Getting Jeweled Moray To Feed

piranhaman00 · Jan 28, 2020

Hello,

I have been wanting to get an eel ever since starting saltwater and finally got the chance! I picked up a 12" or so Jeweled Moray eel from LA. I have the tank (65 gallon) lid fully secured and some nice cave systems for him to hide. I have the lights ramp up and down but stay very dim throughout the day. He appears healthy, fat, breathing steadily and exploring his new lair. I have not been able to get him to eat yet however, I have had him in the tank for three days now, I realize that is still early but trying to get a jump start on this. LA was feeding him squid, silversides and krill. I bought some silversides and a seafood variety pack from the store containing squid, clams, oysters and shrimp.

Once a day I have been offering one of these food items by tongs in front of his face. He violently shakes his head side to side but does not take the meal. Is there anything else I should try it terms of getting him to eat? How long does it take these guys to settle in? Any tips on them?

Thanks!

ReeferWarrant · Jan 28, 2020

Interested in seeing the answer to this, I'm interested in eventually getting an eel. I'd let it acclimate to the tank longer though. My experience with seeing them in the wild makes me think they are more of a nocturnal predator too, but thats the wild. Did they use tongs to feed it in the shop? That may be making it skiddish. Well, I hope this works out for you.

piranhaman00 · Jan 28, 2020

ReeferWarrant said:
Interested in seeing the answer to this, I'm interested in eventually getting an eel. I'd let it acclimate to the tank longer though. My experience with seeing them in the wild makes me think they are more of a nocturnal predator too, but thats the wild. Did they use tongs to feed it in the shop? That may be making it skiddish. Well, I hope this works out for you.

Good call, I will ask about how they were feeding. Thanks!

Goodair · Jan 28, 2020

Try feeding when the lights start to dim out. You can also try wiggling the tongs in front of his cave to see if he has any interest in the moving food. Eventually he should associate food with tongs, but might need time to aclimate. If that doesnt work, you can try live shrimp to get his interest.

lion king · Jan 28, 2020

Sometimes initially they need to eat some live prey to get them accustomed to living in captivity. Try putting a coupke of small live mollies in to see if you get a response. If he doesn't eat the live prey then he may have an internal parasite issue. These type of fish get fed dying and diseased fish along the way because they normally take a bit for them to eat dead food. This leads to a intermal parasite problem, found in mamy predatory fish. This guy wilk take to feeding on dead food pretty easily, its just the initial settling in that you may have to try live.

piranhaman00 · Jan 28, 2020

lion king said:
Sometimes initially they need to eat some live prey to get them accustomed to living in captivity. Try putting a coupke of small live mollies in to see if you get a response. If he doesn't eat the live prey then he may have an internal parasite issue. These type of fish get fed dying and diseased fish along the way because they normally take a bit for them to eat dead food. This leads to a intermal parasite problem, found in mamy predatory fish. This guy wilk take to feeding on dead food pretty easily, its just the initial settling in that you may have to try live.

I agree. He was eating only prepared foods at the holding facility though. I have some QT chromis I might through in there if he doesnt eat soon.

lion king · Jan 28, 2020

piranhaman00 said:
I agree. He was eating only prepared foods at the holding facility though. I have some QT chromis I might through in there if he doesnt eat soon.

Alot of times there's a restart when these type of predators get moved. It has even happened to me moving from observation to display. They generally come around much faster.

piranhaman00 · Jan 28, 2020

lion king said:
Alot of times there's a restart when these type of predators get moved. It has even happened to me moving from observation to display. They generally come around much faster.

Alright, I dont have a lfs anywhere near me, I will keep trying prepared but if it comes to it ill go get some mollies.

DH78 · Jan 28, 2020

What temp is the food when you feed him? I had an eel once that would not touch anything I tried to feed it if it was too cold. I used to warm up the shrimp, squid, etc a little in the microwave to get it around tank temp and then he would eat it from tongs with no issue.

piranhaman00 · Jan 28, 2020

DH78 said:
What temp is the food when you feed him? I had an eel once that would not touch anything I tried to feed it if it was too cold. I used to warm up the shrimp, squid, etc a little in the microwave to get it around tank temp and then he would eat it from tongs with no issue.

Thanks Ill try this too, its usually pretty warm though!

piranhaman00 · Jan 28, 2020

He just destroyed a piece of smelt off the tongs!! So happy haha thanks for the tips everyone

piranhaman00 · Jan 29, 2020

What about feeding frequency will an eel in the 12" range? I read about twice a week or so, seem accurate?

lion king · Jan 29, 2020

Twice a week is good. If he seems to be especially active and not growing, smaller eels may benefit from every other day.

piranhaman00 · Jan 29, 2020

lion king said:
Twice a week is good. If he seems to be especially active and not growing, smaller eels may benefit from every other day.

Awesome thank you!

Now that I got him eating I want to treat for internal worms. How do I go about soaking food for him? I plan to treat the tank with prazi in a few days. I havent noticed any symptoms but I want to go ahead and treat to be safe. He is in a tank by himself.

lion king · Jan 29, 2020

If you are treating the tank with prazi, soak his foood with Seachem metro + focas, feeding every other day with medicated fiod is best.

piranhaman00 · Jan 29, 2020

lion king said:
If you are treating the tank with prazi, soak his foood with Seachem metro + focas, feeding every other day with medicated fiod is best.

Ya I’ll use general cure just wasn’t sure on soaking, thanks!

lion king · Jan 29, 2020

General cure is prazi and metro together, if you are using gc there is no need to use prazi.

lilgrounchuck · Jan 31, 2020

Glad he’s eating! I don’t have any experience with eels in an aquarium, but out on a reef they’re eating at night in spades. They were my #1 nemesis fishing off the beach. Squid, octopus, random fish chunks: all destroyed by eels. I can’t count how many times my line would go and I’d pull in what felt like a giant fish only to find it was a 5-6’ eel that not only swallowed the hook, but wrapped itself so bad into the steel leader that by the time I landed it I just had a giant ball of eel.

piranhaman00 · Feb 18, 2020

lion king said:
General cure is prazi and metro together, if you are using gc there is no need to use prazi.

to follow up, prazi and general cure are both safe for the eel? He’s been eating great now so I’m going to treat the water with prazi and soak foods in general cure. Thanks!

lion king · Feb 18, 2020

piranhaman00 said:
to follow up, prazi and general cure are both safe for the eel? He’s been eating great now so I’m going to treat the water with prazi and soak foods in general cure. Thanks!

To repeat, gc contains the same active ingredient as prazi, there is no need to use both. If you are using prazi, which i do prefer because eels can have flukes, and prazi is very effective for flukes; I would not use gc. The amount of prazi in the gc combined with the prazi in the water column may be a dangerous level. If dosing prazi, i prefer to use seachem metro+focus in the food. This covers treatment for all the most common internal parasites.

General cure's Active Ingredients: 500 mg Metronidazole and 150 mg Praziquantel per teaspoon.