Ribbon eel qt question+

[Ishai Thatcher]

I know eels can’t really get diseases like ich and velvet, because their slime coat is too thick. I understand they can still have internal parasites? I’m getting 3 juvenile ribbon eels in about a month and I’m gonna qt them, but not with copper. All my other fish are just in qt tanks without medicine currently, and I’m debating if I should medicate at all. If I wait about 4 weeks after last fish was added to the qt system and I don’t see any disease is that good enough? The display these fish are going into is gonna have uv, but ide rather have no diseases anyway. Should I medicate just the fish with copper? I got cupramine, copper test kit, prazipro, maracyn and a few other medications. So far all I have done is tried to get everyone eating good selcon enriched frozen and pellets and dosed a bit of dr tims first defense. Fish that I got so far are- 2 clowns, 2 pink bar gobies, melanurus wrasse, orange back wrasse, watanabei angelfish, 2 bengai cardinals, 3 chalk bass, and one warty anglerfish. Everybody is eating accept for the anglerfish, but I’m hoping he eats a guppy tomorrow. Only lost 1 fish from shipping so far!

 

[Jay Hemdal]

The big issue with ribbon eels is getting them settled in and eating. Do you really want to get 3 of them at once? To me, that just triples the possible issues. This is one of the few species I don’t quarantine, I get them right into a stable tank with lots of structure and try to get them feeding.
Jay

 

[lion king]

I hope you are not planning to put them in with the other fish you mentioned, a few of them will be food, or eventually be food if you keep them alive long enough. The gobies and the cardinals are easy pickings, later on the chalk bass, and if those are ocellaris clowns those may be on the menu as well.

If you read my post I'm not exaggerating about the internal parasites, if you get 3, at least one will definitely have them, likely 2. 3 would be fun for a species tank of at least 125g and including live food is a must for the long term success of this eel.

Since you are having a hard time securing a food source for the angler you have now, I seriously doubt you will be able to provide the food this eel will need to survive. I strongly suggest you find an alternative to this eel.

 

[Ishai Thatcher]

The big issue with ribbon eels is getting them settled in and eating. Do you really want to get 3 of them at once? To me, that just triples the possible issues. This is one of the few species I don’t quarantine, I get them right into a stable tank with lots of structure and try to get them feeding.
Jay

What I’ve heard is it’s usually much easier to get them to eat in groups, as they take feeding cues from one another. I’ve also heard there can be aggression if they aren’t all added at the same time.

 

[Ishai Thatcher]

I hope you are not planning to put them in with the other fish you mentioned, a few of them will be food, or eventually be food if you keep them alive long enough. The gobies and the cardinals are easy pickings, later on the chalk bass, and if those are ocellaris clowns those may be on the menu as well.

If you read my post I'm not exaggerating about the internal parasites, if you get 3, at least one will definitely have them, likely 2. 3 would be fun for a species tank of at least 125g and including live food is a must for the long term success of this eel.

Since you are having a hard time securing a food source for the angler you have now, I seriously doubt you will be able to provide the food this eel will need to survive. I strongly suggest you find an alternative to this eel.

I got a live food source for them, picked up a ton of guppies and little shrimp to set up a feeder tank. The system of tanks I have is 3, the big main display will have all the big fish in there, but not the small chalk bass and gobies etc. all those small fish are either going in a 32 gal anemone tank attached to the same system or in another 30 gal also plumbed into the system. The main tank is geared just for the ribbon eels. There is pvc with multiple openings situated underneath the sand bed all through the tank, and I aquascaped with the eels in mind. All the filtration is also geared towards the eels, I got a huge refugium, skimmer, auto water changes, carbon dosing, uv, a sediment filter, carbon, and a cryptic biomedia reactor. So I should be able to feed the tanks heavily and keep good aggression low. I even have a dosing pump and a refrigerator that will feed the fish and coral small Amount periodically throughout the day. The eels I was planning on feeding about once every 3 days.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

What I’ve heard is it’s usually much easier to get them to eat in groups, as they take feeding cues from one another. I’ve also heard there can be aggression if they aren’t all added at the same time.

