eel not eating

We had a large Yellowed Headed Moray Ell at Central Campus before we switched classroom that we were lucky if it ate more than a couple times a month. I was not in the room when we first received it, but I know we always had issues getting it to eat regularly.

 

I have had a plethora of eels in my tank keeping days. I can honestly say feeding patterns are up to the individual. Typically 2-3 times a week was the average for a well fed eel. However I have had those odd ball's that just weren't interested in food. That just wasn't a driving point for them. Other's that only wanted to be hand fed, eat at certain times, hunt live prey only, and so on ... you get the point. each one is individual.

The craziest eel I had would only eat once every 12-14 weeks I imagine he snacked on shrimp in the tank in between (as I seldom saw them). But even though I offered him food every week, it would literally take him until the 12 week mark to even be remotely interested in what I was offering. I played with temps, food types, food delivery systems, you name it... I tried it.

So, not totally unheard of. Glad he ate for you off the bat though. That's always more reassuring. I'd offer once a week and see what interest he sparks and if he seems ravenous add a second feeding in during the week. Just watch his body language--they'll let you know.

 

ha ha.. yeah I think snowflakes are the pigs of the eel world... I had one that would eat 1-2 times a day and often snack on shrimp, crabs in the tank, and steel food from the fish. (and I wasn't offering small meals either! lol)... the little weirdo finally grew too large for my tank, and I had to rehome him... I grew him up from a little pencil... now he's in a friends tank and he is an absolute beast!

 

Try some chopped/strips of clam. We have a zebra and that is about all he is interested in. He doesn't care for the ones on the shell either. We feed with a pair of tongs whenever we see him sticking his head out. Normally 3-4 times a week and will eat 2-3 nice size pieces.

He has went on feeding strikes but 3 weeks was about the longest in the last 3 years.

 

Good luck Nick! lol I'm sure you will do fine with him :0)

 

As jazzy said above it can be picky and go on hunger strikes. I know when I had my snowflake eel it didn't like garlic on anything. He would eat shrimp with no problems but if there was garlic used on the shrimp he would turn up his nose.

 

As mentioned above, they can go quite a long time without eating. Sounds like he is a big boy so he should be okay for a while. One thing you can do to help is buy some freshwater mollies and acclimate them to salt water over a week or so. Then introduce them in the tank with the eel and he will probably really enjoy eating live fish. I've done that before for picky eels. It's best to get the mollies acclimated to at least brackish water before feeding otherwise they won't be very good for the eel over the long run.