Ribbon Eel, care and feeding ?

[427HISS]

I agree, I keep my tanks at the exact same water parameters, so transferring from tank to tank is no shock to the fish.
If, I think it may be picked on, I either put the fish in at dusk, or I also have a acrylic box that hangs inside
the tank that has holes drilled in for water exchange. That way, all the fish get used to the new guy.

My QT has live rock, but I don't have any aquascape with it, so it's easy to move to one side of the tank to make
catching the fish pretty easy. I don't like using nets as they can cause damage to the fish, so I use a square
piece of acrylic about the same size of the tank. I place it in and slowly move it to corner the fish on one
side of the tank then use a acrylic box to trap the fish in.

Real easy & fast, as not to stress the fish.

If you do a search here, there' hundreds,....of Hospital and QT threads.

 

[merlberg]

I like that idea catching them with a box instead of the net for less stress. I think I'll try tht one instead.

Yea I have found many QT threads so far!

 

[427HISS]

You're on you way to great success bud ! :wink:

 

[merlberg]

[emoji51][emoji51]

 

[427HISS]

Hey Tyler, how's your eels ! :rockon:

Tell us about your system.

 

[tyler1503]

I only have a snowflake at the moment. But all this talk of ribbons is making me consider setting up a species tank and taking the plunge with one again
I'm also in the market for a zebra about the same size as my snowflake or a few inches longer.
"Frosty" the snowflake is in my 24 at the moment but I'll be putting her in my 120 as soon as I figure out the rest of my stock list. I'm tossing up between an aggressive reef tank with a valentini puffer, a joke tang, foxfaces and fuzzy dwarf lions along with the eels for fish and a euphyllia garden for coral or a local biotope fowlr with some scorpionfish, puffers, leatherjacket and snapper along with the eels.
My 24 just has a bunch of rock and water movement. No fancy skimmers, reactors or anything, not even a sump. Frosty seems quite happy in there for now, but she really needs some more space to move. She's just come out of a dormant stage and is slowly beginning to eat as much as she use to though
The 120 she'll be moved onto has a bunch of rock, 20 gal sump, 200 gal skimmer (which I plan to upgrade at some point) 15 gal external look down display fuge (I'm process of reinforcing a stand for it, but it's fully plumbed already), DIY dosing system which I'll only use if I do the reef idea and I'm looking into OceanRevive LEDs. I'm also looking into a DIY ATO, but can't seem to find one that will work well with my system.
Here's frosty in all her glory:

Acclimating when I first got her. That's an AU 10c coin in there for scale. It's roughy 2/3 of an inch across I'm guessing:

 

[427HISS]

Ah,....give her a kiss for me. lol

She was so,oooo tiny !

The new tank plans sound great.

If you set it up as a aggressive tank, would a Trigger/s (and the like) bite Frosty's tail ?

One of our planned fish for the 125g, is one of our favorite fish's, another Clown Trigger,
so I'm wondering about the same question with Merlin ?

 

[tyler1503]

Ah,....give her a kiss for me. lol

She was so,oooo tiny !

The new tank plans sound great.

If you set it up as a aggressive tank, would a Trigger/s (and the like) bite Frosty's tail ?

One of our planned fish for the 125g, is one of our favorite fish's, another Clown Trigger,
so I'm wondering about the same question with Merlin ?

Hahaha she's bitten me on the finger before and it was INTENSE. So there's no chance I'm putting my face near her! Especially now that she's double the size that she was the first time.
I had a zebra at one stage that was even smaller than that! It was as thick as a pencil and about 5 inches long. It quickly became one of the biggest reasons why I now love eels so much
Thanks! If I can get around some temperature issues I'm thinking of doing the local biotope idea. It would be so much cheaper to catch my own fish instead of buying them!
I was considering adding a niger trigger to that fish list, but can't keep them with the lions and I would prefer the lions over a trigger.
I've only kept nigers with eels, but I've never had a problem with them.
I've never kept a trigger with a ribbon eel, so I can't say for sure there, but zebras and snowflakes are both fine from my experience. From the lack of picking on the snowflakes and zebras I would assume ribbons would also be safe, but that is just an assumption. I would want to hear from someone else who has had more experience with triggers than I have. I have a limited knowledge on them so I can't give out any definite advice sorry.
I've kept ribbons with tangs, rabbit fish, lions and wrasses and they've all played nicely

 

[merlberg]

Wow that's how tiny they come .

