Trying to feed my snowflake eel

FishLover91 · Jul 31, 2020

Hi Reefers,

I just got a snowflake eel yesterday and best believe he jumped out through the filter. He had to be out of the tank for about 4 hours. Soon as I put it back in it seemed to be doing just fine. Today I took about 10 mn trying to feed it so after several attempts I just let the food free! Will it eat the fish or do I have to "spoon feed it".

F i s h y · Jul 31, 2020

What type of fish is it that you are feeding (the food)? After the stress of the jump it may take a minute for it to feel up to eating. It also could have suffered some bruising or injury that cant be seen. A jump from a tank to the floor is quite high for our fishies. I would also try other foods such as krill, squid, clam, variety is good and finding something it will start on is a good idea.

FishLover91 · Jul 31, 2020

Thanks I know it smells the food because it keeps sticking its head out and opening the mouth when it swims by. Also I circled the fish I was given by the store. I need to know what they are myself. I didnt want to change the food yet but I might have to try something different if it does not eat in the next day or so.

F i s h y · Jul 31, 2020

FishLover91 said:
Thanks I know it smells the food because it keeps sticking its head out and opening the mouth when it swims by. Also I circled the fish I was given by the store. I need to know what they are myself. I didnt want to change the food yet but I might have to try something different if it does not eat in the next day or so.

Is the fish alive? It looks like a rosey red (common freshwater feeder fish) It is my understanding that you shouldn't offer freshwater fish as food. A better alternative are frozen silversides. There are a lot of frozen foods that are a good option for your eel.

lion king · Jul 31, 2020

Eels do take special care, snowflakes aren't necessarily difficult; just need to understand how to care for them. !st off since he appears to be in your display tank already, this may be a difficult proposition. Eventually you will target feed him chunky bits of food like shrimp, squid, octopus, silversides; cut into appropriate sized chunks for his size. You can also purchase chunky variety packs of food like LFS from your lfs. You will use a feeding stick, tongs, or even long tweezers or hemostats.

The rosy minnow should be removed, if you need to start with live food, the best food to start a snowflake with is live ghost shrimp. They are a pebble tooth eel, and shrimp is part of their natural diet. I suggest you watch some youtube vids on feeding snowflake eels, and do a search for feeding suggestions here.

#1 killer of eels in captivity is carpet surfing. Every single crack and crevice needs to sealed, they will find it.

FishLover91 · Jul 31, 2020

Thanks a lot I purchased some frozen silversides and will try the shrimp in two weeks as well. Im welcome to any youtube videos the ones I have watched the eels are more compfortable. I think im also being to hard this is his first day and he had a fall. I have sealed all openings!

FishLover91 · Jul 31, 2020

Fishy65 said:
Is the fish alive? It looks like a rosey red (common freshwater feeder fish) It is my understanding that you shouldn't offer freshwater fish as food. A better alternative are frozen silversides. There are a lot of frozen foods that are a good option for your eel.

Yes thats what it was I took it out and cut up pieces of silversides for it when it gets hungry.

FishLover91 · Jul 31, 2020

Thanks everyone I changed the aquascape a little to give the eel more compfortability and it ate all of the chopped pieces of silversides. My koran angel is even moving around now. Hopefully I can finally sleep peacefully tonight. #1st day success!