now, it will only lead to even more stress to the eel... instead, go out and buy some PVC pip that is wide enough for the eels body to fit through, and about 1.5 times the length of the eel itself, you could even get multiple pieces of different lengths and sizes

This will give the eel a place to hide and feel comfortable... also, if you don't already have any sort of cover in there such as driftwood, i would strongly advise getting some other cover for your eel to feel even more secure in the tank... you can even use these pieces of wood to cover some of the pipes to hide them a bit...

BTW, how large is the tank you're keeping this eel in?
 

Fatlungy

Dovii
MFK Member
Sep 1, 2011
504
452
102
Reading, Pennsylvania
I think they like having more then 1 hideout. I keep 2 pipes for my loaches and fire eel and they split time between the 2.uploadfromtaptalk1429588012269.jpg That's 3" pipe and fatty barely fits anymore!

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DyingBreed1995

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 20, 2015
7
0
0
Flemington, NJ
Thanks for all the help guys! He did eat a little last night, so I'm hopeful that he's feeling better. I'll get some pvc pipes, and I do have some driftwood. He's in a 36 gallon for now, which works because he's only 6 inches long, but once he outgrows this tank, I'll get a much larger one for him so he has all the room he needs. And the picture was helpful too, now I know exactly what to get him :)
 

Fat Homer

Mmmmm... Doughnuts
Staff member
Moderator
MFK Member
Mar 16, 2009
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Well as you said, hes fine now in a 36G, but just be prepared to eventually need something in the range of 180G+ if you want to keep this guy long term, since they can reach well over 3' long in length and have a girth as thick as a persons arm...

As for the PVC pipes, yeah, basically you want as many hiding spots as you can get into the tank, 1 would naturally be absolute minimum, but naturally, 2 or 3+ even better... my old guy used to have i think 4-6 hiding spots in my 200G...
 

DyingBreed1995

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 20, 2015
7
0
0
Flemington, NJ
Thanks for the help, and yeah I'm looking forward to getting a couple really huge tanks at some point. I have have a 60 gallon piranha tank that I'd like to upgrade to a 200 gallon someday so I can have many piranhas. (I have 2 right now.) I definitely wanna keep the fire eel long term so I can't wait til he's big enough for a bigger tank.
 

Joecool44

Gambusia
MFK Member
Mar 16, 2015
327
12
18
New Jersey
Hey if ir not getting a PVC stop by walmart they have a wooden type cave it was 9$ it's more money then a PVC but it's more presentable. This is my pea cock eel and tire track in their :) they don't come out for feeding so I just usally drop blood worms and brine shrimp in their.


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