Help getting blue ribbon eel to eat!

[Saltwaterfishy]

I've had my blue ribbon eel for a bit more then a week and he's still not feeding. I've tried all types of frozen food and live foods.
Any suggestions?

 

[Squishie89]

Blue ribbon eels are extremely hard to get to eat. Give this a read, might help- https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/eel-care-guide-by-tyler1503.190769/ I have read stories where they finally started to eat after a few weeks, but most unfortunately perish.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

I found this and thought it might help: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/h...dator-to-eat-prepared-foods-steven-pro.93136/

 

[starfish12458]

coaxing a blue ribbon eel to eat.....http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f181/5-years-with-our-blue-ribbon-eel-178795.html this was a good link as well..... their favorite food is firefish.

 

[merlberg]

I had a black ribbon that was so so hard to get to eat... It took me dang near a month but he finally ate.

I tried everything but imo they like live food and then u ween them off. For me Mine loved yellow tailed damsels -_- so i bought the smallest ones i can find. Then once it started to get too expensice for me since its 6 bucks for a damsel i moved him too guppies which i heard i shouldnt feed him for too long but he loved that too.

Here comea the fun part to ween him off live food... So i bought long feeding tongs to start feeding it and tried it daily until he finally took one . I picked up a live guppy with the tong and just moved it around in the tank like it was alive but it was really dead. And would do that everytime i was feeding the tank.

Once he actually took the guppy from the tone i switched to frozen silversides using the tongs as well. Sometimes i would just drop the silverside next to him n he started to pick it right up n go in his hole. He only ate maybe twice a week tho, maybe 2 silversides but when he was eating the damsels, it lasted him for about a week.

I hope this helps. It took me alot of time and patience to get him to eat. Good luck!! Unfortunately mine slipped out of the tank [emoji30] and dried out. I plan on eventually getting another one tho, they r great once you get them to eat which is the hardest part. Just be patient and hopefully it'll all work out

 

[black_art]

Hi there,
I had a black and a blue one and both of them started eating in my tank after 2 days. You should provide them a good nest because they usually grab their food and go to their nest then eat it in there.
You can make a nest for them with pipe under sand bed or make hole under a liverock by vacuum sand under it(My Gobby did that for me). Their nest should be large enough because they like to put all their body in it in night or whenever they want to eat their hunt. After providing nest they put their body in it and you can just see their head now you can try feeding them with an aquarium tong. It is important to use aquarium tong because they think it is another ribbon and try to grab food from its mouth so cut shrimp or dead fish in size of your ribbon mouth(food should long and thin) put the food in tong and hold tong near their nest. It is better to use some drops of garlic on their food.

 

[merlberg]

Hi there,
I had a black and a blue one and both of them started eating in my tank after 2 days. You should provide them a good nest because they usually grab their food and go to their nest then eat it in there.
You can make a nest for them with pipe under sand bed or make hole under a liverock by vacuum sand under it(My Gobby did that for me). Their nest should be large enough because they like to put all their body in it in night or whenever they want to eat their hunt. After providing nest they put their body in it and you can just see their head now you can try feeding them with an aquarium tong. It is important to use aquarium tong because they think it is another ribbon and try to grab food from its mouth so cut shrimp or dead fish in size of your ribbon mouth(food should long and thin) put the food in tong and hold tong near their nest. It is better to use some drops of garlic on their food.

I agree with the homing part, they need something long enough for thier entire body to fit in so thry can feel comfortable... That is a Must!

 

[Saltwaterfishy]

Thanks all for the suggestions! I will definitely keep trying. I do have PVC piping in there that he never leaves and I also use tongs. Will keep updating.

 

[Saltwaterfishy]

I had a black ribbon that was so so hard to get to eat... It took me **** near a month but he finally ate.

I tried everything but imo they like live food and then u ween them off. For me Mine loved yellow tailed damsels -_- so i bought the smallest ones i can find. Then once it started to get too expensice for me since its 6 bucks for a damsel i moved him too guppies which i heard i shouldnt feed him for too long but he loved that too.

Here comea the fun part to ween him off live food... So i bought long feeding tongs to start feeding it and tried it daily until he finally took one . I picked up a live guppy with the tong and just moved it around in the tank like it was alive but it was really dead. And would do that everytime i was feeding the tank.

Once he actually took the guppy from the tone i switched to frozen silversides using the tongs as well. Sometimes i would just drop the silverside next to him n he started to pick it right up n go in his hole. He only ate maybe twice a week tho, maybe 2 silversides but when he was eating the damsels, it lasted him for about a week.

I hope this helps. It took me alot of time and patience to get him to eat. Good luck!! Unfortunately mine slipped out of the tank [emoji30] and dried out. I plan on eventually getting another one tho, they r great once you get them to eat which is the hardest part. Just be patient and hopefully it'll all work out

Did he eat live food from the start?

 

[bct15]

Have you tried krill or some other crustacean? I remember reading that ribbon eels are predominantly crustacean eaters in the wild.

 

[merlberg]

after a month of him starving himself I got him to start eating live food!

 

[merlberg]

Thanks all for the suggestions! I will definitely keep trying. I do have PVC piping in there that he never leaves and I also use tongs. Will keep updating.

Yes def keep us updated. I want to get another one but the getting thm to eat is such a hassle. I bought a 2nd one but it was a blue ribbon n tht one died after a week of starving. Out of all the eels ive seen so far those are my favorite ones even with the eating issues smh.

 

[Saltwaterfishy]

after a month of him starving himself I got him to start eating live food!

Oh wow didn't know they'd last that long

 

[Saltwaterfishy]

Have you tried krill or some other crustacean? I remember reading that ribbon eels are predominantly crustacean eaters in the wild.

I have tried krill but I also had crabs and hermits in there mabe he's been getting a snack while I'm not around

 

[Saltwaterfishy]

Just went threw 20 Rosie's and still have a few ghost shrimp but he doesn't seem to notice those at all. Will hopefully be buying more food tomorrow. Suggestions on what to buy that are pretty cheap so I can but a lot? I have all the frozen stuff like silversides and krill already so what should I buy. I flipped a snail over infront of him and he definitely seemed interested sniffing it out and putting his nose into there but no bites yet.

 

[Saltwaterfishy]

I found this and thought it might help: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/h...dator-to-eat-prepared-foods-steven-pro.93136/

Seems like a good idea but my eel isn't eating anything yet including live foods that I offer in the net or just release in the tank.

 

[merlberg]

Yea i didnt knw it would last that long without food niether but it did.
Mine didnt notice the ghost shrimp niether, i think because they were so small n just not noticable. It has to be big enough for it to see that it is live and small enough to fit in its mouth entirely. This is just from my observation and dealing with mine. Try waiting a day or 2 n maybe try a small yellow tail damsel. I only say wait a day or 2 because i did reas somewhere sometimes they get stressed when u try to keep on forcing to feed them. So dnt try to feed it at all ans then put something live in there and hope he goes after it!

 

[merlberg]

As long as he is moving around alot from my experience he is still doing ok. When you need to start worrying is when it is just laying there the entire time n barely moves which happened to my 2nd eel and died pretty fast!

 

[merlberg]

Do you mind posting some pics of your eel?

 

[ocean gems]

I had one that gave me a hard time to eat but i tried silver side and got him to eat after that he ate every time i fed till one day he decided to sneak pass the egg crate to the overflow and got suck in thru the pump