Any tips on how to get Spiny Eels (In general as I plan to get a variety when I'm older) to eat pellets?
Spiny Eel Pellet Training Tips
- Thread starter AU_Arowana-RG
- Start date
I haven't tried this yet, as my TT still has a good supply of earthworms and red wigglers from my "compost worm farm". I would love to hear of any success stories though.
I do plan to transition him to fish pieces this winter, following the advice of others on the forum, whereby the offered food is wiggled in front of the eel to simulate a live prey. Motion seems to be the key, as is a hungry eel. My experience has been that an eel simply won't recognize a motionless item as prey, even if its live (my TT will approach a worm and watch it closely until it twitches, then slams it).
I'll be trying it by wiggling live worms by hand / tongs until he's used to hand feeding live then start waving around the fish fillets. Hopefully he'll associate the hand with food......
I would imagine that if one could transition from live to dead (fillets, shrimp etc) then perhaps the next step to pellets would be that much easier.
Good luck!
O
I do plan to transition him to fish pieces this winter, following the advice of others on the forum, whereby the offered food is wiggled in front of the eel to simulate a live prey. Motion seems to be the key, as is a hungry eel. My experience has been that an eel simply won't recognize a motionless item as prey, even if its live (my TT will approach a worm and watch it closely until it twitches, then slams it).
I'll be trying it by wiggling live worms by hand / tongs until he's used to hand feeding live then start waving around the fish fillets. Hopefully he'll associate the hand with food......
I would imagine that if one could transition from live to dead (fillets, shrimp etc) then perhaps the next step to pellets would be that much easier.
Good luck!
O
in my experience, each spiny eel has it's own taste.
mine loves earthworms both live and dried up (stupid earth worm crawls out of my tub at night and ends up dried up on the floor!)
my spiny peacock eel (small ones you get in australia) loves it and i don't see the dried up worm wriggling
lol as soon as i put it in he comes out of his cave and wonders around until he finds it. Once i put this big worm and the stupid thing dugged under the sand and I couldn't find him. 1 hour later I saw the wriggling half sticking out of the eels mouth
mine loves earthworms both live and dried up (stupid earth worm crawls out of my tub at night and ends up dried up on the floor!)
my spiny peacock eel (small ones you get in australia) loves it and i don't see the dried up worm wriggling
lol as soon as i put it in he comes out of his cave and wonders around until he finds it. Once i put this big worm and the stupid thing dugged under the sand and I couldn't find him. 1 hour later I saw the wriggling half sticking out of the eels mouth If anyone has their eel eating pellets I'd like to hear how they did it.
Heck, I was jumping up and down because my fire eel actually tried a piece of shrimp the other night! He spit it out right away, buy hey, I'm getting closer I guess to getting him off a live only diet!
Heck, I was jumping up and down because my fire eel actually tried a piece of shrimp the other night! He spit it out right away, buy hey, I'm getting closer I guess to getting him off a live only diet!
this is what i found.
mine will eat both driedup and fresh earth worms.
so what i do is diggup a bunch of earthworms and live it out in the shady area and it will dry up within hours (worm jerky).
whenever my spiny eels hungry he will cruise around the tank, thats when i drop the dried up worms.
also after having my spiny eel (peacock) for 5months and i ran out of worms so I put the freezed dried tubifex into the tank and he was eating them (for the last 4months he didn't touch them!)
so in conclusion, get him condition to your tank with whatever they will eat. When they are used to your tank, start feeding less of his favourite food and put in those I mentioned above (any worm type) and they will start to eat it.
I use about 5 different expensive brand of pellets (nls, tetra, hikari etc) every day and he doesn't touch them.
mine will eat both driedup and fresh earth worms.
so what i do is diggup a bunch of earthworms and live it out in the shady area and it will dry up within hours (worm jerky).
whenever my spiny eels hungry he will cruise around the tank, thats when i drop the dried up worms.
also after having my spiny eel (peacock) for 5months and i ran out of worms so I put the freezed dried tubifex into the tank and he was eating them (for the last 4months he didn't touch them!)
so in conclusion, get him condition to your tank with whatever they will eat. When they are used to your tank, start feeding less of his favourite food and put in those I mentioned above (any worm type) and they will start to eat it.
I use about 5 different expensive brand of pellets (nls, tetra, hikari etc) every day and he doesn't touch them.
My Armatus only took meaty foodstuffs for almost a year, then it tried some Massivore.
The key is to hold out on them but don't let them die.Depending on body mass they can go ridiculous amounts of time without eating.
The key is to hold out on them but don't let them die.Depending on body mass they can go ridiculous amounts of time without eating.
ok after alot of trial and error and many different food tried, I have found my spiny peacock eel would eat the following.
Freezed dried blackworms (australian brand)
freezed dried tubefix (any as i tried 3 different brand and he ate all 3)
freezed dried bloodworm (omega one brand)
However one thing to note, my spiney eel is fully established in my tank and is fat and healthy. few months ago he wouldn't touch those mentioned above (even frozen bloodworms).
so in conclusion, don't try to feed him something new until they are fat and comfortably crusing around the tank. They will try new things when they are fully settled (mine has been in my tank for about 6months)
Freezed dried blackworms (australian brand)
freezed dried tubefix (any as i tried 3 different brand and he ate all 3)
freezed dried bloodworm (omega one brand)
However one thing to note, my spiney eel is fully established in my tank and is fat and healthy. few months ago he wouldn't touch those mentioned above (even frozen bloodworms).
so in conclusion, don't try to feed him something new until they are fat and comfortably crusing around the tank. They will try new things when they are fully settled (mine has been in my tank for about 6months)
Mine spiney eel is 3 years old in Feburary and is the same size as I got him still only eats frozen bloodworms and earthworms when I can get some need some desperately now. I have tried
Omega One Freeze Dried Bloodworms
Omega One Freeze Dried Krill
Omega One Freeze Dried Shrimp
Hakari Sinking Carnivore Pellets
Frozen Krill
Frozen Tubliex Worms
It's problem the most cost effective fish I own.
Omega One Freeze Dried Bloodworms
Omega One Freeze Dried Krill
Omega One Freeze Dried Shrimp
Hakari Sinking Carnivore Pellets
Frozen Krill
Frozen Tubliex Worms
It's problem the most cost effective fish I own.