How often is Frosty eating now? And I agree with 427HISS your new tank sounds freaking awesome. Is Frosty usually all over the place or more timid?

Haha you should get a ribbon. They are great once you've gotten them to eat lol. And I noticed you said again! So you had one before. Sry if I missed the rundown prior lol. And do you know if different eels can be in the same tank or even the same type of eel can be in the same tank if there is enough space. I've seen ribbons together before at my LFS but never mixed.



Wow you had a zebra eel as well! They are so pretty.

 

[tyler1503]

Wow that's how tiny they come .

How often is Frosty eating now? And I agree with 427HISS your new tank sounds freaking awesome. Is Frosty usually all over the place or more timid?

Haha you should get a ribbon. They are great once you've gotten them to eat lol. And I noticed you said again! So you had one before. Sry if I missed the rundown prior lol. And do you know if different eels can be in the same tank or even the same type of eel can be in the same tank if there is enough space. I've seen ribbons together before at my LFS but never mixed.



Wow you had a zebra eel as well! They are so pretty.

She's eating twice a week at the moment but in smaller than usual amounts. She's slowly getting hungrier as the days go by though. When she first started accepting food again she would eat 1 piece of squid a week. She's now up to about 6-7 pieces once or twice a week and she used to eat about 12-15 pieces 2-3 times a week. So she's got a while to go yet!
Thank you! I'm excited to get it fully up and running. I have a puffer in there at the moment, but really want to get something with venom! Lol.
Frosty was really active at first, but has settled down quite a lot now. She gets a bit feisty at feeding time and during late afternoon when my lights go out and there's still some ambient light. Other than that she pretty much just hangs out in her rock which she share with a yellow tailed blue damsel.
I had a ribbon in a display tank at the LFS I used to work at. He was a black one who I would hand feed. If I ever had my hand in the tank he would come over and sniff me. It was terrifying at first as I wasn't expecting it and their teeth are no joke, but he never tried to attack me. He was really docile and just wanted to hang out. I really want one again, but I don't know if I want to risk spending a bunch of money and have him not eating. They're quite pricey around my way. I do have access to marine feeder fish and shrimp, so it shouldn't be too much of a risk, but I duno :S
Zebras and snowflakes can be added together or mixed if they're both roughly the same size, still young and added at the same time. Other eels can also be mixed but I haven't tried it before. I wouldn't risk a ribbon being mixed with another eel though. The problems with mixing eels are having enough hideouts for everyone, having a huge strain on filtration and finding the right eels at the right time. If you can get around that, there's no reason why snowflakes or zebras can't be mixed.
My zebra was awesome! I loved him. Unfortunately I had a black out and he swam into the intake of a pump. When the power came back on he got shredded by the impeller

 

[merlberg]

So is that what she usually eat squid?! Or does she just really like squid so you stick to that?

I would be excited too Thts a big tank [emoji51]. Venom [emoji85] lol can I ask why lol?! Have you ever had anything with venom before. Are they more aggressive or something?

I love blue damsels but because of my eel they are not safe in my tank even when I get the bigger ones for some reason but I'd really love if I could keep one in my tank :/.

Wait teeth?! I thought they have no teeth lol mine has no teeth at all. Would you happen to know why that is?

Awee man I'm so Sry to hear that about your zebra :/

 

[tyler1503]

So is that what she usually eat squid?! Or does she just really like squid so you stick to that?

I would be excited too Thts a big tank [emoji51]. Venom [emoji85] lol can I ask why lol?! Have you ever had anything with venom before. Are they more aggressive or something?

I love blue damsels but because of my eel they are not safe in my tank even when I get the bigger ones for some reason but I'd really love if I could keep one in my tank :/.

Wait teeth?! I thought they have no teeth lol mine has no teeth at all. Would you happen to know why that is?

