What to feed a 4 inch fire eel

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canucks

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 9, 2013
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Vancouver
Hi, this is my first eel and i bought shrimp pellets for it to eat so far as it is a carnivore, any other suggestions?
 
Try frozen salad shrimp from the grocery store...
They are cheap and he should love them...
All you have to do is run them under hot water for a few seconds and cut them into smaller pieces

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I've kept 4 spiny eels of different types and have always had success with earthworms. First eel wouldn't touch anything for over a week. Tried bloodworms, shrimp, krill and even fresh tilapia. Finally, went to a near by fishing store and bought some leaf worms. I cut them up into bite size pieces and as soon as my eel could smell them in the water came out of hiding for the first time since added to tank and ate for the first time since added. I've fed them to every eel since when I introduce them to my tank and they always eat them on the first try.

Another tip. If you have greedy eaters like I do, that won't let food make it to the bottom. Try a extended tongs and eventually you can train them to hand feed.

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Got my fire eel at 4inches, I started with feeding it frozen blood worms aswell as live black worms from the store once a week as a treat, after she grew a few inches I started her on chopped up small garden worms, now my 10 inch fire eel will accept all types of worms being hand fed! Hope all goes well with your new friend


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Mine hasn't ate its shrimp pellets for about 3 days now and since most of guys have suggested worms i will look into that, maybe its the way they move around or something that makes them so appealing to smaller eels i dont know. Thanks for the feedback it'll really help!
 
bloodworms have less then 1% protein... live blackworms have 10%+ they are actually talking about bloodwomrs in the general subforum here recently.. worth a read. And also have to say once my eels get large enough to take nightcrawler pieces ect I start them on that. But for smaller eels I found just keeping a good amount of blackworms in the substrate so they can have access to 24/7 food is great. at 10inches mines now ready to be started on the nightcrawlers. I found it best to cut the pieces smaller then I think he can handle.. they seem to actually eat more this way then trying ot feed a few larger chuncks at a time. my 21" m dayii would easily eat full sized crawlers.. but if I cut them into 1/3ds she could pack down 3-4 a sitting vs 2-3 giving them to her whole.
 
She surpirzed me and came down for dinner early tonight lol before lights out tonight.. a first. 100% fed on live blackworms 1/4lb a week goes in the tank. other tank-mates eat them as well but she eats the bulk. And she was 4-5" about 3 months ago now iir ( just peeked at stuff.. actually its been about 6... dang time has flown this year!). But an Average of 1" per month isn't unheard of.

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Beautiful fire eel. I agree about nightcrawlers being cut up first. They seem to get them down easier. I use leaf worms which are like small nightcrawlers which are like crack to my m. Liberiensis. I can't find blackworms near me. Has your fire eel every tried to eat your rams? The first week I put my eel in my tank, I saw him latch onto one of my rams and start to drag it to its cave. I had to take out all my rams.
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How big do fire eels get im thinking of getting one and can a 8inch fire eel eat chop up salid shrimp

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