Fire Eel Frustrations

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Xanatost;796369; said:
When I got my first eel I never saw him eat. Earth worms (red wigglers) will never be refused. I would get you some from a bait shop (cheeper). Clean about 10 of them and just drop them in the tank in font of him and his hiding space. Move away from the tank and sit real still. He should come out in about 5 mins to feed, if not turn the lights off and let him be for about 3 days. The worms will not die in there. They will bury down in the substrate and the eel will hunt them. I love watching mine hunt for worms :popcorn: After 3 days see if you can dangle one in font of him and see if he will eat it. A 7" eel can eat a 12" earth worm as long as its not a night crawler. Night crawlers are way bigger than earth worms. When the eel gets bigger you can feed them to the eel :)


thanks for the info! baitshop here i come!
 
Wow. Thanks for the advice. I finally coaxed him out of his hiding spot and to my dismay he was fat healthy and had added almost an inch since last I saw him. I can't figure out what he was eating though. Guppy babies maybe? Guppy, tetra, danio, and flagfish count are all at the same numbers so he wasn't eating them. Maybe bits of the shrimp I feed my Mbu were making their way to him. I'm trying to get him used to not having his hiding spot to see if I can tame him out a bit. If he seems too stressed I'll put it back in though. I guess the lesson is I should stop being such a worrier. I'm still new to the hobby so I freak out about everything.
 
some survive very long, for weeks even. others die pretty fast. donno what causes the difference but i really had worms in my tank which i thought were eaten. they were under a rock for months and still alive... strange animals.
 
Aribenlaw;796847; said:
How long can earthworms survive underwater? Is this a common annelid trait?

Worms breath throw there skin. I like keeping them in my tank because they will dig and stir up my substrate. They really like my 3M color quartz:D
 
My Fire Eel sticks her head out of the tank in chase of night crawlers that I am in the process of dropping in, She will take your finger if you blink, SHE just can't wait! Eels hide and burrow it is their nature to......
 
both of my fire eels are out all the time, my tire track always hides in a tube, except for today.... it would come out and chase and bit the fire eels, my tt is a little shorter than the fires but its about 3x rounder. hes a little punk, i think i may have to seperate now
 
never saw my peackocks for about a year then they came out all the time, wait till ur eels get bigger and they should get more active since its harder for them to get under the rocks then
 
Wow! That has to be the biggest and best looking tyre track eel I've ever seen!!!

My 20" fire eel eats mainly shrimp, and comes up and takes it from my fingers. I've found they are easy to train to hand-feed, once they've settled into the tank you can try just dropping the food in front of them and leaving your hand there until they're used to eating with your hand in the water.
 
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