I recently acquired a 24-inch fire eel. I've been feeding nightcrawlers, but I'm really not sure how many/how often I should be feeding. Anyone want to venture a ballpark suggestion. I've been giving him one four or five times a day and he really wolfs them down. Is that too many or can/should I feed him more?
Fire Eel: How many nightcrawlers
- Thread starter jstavis
- Start date
jah29;3169642; said:
I've never owned a Fire Eel but 10-15 sounds like too many night crawlers to me.
Have you tried feeding your eel pellets? This might be able to give your eel more nutrition. I would think if the eel doesn't take them up directly you can stuff a pellet or two in a worm.
eels are meat eater they eat worm live fish and frozon krill. not pellet. And 3 or 4 night crawlers.abarilot;3170190; said:
Hey there! I have a 24" fire eel (Norbert 
) who eats quite a bit, but 10-15 nightcrawlers sounds like way too much. I have access to two sizes of earthworms, including the Canadian nightcrawlers which can be a fair bit larger than the usual American night crawlers.The large ones can be easily up to 9" long when all limp and stretched out. He will often eat about 6+ nightcrawlers for a good meal depending upon their size. However, I don't feed every day. Usually, I feed about 4 -5 days a week, and my guys have been wonderfully healthy with amazing growth. FYI, I have seen him puke up a worm when it he gets too full, so if you do accidentally overfeed up it comes. I tried to make sure he looks nice and thick after he's eaten, but, too many worms, they start looking like lumpy sausages. I have a two smaller fire eels (well 18-19"), and one that is such a pig that I decided to put him on a slight diet. He kept stealing others' food, and I thought he was going to get a double chin. A fat eel looks terrible. Ill argue that first hand, and I like well feed fish. 
Also, all three of them have different levels of willingness to take different types of food, but all of them flat refuse pellets. The two smaller ones, who I raised from 6" to 18" in about a year, will eat defrosted Hikari krill, chunks of steamed tilapia and cocktail shrimp. Norbert, the big older guy, is a little more picky and will only eat the steamed stuff but not real well. Pellets just have never been accepted at all.
Congratulations on your pick up! Of the countless species I have, these guys probably my favorite type of fish. They all hand feed, with Norbert being so spoiled that he ignores any food that hits the ground. Start calling your new guy when you go up to feed. I have Norbert trained so, that if for some crazy reason he isn't already there with his head sticking out of the water to greet me, he comes when I call his name. Oh, yeah. If they ever get sick, I inject the worms with Gel Tek, and the worms just eat it up without any idea they just took their medication. Good luck!!!
) who eats quite a bit, but 10-15 nightcrawlers sounds like way too much. I have access to two sizes of earthworms, including the Canadian nightcrawlers which can be a fair bit larger than the usual American night crawlers.The large ones can be easily up to 9" long when all limp and stretched out. He will often eat about 6+ nightcrawlers for a good meal depending upon their size. However, I don't feed every day. Usually, I feed about 4 -5 days a week, and my guys have been wonderfully healthy with amazing growth. FYI, I have seen him puke up a worm when it he gets too full, so if you do accidentally overfeed up it comes. I tried to make sure he looks nice and thick after he's eaten, but, too many worms, they start looking like lumpy sausages. I have a two smaller fire eels (well 18-19"), and one that is such a pig that I decided to put him on a slight diet. He kept stealing others' food, and I thought he was going to get a double chin. A fat eel looks terrible. Ill argue that first hand, and I like well feed fish. Also, all three of them have different levels of willingness to take different types of food, but all of them flat refuse pellets. The two smaller ones, who I raised from 6" to 18" in about a year, will eat defrosted Hikari krill, chunks of steamed tilapia and cocktail shrimp. Norbert, the big older guy, is a little more picky and will only eat the steamed stuff but not real well. Pellets just have never been accepted at all. Congratulations on your pick up! Of the countless species I have, these guys probably my favorite type of fish. They all hand feed, with Norbert being so spoiled that he ignores any food that hits the ground. Start calling your new guy when you go up to feed. I have Norbert trained so, that if for some crazy reason he isn't already there with his head sticking out of the water to greet me, he comes when I call his name.
Oh, yeah. If they ever get sick, I inject the worms with Gel Tek, and the worms just eat it up without any idea they just took their medication. Good luck!!!10 - 15 is pretty absurd. Something easier and probably MUCH cheaper would be to buy a bag of shrimp from the grocery store, or go to your LFS and get a big container of whole frozen krill. Because the Krill are small, you can feed the eel about 10 of those. They are very good for them as well. Always a good idea to give your fish a variety of food in order to keep them healthy. It's also pretty easy to get fire eels to eat out of your hand as well
Wet knows what she's talking about. I've taken alot of her advise from past posts to get my fire eel on the fast track. which btw is now growing chunky! Mine also love frozen bloodworms and beefheart. I feed 1x 5 days bloodworms and or earthworms until he stops searching for them, and 1x week offer beefheart. he ignores me once he's full! lol. I personally don't believe feeding FW fish SW foods But thats personal preference and i'm just weird like that. I have thought of trying salmon or walleye though... spoiled fish.... and my fire eel has never taken live fish, even though I keep feeders in the tank for my needle nose.
yeah i just feed mines until its nice and fat 
but only because they're still 5 inches long (Beef heart and bloodworms ) i want them to grow fast
but only because they're still 5 inches long (Beef heart and bloodworms ) i want them to grow fast