Thank you everyone for the advice. As recommended, I’ve waited for Skeletor to go into hunting mode and fed it until it’s full. However, it’s been 6 days since its last feeding and it hasn’t gone out hunting again. Is this a symptom of something bad, or is it, as suggested, normal behavior?
Eel care guide!
- Thread starter tyler1503
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Our snowflake eel ate every couple of weeks maybe 2 or 3 depending. 22" long.
If he was moving around I fed him. if he was just hanging out I left him alone.
If he was moving around I fed him. if he was just hanging out I left him alone.
On the 6th day (yesterday), I attempted to feed it some LRS Chunky (which contains squid, scallop, shrimp, and fish) but it refused. The longest it has gone without food has been four days. Now I’m getting worried.
Don't worry about it.
I know that is easier said than done until you've experienced them going on a 5 week hunger strike for no obvious reason.
When it is hungry it will come looking for food.
I know that is easier said than done until you've experienced them going on a 5 week hunger strike for no obvious reason.
When it is hungry it will come looking for food.
As much as I appreciate your reassurances, I’m still a little worried about Skeletor’s well-being, considering it’s still kinda small at 6” long and about Sharpie-thick. How long can something that small go without food before suffering any health consequences?
Lol, apparently at least 3 weeks.
He was 6" long and skinny as a pencil. Looked like an earth worm.
I know this is freaking you out. It did me too. [emoji846]
It's impossible not to be worried.
But after the 1st couple rollercoasters you just become more annoyed than anything.
Not as bad as losing a kid in the store for a few minutes, but definitely that same relief/aggravation feeling.
Buf you can't tell your eel "NOW YOU HOLD MY HAND AND DON'T LET GO!" [emoji6]
He was 6" long and skinny as a pencil. Looked like an earth worm.
I know this is freaking you out. It did me too. [emoji846]
It's impossible not to be worried.
But after the 1st couple rollercoasters you just become more annoyed than anything.
Not as bad as losing a kid in the store for a few minutes, but definitely that same relief/aggravation feeling.
Buf you can't tell your eel "NOW YOU HOLD MY HAND AND DON'T LET GO!" [emoji6]
If you have had a snake or know someone who has one, the eel gets similar care. They feed when they are ready.
Do you have saltwater/brackish ghost shrimp living with it?
That is what ours ate when it was tiny. Just let them swim in the tank and if it is hungry it will chase them down.
Pure natural behavior.
If you have plans for a mixed reef with smaller fish this is a bad idea. [emoji6]
Ours eventually ate 1.5" yellow tail damsels.
Do you have saltwater/brackish ghost shrimp living with it?
That is what ours ate when it was tiny. Just let them swim in the tank and if it is hungry it will chase them down.
Pure natural behavior.
If you have plans for a mixed reef with smaller fish this is a bad idea. [emoji6]
Ours eventually ate 1.5" yellow tail damsels.
Aggravating indeed. Sometime I feel like I’m in an Adam Sandler movie “Why won’t you eat?! Are you too good for your food?!”
I had a CUC in the same tank as Skeletor. Then I introduced a Harlequin Tusk Wrasse and a Niger Trigger. The rest, as they say, is history...so it’d be pointless to toss any live shrimp in there for Skeletor.
Random question: if Skeletor is the only one in the DT that’s not eating, is that a symptom of internal parasites affecting its appetite? Would dosing something like Prazipro in the DT help Skeletor, or would that be overreacting?
No that is not over reacting, any predator fish coming in today has likely been eating diseased and dying fish along the way. They can come in eating and just being fine, and it take as long as 2-3 months for the parasites to take hold and finally become deadly.
Eels can be especially finicky so I was hoping for the best. My eels get prazi pro then metroplex in their food once eating dead. If in a qt they get general cure. Prazi pro works on some parasites and metroplex work on worms and other parasites, general cure contains both but is not reef safe. If it is a fowlr you might try general cure. I just found general cure to be a better treatment for my predators not eating dead food, I mix it in the water column.
My Brazilian bannana goes through periods not eating. The zebra always eats. I feed mine like twice a week. Costco has a great seafood mix in freezer section, has muscle, shrimp, squid and scallop, and they have bags of shrimp and scallop mix too$$, but great food. All uncooked.
Man, I wish Skeletor was sociable like yours. All it does everyday is stay hidden in its burrow. It hasn’t foraged in weeks and rarely shows its head. Of the few times that I actually see it , it looks thinner.
Has anyone ever had this happen when feeding their eel? Skeletor has done this twice already on separate occasions. It would grab the food from my feeding tongs and slither back into its home. Thinking it’s ingesting the food, I check it again and notice that it has released its food back into the water column. During the times that I could recover the food, it refused to accept it the second time. Sometimes I’m unable to recover the rejected food item (because it somehow wound up in some $@! crevice ) and that’s when I give up on feeding it that night. It’s as if Skeletor is pulling some shenanigans on me.
I've had this happen with a dwarf moray and I found that the food was too large. The eel would get it almost down and then decide it was too large to eat, regurgitate it and was done with it. Try smaller pieces next time and see if that helps.
My has done that, he is the tempermental eater, where the zebra( can you imagine a unicorn eel) eats everything and anything. It's been a problem with too big or if he does not like such as the halibut or tilapia. They love muscle and scallops, Costco has good frozen variety bag or bag of scallops too. Small pieces are best, but sometimes he shakes his head; not today
My has done that, he is the tempermental eater, where the zebra( can you imagine a unicorn eel) eats everything and anything. It's been a problem with too big or if he does not like such as the halibut or tilapia. They love muscle and scallops, Costco has good frozen variety bag or bag of scallops too. Small pieces are best, but sometimes he shakes his head; not today
My banana has done that, he is the tempermental eater, where the zebra( can you imagine a unicorn eel) eats everything and anything. It's been a problem with too big or if he does not like such as the halibut or tilapia. They love muscle and scallops, Costco has good frozen variety bag or bag of scallops too. For the banana Small pieces are best, but sometimes he shakes his head; not today
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