FIRE-EEL not eating! Help!

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Twicksisted

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 13, 2007
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London, UK
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Hi,

I bought a beautiful 18" (approx give or take an inch as he wont keep still) Fire-Eel... and before I bought him asked about what he ate and how long they'd had him etc which all panned out pretty well...

apparently he has a thing for mussels and cockel... so I bought the Eel, along with some frozen mussel, cockel and took him home.

This is a week later and he wont eat!
He seems pretty chilled out, I have bought him some 60cm long PVC tubing for a cave which he has inhabited, he swims around a lot and is always ramming his nose into the filter outpipes and trynna get out, but he will sniff at and not eat.

I have no experience with fish on a hunger strike before and really dont wanna lose this guy as hes a beaut.

I have tried, bloodworm, cockel, mussel, fresh de-shelled prawns, shrimp, doromin pellets (mo oscars food)...

I tried earthworms but that was unsuccessfull as my three oscars grab those before they hit the ground no matter how many i drop in at once!

Any ideas on what I can do??... this has been going on for a week now and although he is quite big and fat, I dunno how long he'll hold out for.

heres a couple of pics of the dude in question (who by the way is quite pale in colour, probably due to lack of food!

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DSC00249-1.jpg
 
Maby he is Tired of the Same food. Feed him some feeder Fish.
 
The problem with feeder fish is that the oscars will mop those up in no time... and he wont get any.... hes not all that fast as he's probably starving... how long you think he can go with no food at that size?

I bought him 7 days ago and he hasnt eaten once.
 
Have you tried hand feeding him with a pair of tongs. Mine used to slurp down ghost shrimp, so maybe that might get him started or even some small feeders. Just feed the oscars first and then try getting the food to him.
 
Rainworm (live) are worth a try.
 
It usually take a really long time for fire eels to get used to their new homes and feel comfortable. I wouldnt worry about a week.

Heres one thing you could try, take a long jar with a long neck that only the eel can fit through and stick the jar with some food in it overnight in your tank. Hopefully the cover of darkness along with him only having access to the food will help....

Good luck and keep us updated!!!
 
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Twicksisted;1042245; said:
The problem with feeder fish is that the oscars will mop those up in no time... and he wont get any.... hes not all that fast as he's probably starving... how long you think he can go with no food at that size?

I bought him 7 days ago and he hasnt eaten once.
Click to expand...

Go Oscars :headbang2

Sorry...you could try bringing a live fish infront of your fire eel, maybe keep it in the net at an angle. If that doesn't work, try bringing food right infront of him with a tube or something. It's not unnatural for fire eels to go on a hunger strike when you just get them.
 
my snake heads had the same problem. didnt want to eat nethin. then after 5 days i got worried and now i tied a chunk of tuna on a thread n dangled it infront of the big 9 inche snakes . they got tired of ignorin and ate lol hehe. neways dude hope ur fire eel eats. maybe hes fastin lol :P
 
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