Ok, I’ve never seen that myself, but the only time I’ve kept them in groups was in wholesale / import tanks.
Jay

 

[Ishai Thatcher]

Ok, I’ve never seen that myself, but the only time I’ve kept them in groups was in wholesale / import tanks.
Jay

Yeah me neither just something I read that they do better in groups of 2 or 3. I know they are a hard fish to keep, but I have done everything in my power to set up the system just for them. The qt bothers me though, cause, like you said, the most important thing is to get them eating and I doubt they will in qt being treated for parasites. I was planning on just using a ton of pvc and a bit of rock for their qt tank, get some good food, live and frozen, and do my best.

 

[Ishai Thatcher]

I hope you are not planning to put them in with the other fish you mentioned, a few of them will be food, or eventually be food if you keep them alive long enough. The gobies and the cardinals are easy pickings, later on the chalk bass, and if those are ocellaris clowns those may be on the menu as well.

If you read my post I'm not exaggerating about the internal parasites, if you get 3, at least one will definitely have them, likely 2. 3 would be fun for a species tank of at least 125g and including live food is a must for the long term success of this eel.

Since you are having a hard time securing a food source for the angler you have now, I seriously doubt you will be able to provide the food this eel will need to survive. I strongly suggest you find an alternative to this eel.

It will make you happy to hear I just tried feeding the angler a guppy and a shrimp, he ate both!

 

[lion king]

Yeah me neither just something I read that they do better in groups of 2 or 3. I know they are a hard fish to keep, but I have done everything in my power to set up the system just for them. The qt bothers me though, cause, like you said, the most important thing is to get them eating and I doubt they will in qt being treated for parasites. I was planning on just using a ton of pvc and a bit of rock for their qt tank, get some good food, live and frozen, and do my best.

Eating will not matter if they have internal parasites. This is almost always the root to the cause of not eating. If you provide them with the proper foods, appropriately sized live food at the beginning, and they don,t eat, they likely have internal parasites. If they start eating, then stop as long as you are providing the proper foods, then they likely have internal parasites. If they start eating, then get ravenous, then stop eating, they likely have internal parasites. I have seen this play out dozens of times with these eels. Don't be prepared to treat for internal parasites and your success will be at a very low percentage.

 

[Ishai Thatcher]

Eating will not matter if they have internal parasites. This is almost always the root to the cause of not eating. If you provide them with the proper foods, appropriately sized live food at the beginning, and they don,t eat, they likely have internal parasites. If they start eating, then stop as long as you are providing the proper foods, then they likely have internal parasites. If they start eating, then get ravenous, then stop eating, they likely have internal parasites. I have seen this play out dozens of times with these eels. Don't be prepared to treat for internal parasites and your success will be at a very low percentage.

Ok thanks for letting me know, that makes a ton of sense. So prazipro if they show any of those signs?

 

[Ishai Thatcher]

I hope you are not planning to put them in with the other fish you mentioned, a few of them will be food, or eventually be food if you keep them alive long enough. The gobies and the cardinals are easy pickings, later on the chalk bass, and if those are ocellaris clowns those may be on the menu as well.

If you read my post I'm not exaggerating about the internal parasites, if you get 3, at least one will definitely have them, likely 2. 3 would be fun for a species tank of at least 125g and including live food is a must for the long term success of this eel.

Since you are having a hard time securing a food source for the angler you have now, I seriously doubt you will be able to provide the food this eel will need to survive. I strongly suggest you find an alternative to this eel.

