Switching Foods For My Tiretrack Eel. Please Help!

[FreshyNut]

I've had my Tiretrack Eel for less than a year now and he's getting huge (got him around 5-6", is now almost 21")! Which is all fine and dandy, but I'd like to switch him to more nutritious foods than nightcrawlers. It's been the only thing I can get him to eat besides bloodworm cubes, but I've heard they don't have that many nutrients in them anyways and he can eat half the package at this point. I've been trying to get him to eat tilapia chunks or raw shrimp but he just isn't interested.
He hasn't eaten in well over two weeks and I finally broke down and got him more worms. Should I wait longer and see if he'll eventually take the food? I also have been trying to use garlic guard to entice him further, but with no luck. My next idea is to put his worms in the garlic guard and see if I can trick him with some tilapia strips scented with it in the future, but I'm at a loss. Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[tlindsey]

I've had my Tiretrack Eel for less than a year now and he's getting huge (got him around 5-6", is now almost 21")! Which is all fine and dandy, but I'd like to switch him to more nutritious foods than nightcrawlers. It's been the only thing I can get him to eat besides bloodworm cubes, but I've heard they don't have that many nutrients in them anyways and he can eat half the package at this point. I've been trying to get him to eat tilapia chunks or raw shrimp but he just isn't interested.
He hasn't eaten in well over two weeks and I finally broke down and got him more worms. Should I wait longer and see if he'll eventually take the food? I also have been trying to use garlic guard to entice him further, but with no luck. My next idea is to put his worms in the garlic guard and see if I can trick him with some tilapia strips scented with it in the future, but I'm at a loss. Any help is greatly appreciated!

T thefredpit

 

[thefredpit]

spiney eels can be a pain to switch foods or rearrange decorations or add tankmates. I've had my small fire eel go on a 3 week hunger strike for all those reasons. Does he love the taste of bloodworms? If so soak the tilapia in a defrosted bloodworm cube and try. I wouldn't give in for 4-5 weeks. Also here is a video on trying to get fish to eat

 

[FreshyNut]

spiney eels can be a pain to switch foods or rearrange decorations or add tankmates. I've had my small fire eel go on a 3 week hunger strike for all those reasons. Does he love the taste of bloodworms? If so soak the tilapia in a defrosted bloodworm cube and try. I wouldn't give in for 4-5 weeks. Also here is a video on trying to get fish to eat

I've been lucky with mine and I switched the tank up a good bit while he was young and now he's in a 3" pvc tube that he's quite content with being his home. I haven't fed him blood worm cube in awhile, but I will and see how he reacts. If all goes well I will try soaking the filets in them!
I also wasn't sure how long was too long for fish to not eat. He wasn't moving as much as usual and just seemed weak to me. I felt bad and didn't want him to keel over on me! But I will try starving him a bit longer and seeing how he reacts once hunger truly sets in.
Also great video, thank you. I love DIY, but have never seen this video. I'll incorporate some of his tactics and update how it goes!

 

[tlindsey]

I've had my Tiretrack Eel for less than a year now and he's getting huge (got him around 5-6", is now almost 21")! Which is all fine and dandy, but I'd like to switch him to more nutritious foods than nightcrawlers. It's been the only thing I can get him to eat besides bloodworm cubes, but I've heard they don't have that many nutrients in them anyways and he can eat half the package at this point. I've been trying to get him to eat tilapia chunks or raw shrimp but he just isn't interested.
He hasn't eaten in well over two weeks and I finally broke down and got him more worms. Should I wait longer and see if he'll eventually take the food? I also have been trying to use garlic guard to entice him further, but with no luck. My next idea is to put his worms in the garlic guard and see if I can trick him with some tilapia strips scented with it in the future, but I'm at a loss. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Fish Tank Travis

 

[Fish Tank Travis]

I pretty much treat fire eels and tire track eel as the same eel due to how similar they are. I have three fire eels and all will eat pretty much anything but pellets. I regularly feed them frozen krill, live night crawlers, and a frozen mix food including chopped tilapia and shrimp.

For your eel, I recommend trying to put some other foods in with the night crawlers, and then feed everything at once. If the eel is in a feeding mood, it might go ahead and scarf down the other food(s) while it’s eating the night crawlers.

If mixing the foods doesn’t work, then you could go ahead and hold out food in hopes it will start eating something else. At 21” I am confident that the eel could easily go two months or more without feeding. If you get to 6-8 weeks and still have no luck, then try mixing the foods again in hopes it will scarf everything.

Having said that, I think night crawlers are probably one of the single healthiest foods you can feed. This has been demonstrated seeing as how your eel is less than a year old and is 21”. I also have a 20-21” fire eel, but I’ve had it for over a year and a half (it did start at 4” though, and I have only fed it once every three days for about the last 7-8 months). So, if you absolutely cannot get it to eat anything else, then I recommend continuing with the night crawlers.

 

[FreshyNut]

I pretty much treat fire eels and tire track eel as the same eel due to how similar they are. I have three fire eels and all will eat pretty much anything but pellets. I regularly feed them frozen krill, live night crawlers, and a frozen mix food including chopped tilapia and shrimp.

For your eel, I recommend trying to put some other foods in with the night crawlers, and then feed everything at once. If the eel is in a feeding mood, it might go ahead and scarf down the other food(s) while it’s eating the night crawlers.

If mixing the foods doesn’t work, then you could go ahead and hold out food in hopes it will start eating something else. At 21” I am confident that the eel could easily go two months or more without feeding. If you get to 6-8 weeks and still have no luck, then try mixing the foods again in hopes it will scarf everything.

Having said that, I think night crawlers are probably one of the single healthiest foods you can feed. This has been demonstrated seeing as how your eel is less than a year old and is 21”. I also have a 20-21” fire eel, but I’ve had it for over a year and a half (it did start at 4” though, and I have only fed it once every three days for about the last 7-8 months). So, if you absolutely cannot get it to eat anything else, then I recommend continuing with the night crawlers.

Wow! I didn't realize they could go nearly that long without food. I agree they must be pretty good for him since he has grown quickly, I just wanted to vary his diet more. Thanks for the input though I will try this.

 

[thefredpit]

Yeah my belief is varied diet is always better but sometimes eels only want their candy

 

[Just Toby]

I would always introduce the new food when they have gone maybe 3 weeks but add in a favourite in the same feed. My fire eel eats most things now, when I got him the previous owner was feeding 150 live shrimp per week, it took a while before he would accept food but now he takes almost anything and is nearly 29 inches now.