Eel eating frenzy

[Goodair]

Had a snowflake for some weeks now, haven't thought about this till reading a thread. When I go to feed, the eel will swim around, trying to find the food. He now associates the tongs with food and will look around it. He will also swim around the top area where I open the lid.

Question is when it is swimming around after I'm done feeding, does it mean its still hungry and I'm not feeding enough? Currently doing 2 silversides or similar portion of random seafood, every other day. He is probally a foot and a half long.

 

[Jvesche20]

Had a snowflake for some weeks now, haven't thought about this till reading a thread. When I go to feed, the eel will swim around, trying to find the food. He now associates the tongs with food and will look around it. He will also swim around the top area where I open the lid.

Question is when it is swimming around after I'm done feeding, does it mean its still hungry and I'm not feeding enough? Currently doing 2 silversides or similar portion of random seafood, every other day. He is probally a foot and a half long.

How much are you feeding? I only feed my snowflake when he comes out and swims around. That means hes hungry. Usually happens when I am feeding my other fish. I keep feeding him till he doesnt take the food from the tongs. I think your not feeding enough. Keep feeding him until he doesnt take the food anymore. Feed as much as you can in a 5 minute window

 

[Goodair]

Don't I have to worry about over feeding it?

 

[Jvesche20]

Don't I have to worry about over feeding it?

As long as hes eating I dont see a problem. I feed my eel 4-5 large whole shrimp every other day. Feeding more will make the eel grow faster. But it also keeps him from eating my inverts. I worked a 30 hour weekend and forgot to feed the eel and he was chasing one of my cleaner shrimp. I had 2 but I think he hate one because I didnt feed him enough

 

[Goodair]

Ok, thank you. I'll use more food and see how it acts after. It hasn't touched any trochus snails yet, not sure if he just wasnt hungry enough or hasn't found a way to flip em, lol.

 

[Jvesche20]

Ok, thank you. I'll use more food and see how it acts after. It hasn't touched any trochus snails yet, not sure if he just wasnt hungry enough or hasn't found a way to flip em, lol.

How large is your eel? Ive never seen my eel eat anything but I had some emerald crabs that I never see. I also had 75 snails/ hermits and i dont see them too often. I know half are in the sand bed but I dont know where the other half are

 

[Goodair]

By eye, roughly a foot and a half. I don't stock crabs or shrimp, just snails and urchins. Sometimes I feed ghost shrimp, but haven't done so since the eel went into the DT.

 

[flagg37]

I would feed my zebra eel about 3 raw jumbo shrimp at a time; the ones from Costco.
This is mine out looking for food.

 

[Jvesche20]

I would feed my zebra eel about 3 raw jumbo shrimp at a time; the ones from Costco.
This is mine out looking for food.

That hole is very cool. I like how the fish swam into it. What did you make it out of and how long is the hole? Going to build a new tank and this looks like a good idea

 

[lion king]

Overfeeding is a concern, some say the 2nd leading cause of premature death. carpet surfing 1st. If you are feeding about every 3 days, feed him his full, meaning he will retire rather than continue to hunt. These guys do better with fast periods between feedings, I didn't get your feeding schedule.

 

[Jvesche20]

Overfeeding is a concern, some say the 2nd leading cause of premature death. carpet surfing 1st. If you are feeding about every 3 days, feed him his full, meaning he will retire rather than continue to hunt. These guys do better with fast periods between feedings, I didn't get your feeding schedule.

how does over feeding kill them? Didn't think this was an issue. I have nets over my tank and my eel managed to climb though my overflow box and somehow under my tank. I was watching tv and I heard something knocking all the test kits and all that stuff over under my tank. I ignored it at first but it got louder and sure enough my eel was under my tank. Still have no idea how he managed to do it

 

[flagg37]

That hole is very cool. I like how the fish swam into it. What did you make it out of and how long is the hole? Going to build a new tank and this looks like a good idea

It’s a 3” pvc pipe with several fittings. There’s 3 entrances (only 2 are shown in the video) and almost 4’ long. Then it’s covered with rock and emarco.

 

[Goodair]

Overfeeding is a concern, some say the 2nd leading cause of premature death. carpet surfing 1st. If you are feeding about every 3 days, feed him his full, meaning he will retire rather than continue to hunt. These guys do better with fast periods between feedings, I didn't get your feeding schedule.

2 full silver sides (cut up), or LRS chunky pieces that equal to about 2 full silvers. I feed once every 2 days.

 

[welsher7]

What size silversides are you feeding? You mentioned feeding LRS chunks so I’m guessing they are small. I suggest feeding it until it stops coming out the rock work, and wait until it comes out again to feed. You will probably end up feeding 2x a week most of the time, some weeks it may only be once. And once it is larger you could as long as two weeks between normal feeding.

Also I would suggest feeding as close to the rock work as you can. A hungry eel and can accidentally grab and kill a fish, they have really bad vision. I had a large zebra eel kill a sargassum trigger on accident once.

My 12-13” skeletor eel usually eats one small shrimp but sometimes it takes a shrimp and half so I always thaw two pieces. Then he retreats back to his cave and I see it again 4-5 days later.

 

[Goodair]

What size silversides are you feeding? You mentioned feeding LRS chunks so I’m guessing they are small. I suggest feeding it until it stops coming out the rock work, and wait until it comes out again to feed. You will probably end up feeding 2x a week most of the time, some weeks it may only be once. And once it is larger you could as long as two weeks between normal feeding.

Also I would suggest feeding as close to the rock work as you can. A hungry eel and can accidentally grab and kill a fish, they have really bad vision. I had a large zebra eel kill a sargassum trigger on accident once.

My 12-13” skeletor eel usually eats one small shrimp but sometimes it takes a shrimp and half so I always thaw two pieces. Then he retreats back to his cave and I see it again 4-5 days later.

Inch to inch and a half size silversides. Getting it in a habit to eat near the cave is a good idea.

 

[Goodair]

Added a bigger portion yesterday, eel ate 3 1/2 silversides and then went back into its cave. I was underfeeding it for sure, thanks for the feedback everyone!