Hey lion king! I just got my first ribbon eel in yesterday. He is a 30 in long black juvenile with a ton of spunk in him. I got him from liveaquaria divers den, they said he was feeding well on feeder mollies. I want to try to get him on a varied diet of mollies, damsels or chromis, and a variety of other frozen foods. I asked them how often he was eating and they told me he was eating 3 mollies twice a day, but it sounded like they just put 3 in with him and let him hunt them down. He seems pretty comfortable in his qt tank, mostly chilling in his pvc with his head out, but I have seen him exploring the tank a few times. I put a couple mollies in with him today, he seems very interested and comes out and starts stalking them whenever they come close to his head. How often should I try to accustom him to eating? Does it depend on the eels personality how much it eats? I’m fairly sure he already ate one of the mollies I put in today, as I can’t see it anymore. Should I try the same technique as the angler where you use fishing line and a clear rod to try and tempt him into eating some krill or like half a silver side too? Is there a certain amount of hunger that is a sign of a parasite?
Ps. - the wartskin is doing fantastic and is already easily my favorite fish I have ever owned. He eats a guppy ever 2-3 days. I want to feed him damsels once he gets a bit chunkier!

 

[lion king]

Don't use salt water fish, you will introduce disease, sooner or later. That's one reason I always suggest guppies or mollies, fresh water diseases can not transfer to salt.

Juvi's are going to eat more often, but you should still at least have a day between feedings. Just mzke sure the fish aren't to large. I would refrain from feeding krill, especially starting out with krill as the 1st dead food. Krill has a very high amount of thiaminese which I have mentioned before, and the next thing you know ktill willbe the only dead food they will eat. Reread my ribbon post to see how I prepared the dead food.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Don't use salt water fish, you will introduce disease, sooner or later. That's one reason I always suggest guppies or mollies, fresh water diseases can not transfer to salt.

Juvi's are going to eat more often, but you should still at least have a day between feedings. Just mzke sure the fish aren't to large. I would refrain from feeding krill, especially starting out with krill as the 1st dead food. Krill has a very high amount of thiaminese which I have mentioned before, and the next thing you know ktill willbe the only dead food they will eat. Reread my ribbon post to see how I prepared the dead food.

Just an FYI - in some cases, dealers hold livebearers in brackish water in order to reduce their inherent mortality, my concern is that they can pass on brackish water flukes to marine fish, and those are very difficult to treat. So, mollies and guppies are safer, but not always free of problems. The upside is that these flukes are more prone to infecting scaled marine fishes, and not eels.

From what I know, poecilids are not high in thiaminase, but I'm not positive about that - there is some weird differences where closely related fish have different levels. Here is one resource: https://therawfeedingcommunity.com/2018/05/19/thiaminase-in-raw-fish/


Jay

 

[Ishai Thatcher]

Don't use salt water fish, you will introduce disease, sooner or later. That's one reason I always suggest guppies or mollies, fresh water diseases can not transfer to salt.

Juvi's are going to eat more often, but you should still at least have a day between feedings. Just mzke sure the fish aren't to large. I would refrain from feeding krill, especially starting out with krill as the 1st dead food. Krill has a very high amount of thiaminese which I have mentioned before, and the next thing you know ktill willbe the only dead food they will eat. Reread my ribbon post to see how I prepared the dead food.

Ok I will only feed him small mollies for now! I believe he did eat one decent sized one already, should I watch his behavior and maybe try to feed him one more before I fast him for a couple days?

 

[Ishai Thatcher]

Don't use salt water fish, you will introduce disease, sooner or later. That's one reason I always suggest guppies or mollies, fresh water diseases can not transfer to salt.

Juvi's are going to eat more often, but you should still at least have a day between feedings. Just mzke sure the fish aren't to large. I would refrain from feeding krill, especially starting out with krill as the 1st dead food. Krill has a very high amount of thiaminese which I have mentioned before, and the next thing you know ktill willbe the only dead food they will eat. Reread my ribbon post to see how I prepared the dead food.

Should I use general cure or Prazipro?

