Question about eels

[ieatbugman]

Ok, i know this is probably a dumb question but i am going to ask it anyway. Could you feed an eel pellet/dry food? I don’t know if anyone else has or is doing this. But i do know that some fish that “won’t” eat pellets can be trained to. I myself have trained my pea puffers to eat a dry pellet.

 

[AlyciaMarie Verified Admin]

I don't really know about Eels, but I know some members that do :)

@Slocke, @littlefoxx, @HAAAAAAAA

 

[littlefoxx]

Ok, i know this is probably a dumb question but i am going to ask it anyway. Could you feed an eel pellet/dry food? I don’t know if anyone else has or is doing this. But i do know that some fish that “won’t” eat pellets can be trained to. I myself have trained my pea puffers to eat a dry pellet.

It is not good for eels to eat dry pellet foods. Health wise based on how they digest and it wont have the nutrients they need

 

[GARRIGA]

Research Hikari Massivore Delite. Made for predatory fish to replace goldfish. My nassarius love them and gave off a strong enough scent they came out within seconds of adding. They also make smaller items that one can buy and try or call them and see if they send you a sample. Considering eels eat by scent this likely works.

 

[ieatbugman]

I figured that there was probably some side effects and was not planning on doing this. But it was just a question i have had for awhile.

It is not good for eels to eat dry pellet foods. Health wise based on how they digest and it wont have the nutrients they need

 

[OrchidMiss]

Here is a similar thread that may help you out. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/pellet-food-for-eels.763295/

 

[HAAAAAAAA]

Ok, i know this is probably a dumb question but i am going to ask it anyway. Could you feed an eel pellet/dry food? I don’t know if anyone else has or is doing this. But i do know that some fish that “won’t” eat pellets can be trained to. I myself have trained my pea puffers to eat a dry pellet.

I do not recommend feeding them solely pellets, but what I do for extra nutrition is, i take a anchovy or a sardine and fill their bellies up with vitamin soaked pellets and then feed the anchovy or sardine whole to the eel, I've been doing this for about 2 years and have seen quite the growth and colours in my eels.

Just for added information, i make the pellets a paste, make sure to choose a brand which is high in fats and protein aswell as ingredients listed as whole fish instead of just a carcass (fish meal)

I recommend doing this every other week, but also change the type of foods you are feeding such as pieces of mackerel, molusks, whole shell and head shrimp, squid etc

 

[ieatbugman]

Thank you for your replies

 

[ieatbugman]

What pellets would you recommend? I have been thinking about trying an eel for awhile now, and i know you are the eel people
@Slocke, @littlefoxx, @HAAAAAAAA

 

[ieatbugman]

I do not recommend feeding them solely pellets, but what I do for extra nutrition is, i take a anchovy or a sardine and fill their bellies up with vitamin soaked pellets and then feed the anchovy or sardine whole to the eel, I've been doing this for about 2 years and have seen quite the growth and colours in my eels.

Just for added information, i make the pellets a paste, make sure to choose a brand which is high in fats and protein aswell as ingredients listed as whole fish instead of just a carcass (fish meal)

I recommend doing this every other week, but also change the type of foods you are feeding such as pieces of mackerel, molusks, whole shell and head shrimp, squid etc

For putting into the anchovys

 

[HAAAAAAAA]

What pellets would you recommend? I have been thinking about trying an eel for awhile now, and i know you are the eel people
@Slocke, @littlefoxx, @HAAAAAAAA

I currently use "hikari marine s" because it's readily available to me, but I have heard wonders about a brand called new life spectrum, i just haven't tried that out since it's not readily available to me

Though, i would say that you don't really need to add pellets as long as you are feeding a variety of frozen foods, in my case i just worry about if they are getting everything they need Lol (i am quite the overthinker)

 

[ieatbugman]

Ok! Thank you so much! I do love hikari, it is a good brand of food

 

[littlefoxx]

Are you wanting to feed live food? And what kind of eel?

 

[Cantusaurus]

I don't know about traditional pellets just because they are so dense and hard. Possibly some sort of soft pellet or formula like a masstick or nutramar stick on thing. But I have fed snowflake and zebra eels freeze dried shrimp before. They were good eaters of frozen but took to the freeze dried with no problem, even without any selcon or scent/flavor enhancers.

 

[ieatbugman]

I do not entirely know what eel i want, mainly because the soonest i can get one is around and year and a half away. But right now it would probably be a snow flake.

Are you wanting to feed live food? And what kind of eel?

 

[littlefoxx]

I do not entirely know what eel i want, mainly because the soonest i can get one is around and year and a half away. But right now it would probably be a snow flake.

Ah well they are pebbletooth eels, meaning they eat inverts like crabs and shrimp mostly not really fish

 

[vetteguy53081]

Ok, i know this is probably a dumb question but i am going to ask it anyway. Could you feed an eel pellet/dry food? I don’t know if anyone else has or is doing this. But i do know that some fish that “won’t” eat pellets can be trained to. I myself have trained my pea puffers to eat a dry pellet.

Not a relished food and will quickly foul water which needs to be clean and low on nitrates, best is fresh meaty foods such as scallop, squid, shrimp with no shell and pieces of fish

 

[HAAAAAAAA]

I don't know about traditional pellets just because they are so dense and hard. Possibly some sort of soft pellet or formula like a masstick or nutramar stick on thing. But I have fed snowflake and zebra eels freeze dried shrimp before. They were good eaters of frozen but took to the freeze dried with no problem, even without any selcon or scent/flavor enhancers.

According to my experience, I do not recommend feeding freeze dried, i did an experiment on that years ago with a common gymnothorax tile and it did not go well, dried foods are more harder for eels to digest since they have less water content in them which entirely changes the composition of the food which they regularly eat, instead we should focus on what they naturally eat in the wild.

For me it's just one of those "just because it eats it doesn't mean that it's good for them"

 

[ieatbugman]

Ok! Thanks for all the eel insight!

 

[Cantusaurus]

According to my experience, I do not recommend feeding freeze dried, i did an experiment on that years ago with a common gymnothorax tile and it did not go well, dried foods are more harder for eels to digest since they have less water content in them which entirely changes the composition of the food which they regularly eat, instead we should focus on what they naturally eat in the wild.

For me it's just one of those "just because it eats it doesn't mean that it's good for them"

That's true. Yeah, I definitely wouldn't recommend only feeding freeze dried, and I only fed it occasionally, I think it just depends on the overall health of the eel. But also the benefit of freeze dried is being able to better supplement with Selcon and Vitamins occassional supplementation.