Hi MFK members.I have been lurking here awhile now,learning that I should have been better informed before buying.At the time I had a 72 and a 90 gal. tank.I purchased 2 fire eels the size of a big night crawler 1 for each tank.I was never informed how big they whould get surprise! Presently I have upgraded to a 125 and a 180 gal.tanks.Best I can do for now on buget and size of my house.Anyway it has been almost 2 years now Sparky who lives in the 180 must be 28 inches and almost as big as my wrist,Einstein who lives in the 125 30+ inches.I started out feeding blood worms out off turkey baster till they got bigger then onto worms,then worms,shrinp and Home made discus food.After a while they seem to get really turned off by the shrimp and BH mix.I do not know how to describe but they just did not seem right after eating shrimp or BH.Anyway my question is what else could I try feeding them and how much to feed them?I searched forum quite a lot and mostly found people asking about small eels.Hope this is alright I have never typed before 1 finger wonder.Thank you for taking time to read. Hope someday I can help someone also.Sorry I forgot to mention they absolutely will not eat fish live with neons and white couds and zebras never bothered them once.also tried Talapia no dice.THanks again.
New to forum fire eel question
- Thread starter cocoa3212000
- Start date
The reason I ask is,I would think a variety of foods should be better for them. Also worms are costing quite a bit and in winter sometimes hard to come by. Sometimes due to the shift I work my wife has to feed the fish which she does not mind,but not to fond of cleaning and squeezing poop out of worms,although rewarding eating from your hand does not like cleaning worms.I presently feed them each 6 big worms everyday is this enough or to much Los recommended less but do not seem to knowledgeable about fire eels.
They are spoiled! Your a great fish keeper getting them to that size in two years! If you have the money to feed them worms then go for it but they will be fine on shrimp and worms every once in a while. I bet you can get them on sinking pellets too.
OK! LET'S DO SOME MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATH!!!! *pauses for standing ovation*
SO...if a worm is 60% protein, and protein is 3.75 calories per gram, and the average earthworm is about 3 grams...then...(3.75 * 3) *.6 = about 6.75 calories per worm. I would believe that a "safe" calculation for energy needed is about 15x the body weight of the eel. So if he weighs 5 lbs., then he would need approximately 75 calories a day...now worms contain starches and sugars that will bump up their calorie number a bit...and let's assume about 50-100 calories a day due to either activity or non-activity...so! a 5 lb. eel should be easily sustained on 7-9 large worms a day. BOOM. *slams microphone, walks off stage*
SO...if a worm is 60% protein, and protein is 3.75 calories per gram, and the average earthworm is about 3 grams...then...(3.75 * 3) *.6 = about 6.75 calories per worm. I would believe that a "safe" calculation for energy needed is about 15x the body weight of the eel. So if he weighs 5 lbs., then he would need approximately 75 calories a day...now worms contain starches and sugars that will bump up their calorie number a bit...and let's assume about 50-100 calories a day due to either activity or non-activity...so! a 5 lb. eel should be easily sustained on 7-9 large worms a day. BOOM. *slams microphone, walks off stage*
IMO spiney eels do just fine on nightcrawlers. they are a very balanced live food. I have a pretty big aversion to shrimp.. lots of cholesteral.. sw creatures ect.. But it sounds like youve been doing great by them. Btw i feed my eels to satation every day/night. they dont seem to care if they are on a schedule, i dont squeeze the dirt ect out. for a more cost effective way to feed them most outdoors stores (cabealas here). sell flats of nightcrawlers. while you may drop 50$ at a time this will provide you with 100's of worms.
spineys generally seem to be invertibrate eaters. my husband tossed our old fire eels a crayfish once, they destroyed it. they will also eat ghost shrimp but these are even more expensive then. nightcrawlers. pellets are def a good idea to try, but the vast majority never take pellets ime.
spineys generally seem to be invertibrate eaters. my husband tossed our old fire eels a crayfish once, they destroyed it. they will also eat ghost shrimp but these are even more expensive then. nightcrawlers. pellets are def a good idea to try, but the vast majority never take pellets ime.
Thanks for the replies.I live in Quebec,Canada,no Cabellas,and Walmart does not carry worms here.I have to buy them at a hunting and fishing store.In the winter they only have pots of 15 for $5,in summer 40 for 9$. It's just that I have quite a few other fish and some that eat live fish only,and I have tried every other possible thing with them Colombian Spotted Pike,do not know how to spell or pronounce scientific name. 40$ to 50$ a week on fish food is starting to get like putting gas in a car.lol.