 

[lion king]

If he is eating you do have time to decide to treat or observe. While gc contains prazi and metro it will cover a broader range of parasites. I have found pp alone also work fine. I suggest using what you are comfortable with. I currently have several predators that I just did an observation, having them now more than several months to 1.5 years. It's just about having them in a tank you can treat if you decide to observe only.

 

[Ishai Thatcher]

He is spunky!

 

[Ishai Thatcher]

If he is eating you do have time to decide to treat or observe. While gc contains prazi and metro it will cover a broader range of parasites. I have found pp alone also work fine. I suggest using what you are comfortable with. I currently have several predators that I just did an observation, having them now more than several months to 1.5 years. It's just about having them in a tank you can treat if you decide to observe only.

I don’t really have much experience with either medicine, which is easier to use in your opinion? I have prazipro already but I can easily get general cure:

 

[lion king]

I don’t really have much experience with either medicine, which is easier to use in your opinion? I have prazipro already but I can easily get general cure:

It's the same ,follow the manufacturers directions in dosing, not others opinions on deviance of dosing. Be very aware of displacement as not to overdose, and also aware of any distress. While both are handled well by most species there is always a chance of an adverse reaction, ,many times due to an overdose because of miscalculations of displacement. Any distress, do a water change and add carbon.

Using meds is no joke, but I have found these to be relatively safe, and fish like these have internal parasites more times than not. But there is another way. Internal parasites does not kill overnight, so you do have time to do an observation. If they eat right away, a very good sign, and alot of time. As I mentioned earlier as long as you are providing the proper foods, there is no reason for him to go off eating. They can be fine for as long as a month so your observation need to be that long. As long as he is consistently eating you will not need to treat, skipping one meal is no big deal, but if he goes longer than a week, start treatment right away. GC does give you the best coverage.

While eels can be temperamental and go on hunger strikes, in the beginning it's many times internal parasites. So you want to establish a strong consistent eating routine. If he maintains this for over a month, you are good. After that when you move him to the dt, if he goes on a hunger strike, it's no big deal, once he settles in he'll be back to normal. There is always a trigger to a hunger strike, but you 1st must determine the health of the eel. I talked about the propensity of this eel going on hunger strikes after eating dead food only for a length of time, so be aware of that.

 

[Ishai Thatcher]

It's the same ,follow the manufacturers directions in dosing, not others opinions on deviance of dosing. Be very aware of displacement as not to overdose, and also aware of any distress. While both are handled well by most species there is always a chance of an adverse reaction, ,many times due to an overdose because of miscalculations of displacement. Any distress, do a water change and add carbon.

Using meds is no joke, but I have found these to be relatively safe, and fish like these have internal parasites more times than not. But there is another way. Internal parasites does not kill overnight, so you do have time to do an observation. If they eat right away, a very good sign, and alot of time. As I mentioned earlier as long as you are providing the proper foods, there is no reason for him to go off eating. They can be fine for as long as a month so your observation need to be that long. As long as he is consistently eating you will not need to treat, skipping one meal is no big deal, but if he goes longer than a week, start treatment right away. GC does give you the best coverage.

While eels can be temperamental and go on hunger strikes, in the beginning it's many times internal parasites. So you want to establish a strong consistent eating routine. If he maintains this for over a month, you are good. After that when you move him to the dt, if he goes on a hunger strike, it's no big deal, once he settles in he'll be back to normal. There is always a trigger to a hunger strike, but you 1st must determine the health of the eel. I talked about the propensity of this eel going on hunger strikes after eating dead food only for a length of time, so be aware of that.

Ok I’ll try just observing him to start, and try to get him eating a mollie or so every other day to third day. The fact he ate already is a very good sign I think. I’m gonna get general cure just in case. I do also have a ghost ribbon eel and another 2 normal ribbons coming soon, so one of them is guaranteed to have parasites. Should I treat the wartskin angler for internal parasites too? Or only if he isn’t eating well or seems like he is struggling?