Tropical Fish Forums

[bosfishman]

Hi all, I got a fire eel (his name is bulldozer or dozer for short) for my tank a week ago and have 2 questions.

1. 2 days ago he started hanging out in the filter -- do I need to worry about this? I could put some sort of screen to block access if it could harm him

2. I've read the tips on feeding him and have tried a tube, syringe, etc with bloodworms and brine shrimp....so far, he has only ignored or swam away from them. I suspect that he has eaten the small ghost shrimp that were living in the tank (there are a few big ones left) and that may be why he hasn't taken the other food but am still worried about how tricky these guys can be to feed. Any other advice?

Thanks,
Jesse

[Cathy G]

Hi,

I'd keep him out of the filter box. Give him lots of hiding places, they like long narrow caves and such. You can buy premade caves and root form for eels, or you can make one out of pvc pipes. Either way, they like to explore and they need to totally hide themselves to be comfortable in the day time.

Try feeding him live worms - get small ones from the bait/tackle shops. We trained ours to eat out of our hands by holding wiggling worms in front of him and gradually getting him to come to the top of the tank for them.

If he has a particular hangout, perhaps use a clean plastic tube to funnel down the food in front of him so he sees it is coming. (Only problem with this is that the other fish see the food too!)

Hope this helps, they are cool little fish.

Cathy

[tkipfer]

I don't have a fire eel but I did have a tire track until it died a little while ago. they do need to hide all day and I have found that eels need nicly planted tanks to feel safe, if they sdon't have these they will not be as active as they should and may die. also for feeding, buy live ghost shrimp from your lfs and put them in at night when he comes out. you may not see any action the first night but watch the second night and he sohlud be hunting them. it is fun to watch when the eel reels up from bhind the shrimp and if the eel is hungery enough will attack strongly and may bite the shrimp in half though I have only seen this a handful of times. Whatever works for you and your eel take great care of him and you wil see they arn't just some fish, they are their own charcter.
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"I am a wildlife warrior, and I will fight, fight to the death for wildlife." - Steve Irwin

[Josh Hansen]

What other tank mates do you have? If you have bossy fish tank mates the eel can stress. I had personal experience with clown loaches and gudgeons much of an aggressive feeder than the spiny eels. The spiny eel become too timid to eat food. I choose to evict the eel due to the possibility of starving to death. Other bossy fish to avoid are large barbs and large cichlids.

I have had more success in the past with live worms and frozen blood worms than other food types. Try and feed them towards the evening or at night as this is the perferred time for the fish to be out. Another thing is to test the water as the eels tend to be most senstive to being ill to nitrate than the average fish

Hopes this helps.

Good luck.

from Josh