What do baby tire track eels eat?

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EmrePekdeniz

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 28, 2010
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Istanbul
What do they eat? I have two small babies from the local petshop. They're approx. 10 cm. long. I feed my small fish with flakes and my ghost knives with pellets, but I know tire tracks won't accept those. I throw in some minced shrimp/anchovy and bloodworm pellets for them, but I don't know if the pleco eats them first. Any ideas are appreciated.

http://s1139.photobucket.com/albums/n548/Pekdeniz/

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NatashaAliza;4730372; said:
I feed my red worms, and small pieces of shrimp.
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Are they babies too? If so, did they start eating shrimp as soon as they arrived? How do you make sure if they eat? My eels make picking motions at the sand, but I don't know if they eat anything at all.
 
drgnfrc13;4730705; said:
Those aren't tire track eels, they are zig zag eels. At that size, I would feed them frozen bloodworms.
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Thanks! I'm ordering some tomorrow. So what's the Latin name for zigzag eels, then? The Wikipedia page says that "Zigzag eel" is just another name for tire track eels.
 
zig zag eel (macrognathus circumcinctus)
Max size: 6"- 8"
preferred temp: 24-28 degrees celcius
preferred ph: 6- 7.5
min tank size: 24"x12"
temperment: peacefull
Tankmates: avoid anything small enough to fit in mouth (generaly just other fish fry as is not large enough to swallow adults.)
Other notes: costing around twice as much as the peacock eel this fish is still relitivley cheap and is great for those with smaller tanks. lives with other macrognathus.


This is from the sticky. I've found frozen bloodworms work great for these guys, they also enjoy live blackworms. BUt bloodworms are safest and seem tp be a suitable diet. You can try frozen mysis shrimp as they are small and other frozen foods as well.
 
I would not feed tubifex, they are secondary hosts to some really nasty critters. I don't even venture to try frozen, since some parasites can survive being frozen.

Do you have local fish stores, or a chain store where you live? In the states Petsmart and Petco carry frozen bloodworms. Can you grow your own brine shrimp, or possibly some sort of worm culture?
 
Laticauda;4733223; said:
I would not feed tubifex, they are secondary hosts to some really nasty critters. I don't even venture to try frozen, since some parasites can survive being frozen.

Do you have local fish stores, or a chain store where you live? In the states Petsmart and Petco carry frozen bloodworms. Can you grow your own brine shrimp, or possibly some sort of worm culture?
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Yup, and I'm going to visit the local stores tomorrow to see if I can find any. I know that freeze-dried bloodworms are available, but would the babies accept them? As for Artemia, I've seen some for sale, should I go for that? Worm cultures are just... icky.

Edit: The babies are in a 130 gallons tank with bigger fish. Would they get enough food if I use Artemia?
 
Laticauda;4733223; said:
I would not feed tubifex, they are secondary hosts to some really nasty critters. I don't even venture to try frozen, since some parasites can survive being frozen.

Do you have local fish stores, or a chain store where you live? In the states Petsmart and Petco carry frozen bloodworms. Can you grow your own brine shrimp, or possibly some sort of worm culture?
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I've been feeding my fish frozen foods for years and the only parasite I've ever encountered was ich. IMO, it's being a little overly cautious to completely avoid frozen food just because of a very slim chance of getting parasites from it.

IME, spiny eels completely ignore brine shrimp. I tried it once when my tire track eel was arond 5-6", and it didn't react to them at all. Since yours are smaller, you may have better luck, but it wouldn't work out as a permanent staple food.
 
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