What do you feed your Japanese Dragon Eel

[FL Gator]

My Japanese Dragon Eel hasn't eaten since i got him two weeks ago. I have tried shrimp, silversides and clams. I wanted to know if anyone live feeds and if you do what do you feed? or any other foods you feed.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

I don't own one but I do definitely recommend live food...

 

[FL Gator]

I don't own one but I do definitely recommend live food...

What kind of live food? I don't know what I should try.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Damsels are great but mollies and ghost shrimp are ok and they're cheaper.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Keep in mind my knowledge is from other predators but I imagine your eels diet should be similiar

 

[xxkenny90xx]

My lfs actually has one as their store pet. Once I brought them a huge ugly 5 or 6" damsel and dropped it in. The eel ate it whole right away!

 

[lion king]

Some eels do need something live to settle them in, this usually only takes a couple of feeding for most. The dragon eel does seem to take to dead food fairly quickly, but does seem to be one that many times need the live jumpstart. Eels also come in with internal parasites so be mindful if he doesn't eat the live food. I recommend feeding live mollies because they have near zero threat of spreading disease and have a similar protein and fat structure to saltwater fish. If you feed saltwater fair you risk spreading disease, and today that's a high risk.

 

[FL Gator]

Some eels do need something live to settle them in, this usually only takes a couple of feeding for most. The dragon eel does seem to take to dead food fairly quickly, but does seem to be one that many times need the live jumpstart. Eels also come in with internal parasites so be mindful if he doesn't eat the live food. I recommend feeding live mollies because they have near zero threat of spreading disease and have a similar protein and fat structure to saltwater fish. If you feed saltwater fair you risk spreading disease, and today that's a high risk.

So your talking about making freshwater mollies saltwater then feed him those?

 

[Hugh Mann]

Mollies, being a brackish fish should be able to survive going straight from fresh to salt. At least long enough to become a meal. Many, many people report doing just that and the mollies live for months.

Myself, I typically acclimate them over 2 hours and have pretty high survival rates. 6/7 from the last batch.

 

[FL Gator]

Mollies, being a brackish fish should be able to survive going straight from fresh to salt. At least long enough to become a meal. Many, many people report doing just that and the mollies live for months.

Myself, I typically acclimate them over 2 hours and have pretty high survival rates. 6/7 from the last batch.

Okay thank you! Being brackish they shouldn't bring any disease in correct?

 

[lion king]

Okay thank you! Being brackish they shouldn't bring any disease in correct?

Mollies are brackish and in the wild live and breed in water with sg as high as 1.017; it's what I have used to feed my predators for almost 15 years now. They are kept in fresh water at most lfs and do not harbor any diseases that can be transferred to the salt water aquarium. Since he hasn't eaten and you are not sure if he will eat them quickly, you can take a couple of hours to acclimate them to your saltwater tank. That will give them a higher chance of living longer. Mollies can be acclimated and live in full reef sg of 1.025. Turn the lights off and acclimate a few and just let them live with him until he decides to eat them, he may wait until the middle of the night.

 

[ichthyogeek]

I second (third?) the usage of mollies as a feeder fish, at least until you can get it eating frozen. I think dragon morays are spear-toothed, which means they're more fish predators than invert predators.

 

[Hugh Mann]

On the plus side about mollies, they can be readily bred at home if your eel develops an appetite for them. Most lfs sell them for pretty cheap I hear, but at least in my area they sell for $2-$4 each, which adds up fast if a couple are getting eaten every few days.