Awee man I'm so Sry to hear that about your zebra :/

She eats squid almost exclusively. I occasionally give her a table shrimp or two, but she prefers the squid. I've found squid to be less messy and easier to cut into bite size pieces, plus it doesn't fall off my feeding stick as easily I soak it in the food I give my other fish in hopes it might slightly change the flavour for her but I doubt it does much.
Yea it's the first big tank I've ever personally owned. All my others have been nanos. It's such a different experience!
I've owned a few venomous fish before. I've kept lionfish, foxfaces and scorpionfish in the past. I love things with teeth and stingers! Lol. Despite what most people say, lionfish and scorps are generally not aggressive at all. They will eat any small fish, but they're typically not aggressive at all in the sense that a tang or clownfish may be.
I really like damsels too. They're so colourful and active! I really like the Talbots damsel
Morays have very sharp teeth. You may not see them very often, but they're definitely there! I would compare each individual tooth to a brand new razor blade. The teeth are so sharp and the bite force is so strong that once it grabs hold of something, what it has bitten won't get away unless the moray chooses to release it's grip. My snowflake could take my pinky finger off with no effort what so ever. That's why I won't hand feed eels anymore lol.
Thanks, it was a hard thing to see. I won't be getting another moray that size without specifically designing a tank around it. I don't want that happening again.

 

[tyler1503]

Have you ever had anything with venom before.

I just remembered. I also tried to keep a scorpion I found once. I kept him in an old styrofoam box with some soil, sticks and rocks and stuff. He climbed out of the box on his second day and went back to living in the wild lol. Turns out they can climb styrofoam!

 

[427HISS]

Yes,....from my WIFE ! :faint:

 

[merlberg]

Ok so I have a question to see if anyone has evervl experienced this w/ any of there eel.

So now that my ribbon eel eats frozen silverside I cut them in half because a lot of them are too big for him to eat whole. I precut all of them and now he doesn't want to eat any of them. Is tht not odd. He rather eat them whole and struggle to eat them instead of eating them when I cut them in half.

I just ruined a whole thing of silversides now because I can't seem to get him to eat them cut. Ugh

 

[427HISS]

Mine is the opposite, as he likes them hole.
I wish I could get smaller sized Silversides, as most in the bag are fairly big.
I hate to cut them in half, as the innards are loaded with nutrition. I cut only the head
off.

Last night, he had a tough time eating the fish I fed him, but he got it down somehow ! lol :thumb:

Do any of you know of a brand that has smaller Silversides ?

 

[merlberg]

Yes I wish I can get smaller sized silversides, that would be perfect. Someway somehow I have to try to get him to eat the ones I cut in half tho... I did almost the entire box which was stupid of me smh.

I should of done tht instead which is just cut the head off :/ I know for next time tho.

He struggles a lot to eat the entire silverside.

 

[tyler1503]

How's everyone's eels going?

 

[merlberg]

Thanks for asking n Spinny is doing pretty ok.

His appetite isn't so great with eating only 1 silverside a week but I guess it's better than not eating at all. But I knw he is hungry because he moves all around the tank to go look for food lol Thts how I knw he wants food but he barely eats when I give him a silverside. Instead he wants to try to eat the black tong [emoji85][emoji23]. Haaaa! He is weird.

But I'm pretty sure if I put some live fish in there he will be eating.

How is your eel doing and I dnt think I've asked you this but besides your eel what are some other fishes you have in your tank?

 

[tyler1503]

Perhaps try soaking the silverside in some other food for a while? Just some mysis or whatever you have on hand would be good. I don't know if it actually does anything, but I try it occasionally and it's seems to get a more enthusiastic response sometimes. Maybe I'm just imagining that though lol. Have you tried any other foods?
Hahaha eels are so entertaining! My snowflake would prefer to chew on the plastic feeding fork instead of the nice juicy squid too.
Frosty's good thanks She's eating a lot better now. She really didn't wana start again this time!
At the moment I just have a yellow tail damsel/blue devil. I used to have a valentini puffer who was my all time favourite fish, but I lost him on Christmas Eve last year. I assume from old age as there was no sign of stress or disease and I've read their captive life span can be around the age we was at the time. I got the damsel to add some movement and colour when I lost the puffer. The damsel isn't as fun as the puffer, but I'll get another puffer one day. My tank is too small and full of sharp teeth for any other fish lol.