What to do if eel dosen't eat

[Porcupine Reefer]

I had my snowflake eel for 2 months now and he is doing fine. Got him to eat after a day or two, ate everything I gave him squid, mysis, shrimp etc. He ate the previous week and had a full belly. Now when I fed the tank he had a feeding response but didn't eat, I don't feed the tank all the time and when I do, it's when my puffers hungry. When I saw my eel he had a thinner stomach, looking like a dehydrated grape. This is the first time it's happened, he didn't eat one time but then the next time he did eat, but if push comes to shove what would I do if he stops eating.

 

[Wolf89]

you can try live food

 

[jasonrusso]

This hits so close to home. I didn't see my golden dwarf eat for 2 months. I had a feeling he was nibbling on things (he was in QT for a month) but I finally saw him eat a silverslide.

Just keep offering food daily. They will eat when they want. They are amazing creatures and can go months (alligators can go a year) without eating.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I had my snowflake eel for 2 months now and he is doing fine. Got him to eat after a day or two, ate everything I gave him squid, mysis, shrimp etc. He ate the previous week and had a full belly. Now when I fed the tank he had a feeding response but didn't eat, I don't feed the tank all the time and when I do, it's when my puffers hungry. When I saw my eel he had a thinner stomach, looking like a dehydrated grape. This is the first time it's happened, he didn't eat one time but then the next time he did eat, but if push comes to shove what would I do if he stops eating.

They are slow to digest food and will shut down if full, but also are responsive to rise in Nitrates. As they are messy housekeepers, assure nitrate has not gotten too high. Also assure PH has not become acidic (below 7.8)

 

[Slocke]

If you can get live ghost shrimp or fiddler crabs you can try those. They are similar to what a snowflake would eat in the wild.

 

[deepseabc]

Agree I had a dwarf golden orange that went AT LEAST. 2 months I want to say longer...never ate anything I could see. Then one day he just started eating again..crazy weird how Ling he went