fire eel not eating for me

[woofy]

I got this fire eel from this guy on cl who was keeping it in a 20g.
so i brought it home (sent hubby on wild goose chase to whoknows where to get it ) and now i dont see it eating. According to tis guy he ate everything. should i give him time to settle down? the food passes right infront of his nose. Theguy sais he was handfed, could it be that this is the only way he'll eat now?

 

[Kn1ght]

When the guy say the Fire Eel eats everything .. you should ask him specifically what he feeds it then you can try that .. if its not eating still then its probably still stress in its new environment .. just keep trying and scoop out all uneaten food after 10-15 minutes and eventually it will get hungry and eat. Good luck


-Robert

 

[phillydog1958]

he probably needs time to adjust. i have zero experience with fire eels, but all spiny eels are similar in most habits. last weekend, i bought a 12-inch tire track from my lfr and all he did in the lfs' tank was hide under a rock and only come out to eat krill or night crawlers. now he's making adjustments to my tank and i'm fedding him freeze dried krill on the end of a bbq skewer. he's found a tree trunk in my tank and moved into it. he won't come out to eat, so i have to stick the skewer just above the hole leading into the tree trunk. he sticks his head out and grabs the food, but is still uncomfortable with leaving the tree trunk. last night, i turned on my lunar lights and saw that he was out swimming in the dark. give it time and find out the previous owner's definition of, "everything." then you can feed, "everything." i have a smaller 9 inch tire track in another tank. i've had him for about 6 months. he's a pig and is almost to the point of eating from my hand. it takes time.

 

[MonsterMinis]

How big is the eel? how long has he had it? and what foods are you trying to feed it?

 

[woofy]

well accroding to this guy he was eating bloodworms, krill. ive tried that and more nothing. ive tried lights off on, ive tried everything but actually hnd feeding him. Hes being more outgoing now like i can actually see him come out of this cave and swim around looking for food, he might try picking at some now. I just hope he didnt get to use to being hand fed. when i had my tire track he would never come out of his cave to eat and always had to be fed by using tongs to place the blood worms in his face, well that and eating live food but i really dont want to put live food in this tank.

 

[MonsterMinis]

lol you bought a "water puppy".. my 3 fires are.. well they are wet puppydogs. they will take worms dropped into their tank, as well as hand feed. they are always out 'n about when i'm around the tank checking out what I'm doing. way more out-going then my TT is. You may need to hand-feed it for awhile an wean it off if you don't want it to hand feed. my biggest one trys to suck my pinky thinking it's a worm sometimes. It doesn't hurt. getting them offa live is a hard thing to do, my guys are stubbornly refuseing anything but live earthworms. So if you can get it eating frozen, keep it on them. You can also try raw shrimp chunks. As long as it's active and hunting, and not mopeing. keep offering the bloodworms and krill. If it refuses to eat after a few weeks and looks emmaciated, I'de break down and offer it earthworms. Some people will dissagree with me and say a fish will not starve to death if food is offered, but I've lost a few fish to this technique and refuse to do it again. So thats a call for you to make.

also they generaly are nocturnal, but i noticed once my guys settled in as long as food was around they where out and about. So try feeding about 1 hour after lights are out or 1 hour before lights go on. And once eating, they won't care when you feed them.