Steps to teaching eels to handfeed?

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da_squid

da_squid

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Apr 20, 2010
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Austin Tx
Can somebody help me figure this out...do I just put my hand in the tank with food and hope for the best or what all do I got to do to get my eels to learn this? Do they tend to bite you? I'm scared of that :/
I have one peacock eel and one zig zag
 
I have the same Combo eel's. The Zigzag i bought him about a month ago and still shy when i hand fed him, he never ate so i gave up the the zigzag eel hand feeding. But getting him to eat is i turn off all the lights and feed him frozen blood worms and stick it in his pipe that he stays in then just leave. I come back like two minutes or so and its gone.

For the Peacock i bought about a week ago. He roams more around the tank than the ZZ eel does. The day after i got him i wanted to try and hand feed him and he did eat from my hand. How big is your tank and what do you feed him?
 
i have a 12 inch tire track and a similar sized fire eel. the fire is extremely shy and won't eat from my hand but the tire track is just the opposite. he's eaten from my hand several times. give it time and your's will probably do the same. i often use a bbq skewer to feed meat to my fish. once they got used to feeding from the bbq skewer, the tire track eventually became comfortable enough to take food from my hand.
 
i just feed them by dropping the food from my hand as close as they will let me get to them before they run away...then after a while of doing that as they are waiting below my hand for me to drop it i just hold it...after a few seconds they always start to inch closer and closer...if they start to back away i drop the food...after a few times of this they take from my hand...later they come running to the feeding hole at the top of the tank when they see me like all the other fish do...if they bite it wont hert...they don't have teeth...i have been bitten by every fish i own do to hand feeding, but it doesn't stop me as nothing realy herts...just shocks you when you are looking away from the tank and stick your finger in to check the temp, after a water change that seemed cooler then it should have been...just as your finger breaks the surface WACK...a pbass, gar or aro hits your finger thinking there is food on it...
 
I really didn't have to do anything for my TT to handfeed, just held a bloodworm in front of its face and it took it (this was only the 2nd day I had it too, and in addition, it was stressed out b/c tank wasn't fully cycled yet - note to self: don't trust the lfs when cycling a tank).
 
Just attempted hand feed my 4" fire eel for the first time after reading this, and as soon as my hand hit the water with the blood worm he was all over me. Not even a little shy. Must just be certain personalities
 
I found blood worms in a quiet hand work good for more shy species. let the blood worms trickle threw your fingers and stay still. once the fish is taking it unhesitatingly from your hand you can start offering them by fingertips ect. they are smart fish.. once they know where food comes from and how... they'll start trying to beg offa you. my bigger guys where easy.. dropped worms over their heads until they would swim up and now they take from my hand and are always begging when i walk in the room.

and don't worry about their bite, it's like a pinch if they suck your finger in. and zig zags and peacocks generally won't get big enough to get any finger 'cept maybe your pinky. a 30" TT or fire eel might be a different story if it decided to try a grab and dash w/ a finger. in the form of being strong enough to bust a finger if they didn't wanna let go and where jerking around, never heard of it though.
 
koma2k4;4157023; said:
I have the same Combo eel's. The Zigzag i bought him about a month ago and still shy when i hand fed him, he never ate so i gave up the the zigzag eel hand feeding. But getting him to eat is i turn off all the lights and feed him frozen blood worms and stick it in his pipe that he stays in then just leave. I come back like two minutes or so and its gone.

For the Peacock i bought about a week ago. He roams more around the tank than the ZZ eel does. The day after i got him i wanted to try and hand feed him and he did eat from my hand. How big is your tank and what do you feed him?
Click to expand...

my tank is a 60g... planning on getting this 125g shortly. i feed them bloodorms as well but both of my eels are shy and hide all day ong :/
 
my tank is a 60g... planning on getting this 125g shortly. i feed them bloodorms as well but both of my eels are shy and hide all day ong :/
Click to expand...
:( Well you can try and do what i do, my ZZ eel still wont eat from my hand but my Peacock does.


But getting him to eat is i turn off all the lights and feed him frozen blood worms and stick it in his pipe that he stays in then just leave. I come back like two minutes or so and its gone.
Click to expand...
you can try that.


IMO they will get use to the tank after feeding them for a while and maybe be more active when use to it, then allowing them to eat from your hand. Even tho my ZZ eel still is very shy and ive had him way longer than my Peacock eel and the peacock eats from my hand
 
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