Brazilian Banana Eel - Finicky eater -or- doesn't need much food?

[reefdiver73]

Wondering if anyone has any suggestions on a food that the Brazilian Banana Eel just can't resist. Ours seems to be a finicky eater -- or maybe he just doesn't need to be fed very often. Not sure which it is, so I'm asking both questions. We can only seem to get him to eat occasionally. Sometimes he'll eat every other day and then he'll go 5 or 6 days without eating; and that's with us sticking food right up to his mouth on a stick. The one food we know he likes is only available at a store 2 hours from our house (World Wide Corals "Reef Mix", whatever that is). I won't travel 2 hours one way for a restaurant for myself, so the eel definitely is going to have to learn to like something else. I even tried high quality sushi grade albacore tuna tonight and he just sniffed it and backed away.

So, how often do they eat; how much do they eat; and what do they like to eat?

Thanks!

 

[lion king]

A mature eel is best fed no more than once a week. Eels will do better fed on a gorge/fast feeding cycle. Feed them their full and give a week between feedings. Allow him to start cruising around before you feed him again. I'm surprised he wouldn't take tuna, a fatty fish is an excellent addition to a fang tooth's diet. I choose salmon over tuna at 1/2 the price. He may like clams and mussels(also great nutritionally). Squid, octopus, shrimp, Hikari or Gamma brand silversides.

How long have you had him? Feeding too often can cause issue but they also can come in with internal parasites. Have your mg at at least reef level, I run mine at 1400ppm in my predator tanks, it does help with digestion. Once you are feeding on a weekly basis, he should be eating you out of house and home, those eels will pack it away.

 

[reefdiver73]

A mature eel is best fed no more than once a week. Eels will do better fed on a gorge/fast feeding cycle. Feed them their full and give a week between feedings. Allow him to start cruising around before you feed him again. I'm surprised he wouldn't take tuna, a fatty fish is an excellent addition to a fang tooth's diet. I choose salmon over tuna at 1/2 the price. He may like clams and mussels(also great nutritionally). Squid, octopus, shrimp, Hikari or Gamma brand silversides.

How long have you had him? Feeding too often can cause issue but they also can come in with internal parasites. Have your mg at at least reef level, I run mine at 1400ppm in my predator tanks, it does help with digestion. Once you are feeding on a weekly basis, he should be eating you out of house and home, those eels will pack it away.

Thanks for the info. We've only had him a couple of months, but this tank has had him for several months - maybe a year. (We got him with a 300g tank that we bought and recently moved to our home). One of my concerns with making sure he's happily full is that this isn't a predator tank. He's really just about the only predator in the tank. He seems docile enough but I don't want to come home one day and wonder where one of the smaller fish disappeared to. Didn't know about the mg levels being important for him, but we're over 1300 right now. We'll be sure to keep it in check. We'll also try some of the other foods you suggested. He was swimming around earlier tonight which is what prompted me to try to feed him. He slithered into a rock and turned his nose up at the tuna I was offering. Maybe he's just not hungry enough yet. I'll try daily until he eats something to get a baseline "last fed" date and then we'll wait about a week and see how that goes. If I'm not mistaken it's been close to a week since he's taken any food from us.