I have just got a ribbon eel and am planning to feed it live food (as it won't eat frozen), I heard mollies lasts very long in salt water, is that true? I'm planning on putting in a dozen so there is more opportunity for it to feed! How long do they last cause I don't want to pickup dead fish instantly after putting them in. And also do I need to feed them in certain ways? Like spot feeding or do I even need to acclimate them to water? IDK ANYTHING! HELP!
Planning on feeding FW mollies to ribbon eel
- Thread starter alexytman
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eatbreakfast
Fish Nerd
Drip acclimate them over 2hrs.
They should be able to live a long time in SW.
What size tank? You may need to double the amount of mollies to give him a chance, because mollies stay at the top of the tank.
They should be able to live a long time in SW.
What size tank? You may need to double the amount of mollies to give him a chance, because mollies stay at the top of the tank.
Dsnakes
Knight Reefer
If you want a consistent food supply, I would set up a tank to breed and raise the mollies. You can gradually raise them to live in full saltwater. Any he doesn't get right away can pick at algae in his tank until he wants a snack
eatbreakfast
Fish Nerd
However, breed mollies in FW as their 'productivity' decreases in SW.
PSLReefer
Active Member
Millie's are terrible food for its diet, and will cause long term health issue and premature death.
You can use frozen silversides thawed and our on a skewer to mimic it being alive and after some patients and trading it will eat and then you can feed it a more varied diet.
Mollies are a death sentence...
My ribbon eel is my avatar.
You can use frozen silversides thawed and our on a skewer to mimic it being alive and after some patients and trading it will eat and then you can feed it a more varied diet.
Mollies are a death sentence...
My ribbon eel is my avatar.
eatbreakfast
Fish Nerd
This is not accurate.
PSLReefer
Active Member
Yes it is. Do some research on feeding mollies to sw animals before spouting nonsense.
PSLReefer
Active Member
Wrong again.
eatbreakfast
Fish Nerd
It has to do with fat content. If the mollies are acclimated to saltwater and fed an appropriate diet they will be a fine food. Gut loading preyis pretty common when feeding predatory fish, I am surprised that you aren't familiar with it.
What kind of food have you tried? I would say get a variety pack at the grocery store. Shrimp, clam, frozen saltwater fish filets, etc. I don't think saltwater animals should feed on freshwater animals.
As for the mollies they can live in saltwater until they die of old age. I have heard it takes about 2 to 4 weeks to fully acclimate them to be able to live in saltwater. (Look up garf corals saltwater mollies) I want to say Mike paletta did a piece on them too. I have no actual experience with them so take my comment with a grain of salt.
As for the mollies they can live in saltwater until they die of old age. I have heard it takes about 2 to 4 weeks to fully acclimate them to be able to live in saltwater. (Look up garf corals saltwater mollies) I want to say Mike paletta did a piece on them too. I have no actual experience with them so take my comment with a grain of salt.
PSLReefer
Active Member
I'm very familiar with it when done under specific conditions. But telling the OP that doesn't even know the basic care of ribbon eels and their issues with getting them to eat, that feeding Mollies is ok is frankly irresponsible.
I highly doubt the op is gonna go out and setup a brackish aquarium then ever so slightly raise the salinity to match the sw aquarium while at the same time feeding these Mollies specific foods to change their fat content, which would take quite some time.
The op will prolly just go to petco or somewhere buy mollies dump them in and hope the ribbon will eat them thinking all is well.
That is the point I'm trying to make. There are much better techniques to use than mollies to get an eel eating. Plus it's a ribbon so right from the getgo there's another factor to contend with.
I highly doubt the op is gonna go out and setup a brackish aquarium then ever so slightly raise the salinity to match the sw aquarium while at the same time feeding these Mollies specific foods to change their fat content, which would take quite some time.
The op will prolly just go to petco or somewhere buy mollies dump them in and hope the ribbon will eat them thinking all is well.
That is the point I'm trying to make. There are much better techniques to use than mollies to get an eel eating. Plus it's a ribbon so right from the getgo there's another factor to contend with.
eatbreakfast
Fish Nerd
The fatty content issues are cumulative through long-time use.
You don't have to setup a brackish tank and acclimate the mollies over an extended period of time. A drip acclimation of a couple of hours will suffice.
Once acclimated, a standard diet that would be fed to reef fish will suffice for gut loading mollies, so not nearly as difficult as you are implying.
Yes, ribbon eels have there own challenges, first of which is getting them to eat, so starvation is the more imminent threat than any dietary deficiencies(which are off set by gut loading), so not nearly the gloom and doom you purport it to be.
SciGuy2
Active Member
Mollies do a great job of eating hair algae! In the past, I have keep a brackish pool tank with mollies just to eat nuisance algae. Drop a hairy rock in, let the molly crew pick it clean, add to show tank.
Thanks, but I really didn't go to petco... Ofc I know of the legendary place but sadly have never been due to all the bad reviews and how long I have to travel just to go there. However, these mollies are from a tank I setup a while back and I feed the same food I need my secondary reef tank so I'm sure has a small amount of nutrient (I also feed it seafood left over from cooking and yes it is raw... im not that dumb). I am new to keeping eels and I appreciate how understanding you are of my situation. I know ribbon eels are picky eaters and hard to force them to eat when new to a tank, that is why I wanted to try with mollies so he can catch a moving prey which is closer to what it would naturally do. I'm hoping if it starts eating it, maybe in the future, I might switch diets depending. But currently, I would like to know if my eel ate it or there's something wrong with it. I see two bumps on its body, one is obviously his gills or what not and there is a much larger one right behind that. I am unsure whether it is a Molly or if he is sick.
salty joe
Well-Known Member
Assuming your ribbon eel is still alive, I got one years ago that didn't eat for weeks. I had a clown fish in with the eel, then one day the eel ate it! From that point on, it ate minnows. So I think putting mollies in with it is a good idea. Good luck.
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