Banana Eel: Diet and issues with pale coloration

[Wtyson254]

I have a 2’ Bananna Eel that I have had for over a year. It appears healthy and is very active, however it’s yellow color has now transitioned to a more yellow-white coloration. How can I get it back to its yellow coloring?

Diet:
I feed it 2 to 3 times per week, with an occasional 4-5 fast (if I am out of town).

food:
- Hikari Silver sides
- Freesh Squid tentacles
- Larry’s reef frenzy predator

I am wondering if this diet is not sufficient, and would love advice.

 

[Slocke]

@lion king has a lot of articles on feeding eels if you look at his threads. My suggestion would be to add more variety to its fresh diet. Try other seafoods from a supermarket.

 

[lion king]

Fresh wild salmon would be a great addition to his diet, not only woukd this provide the necessary fats, it contains a carotenoid called astaxanthin, which is reported to enhance yellow, orange, and red. You can also stuff pellets in the chunks of food you feed, many pellets foods contain this carotenoid. I would swap out the Hikari brand silversides to the San Francisco Bay brand, SFB is the only true silverside and Hikari now uses smelt which is high in thiaminese. I just slice off the thinner side of the salmon I'm cooking for myself and feed it to my eel. You can freeze small batches if it's more convenient, but fresh bought is always best. The squid and LRF are good choices. You may want to start feeding less frequent, feed them their full on feeding day, then start working towards once a week.

 

[Wtyson254]

Fresh wild salmon would be a great addition to his diet, not only woukd this provide the necessary fats, it contains a carotenoid called astaxanthin, which is reported to enhance yellow, orange, and red. You can also stuff pellets in the chunks of food you feed, many pellets foods contain this carotenoid. I would swap out the Hikari brand silversides to the San Francisco Bay brand, SFB is the only true silverside and Hikari now uses smelt which is high in thiaminese. I just slice off the thinner side of the salmon I'm cooking for myself and feed it to my eel. You can freeze small batches if it's more convenient, but fresh bought is always best. The squid and LRF are good choices. You may want to start feeding less frequent, feed them their full on feeding day, then start working towards once a week.

Does the type of salmon matter ?

 

[lion king]

No just wild skin on, farmed salmon is grown in chemical sewage, not fit for humans or my pets. I forget to mention the skin, but that is important. Specific types as in Atlantic, etc have negligible differences in efa's. Fats are very important and most eels lack that in a captive diet. The astaxanthin is just a bonus