Eel ate thread

Littlekitty · Feb 20, 2022

Help!!!! I'm new here so I hope I'm doing this right. I have been trying to entice my lionfish to eat something other than dried krill, knowing that I have to vary his diet to keep him healthy. I dangled a silverside in front of him on a 3 inch piece of thread. He wasn't interested but before I could stop him, my snowflake eel snatched it up and ate it, thread and all!! What do I do??? Will it hurt him? I love my fish and don't know what to do. I now know it was a stupid thing to do!! Does anyone have any advice? Any help is appreciated!!!

blaxsun · Feb 20, 2022

Wait for the thread to hopefully get digested (I assume it was actually thread and not filament?) I'm not sure if there's a lot you can do at this point.

lion king · Feb 20, 2022

They should pass it through with no problems. In regard to your lion's diet, what species of lion? It is imperative to get them from eating a krill only diet, and krill should be used very sparingly if at all. Krill has an abundance of thiaminese, which binds vitamin B1, and will cause death in as quickly as several months. Even though lions can swallow larger pieces, make sure the pieces are not too large. Try chunks of scallop, shrimp, and salmon, as well as silversides. Try using a feeding stick, a clear rigid airline tube you can get from a lfs. Bend it slightly at the feeding end so you are not coming straight on, and cut an angle at the end to secure your offerings.

Littlekitty · Feb 20, 2022

blaxsun said:
Wait for the thread to hopefully get digested (I assume it was actually thread and not filament?) I'm not sure if there's a lot you can do at this point.

Yes it was thread. I am hoping you are right! I am watching him pretty closely. And thank you!

Littlekitty · Feb 20, 2022

lion king said:
They should pass it through with no problems. In regard to your lion's diet, what species of lion? It is imperative to get them from eating a krill only diet, and krill should be used very sparingly if at all. Krill has an abundance of thiaminese, which binds vitamin B1, and will cause death in as quickly as several months. Even though lions can swallow larger pieces, make sure the pieces are not too large. Try chunks of scallop, shrimp, and salmon, as well as silversides. Try using a feeding stick, a clear rigid airline tube you can get from a lfs. Bend it slightly at the feeding end so you are not coming straight on, and cut an angle at the end to secure your offerings.

He's a Dwarf Lion. I am having a really hard time getting him to eat. I've had him almost a year. His diet has been frozen and dried Krill and feeder fish. I've have offered silversides, squid, shrimp, clam meat. He won't accept anything. I quit giving him Krill in hopes he'd be hungry enough to try other foods, but its been a week and he won't eat. He's still pretty active and hasn't lost any weight. I just don't know how to get him to eat.

lion king · Feb 20, 2022

Dwarf lions are really difficult to get to eat dead food, and it's not just about eating dead foods, it's about eating the right dead foods. Live food offerings should be ghost shrimp, appropriate sized mollies, and guppies. Rosies and goldfish also contain large amounts of thiaminese as well as other negatives, and should not be offered. The fact is if live food is not included in the diet of dwarf lions, they rarely live long.

Littlekitty · Feb 20, 2022

Thank you. I'll try some ghost shrimp. I had acclimated some Rosie's to salt water, and put in tank, he ate 3 and it took me a month to catch the last one. He is such a picky eater!!!. Thank you again.