i got an American Eel from an asian market

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Update: I came back and it looked like it had been dead no more than 10 minutes. I briefly seared it for the dogs. I don't waste or medicate with anything other than salt.
 
syddakyd said:
Update: I came back and it looked like it had been dead no more than 10 minutes. I briefly seared it for the dogs. I don't waste or medicate with anything other than salt.
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They are so plentiful on the eastern seaboard, that you should do much better getting them from a bait shop. We pay $20 dollars for 12 live bait eels.

They are uber hardy, and nearly impossible to kill, so I doubt that the eel that died was a Anguilla rostrata.

The one I am keeping with a redfin pickerel escaped from a bin early AM this summer when I went to round up the "dozen" baits.

It was in the carpet under the stand for 24+ hours before I attempted grabbing it with one of those grabber things to "discard" it. Dang thing was still alive, so I put it back in a bin.

It eats rosey red minnows and Feeder Guppies that I breed daily.
 
PUHUCBLMX2 said:
They look cool. hunt around on MFK there is a guy that had one he bought as bait. He raised it up to 2 or 3 feet. He made it sounds like it was great little addition. If I get time I will try to find his thread. good luck, nice find.

By the way, aren't the creeks and streams of New York full of eels? My understanding was they were fairly common on the eastern sea board.
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Yes I'm on long island and there is a pier by me and underneath there are HUNDREDS of the baby eels. Occasionally we'll find a large 10" or so with some girth to him.

I actually ended up keeping one of the babies. Had him for a few months then one day I couldn't find him in the tank. No idea where he went no places for him to escape either.
 
Theres a great documentary about eels on Netflix. Thats after you get him all set and healthy. Kudos for grabbing him from an Asian market. Its sad how they keep fish.
 
I have a couple they very cool fish. They got fed every couple of days clams, krill and fish. They eat pellets every day. Here is a video when I first got them 2 years ago. I will try to find a video of them now. They are now in my parents koi pond and about 4ft long and 1.5in thick. Temp ranges from 80f to very cold they use a deicer or else everything will freeze. They come up to the surface when people walk by. I got them for $2 at baitshop.<br>
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EDIT: Better video

[video=youtube;aZE1XAoFayg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&v=aZE1XAoFayg[/video]
 
Sorry about the eel syddakyd. But man they are cool critters with legendary escape skills. And patjava30 is right! I just watched a Nature documentary on eels last week that was really cool and informational. Believe it or not, we still don't know where these guy breed or even exactly how they breed! not to mention they have several stages of life and can live a estimated 60 plus years! Still sad about all the hydro dams that turn these guys in to chopped sushi.
 
Sad too that the American eel is the only fish that all life stages are commercially fished.
 
Sorry to hear it didn't make it. Get some blood worms & a long shank hook. The Hudson River's full of them.
 
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