knightmarc Posted April 8, 2011 Report Share Posted April 8, 2011 My fire eel is about 20cm and I'm hand feeding him 2 times a day on 3 cubes of blood worms each time, is that to much? On weekends he normally only gets one feeding and he's in a community tank so about 1/3 of food gets stolen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fruju Posted April 8, 2011 Report Share Posted April 8, 2011 Get it on prawn/shrimp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted April 8, 2011 Report Share Posted April 8, 2011 +1, its going to get expensive when it gets bigger and only eats bloodworms!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowman Posted April 8, 2011 Report Share Posted April 8, 2011 6 cubes of bloodworms a day is a lot for a 20cm eel, i agree with trying to get it onto shrimp. How often you feed is personal choice, all my tanks including my fire eel get 4 feeds a week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
REEVESTA Posted April 10, 2011 Report Share Posted April 10, 2011 I feed mine prawn almost every day. You will want to get him off blood worm or he will go through about 13 (or more) a day at full size. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henward Posted April 11, 2011 Report Share Posted April 11, 2011 raw prawn will be taken by your eel wiht in days of not feeding bloowworms. stop feeding BW, and after 3 days of trying you should get it to eat RAW shrimp DO NOT FEED cooked pink shrimp. it will kill it. raw prawns only or fish fillets, raw calamari. basically raw seafood. feeding depends on hunger/apptetite and temp of water. if your water is around 27 to 28, then just feed as much as it eats really as long as your filtration is good. if its lower temp, dont feed so much, because the prawn will rot inside and will block it upand kill it. i have had bad luck with eel until recently, and after experiments and opinions of people overseas - cooked food kills them. blood worms also dont have much nutrients, you have to feed so much for them to get full and get the good stuff. so really, you can stunt your fire eel by feeding bw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted April 11, 2011 Report Share Posted April 11, 2011 Is there a reason cooked shrimp kills them? I feed raw fish to all my other fish and never cooked stuff, but why would cooking it kill the fish (in the tank)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henward Posted April 11, 2011 Report Share Posted April 11, 2011 i find it doesnt kill most fish, but with eels others have given same feedback that cooked prawn does. in my experience too, after a few weeks on the cooked stuff they get blocked up. My guess is that the structure of the flesh changes when cooked, becomes harder and perhaps harder to pass. traditionally meat and other flesh is easier to digest when cooked, but i guess fish may be different, it gets harder its a theory i have tested in the past - through trial and error and someone overseas have told me also they had problems, and when i stopped, my eels lived, i had a 60cm eel that is now 73 to 75 cms now, all on raw prawn and raw beef heart. but, some may disagree, does anyone here feed cooked shrimp to eels with great success? there was a person here wtih a massive fire eel awhile back, it died too i believe and it was on cooked seafood. but i guess i have no solid scientific evidence with it, the end of the day, its up to the owner i guess. just conveying what i found to work for me. 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilah Posted April 13, 2011 Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 I have a fire eel that I feed on cooked shrimp (and a mix of other things)....5+ years and still swimming Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ally07 Posted April 13, 2011 Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 I have a fire eel that I feed on cooked shrimp (and a mix of other things)....5+ years and still swimming Good on you! You seem to be defying the eel's digestive system haha.. I don't have any evidence to back up whether cooked or raw is better for fish, but I reckon just keep it natural. In the wild, the fish is never gonna get a cooked meal ever, so it's probably not designed for that kind of food. If you compare a cooked prawn and a raw prawn, the cooked is much tougher than the raw, which tends to be mushier, so Henward might have a point there about their digestion. Besides, raw prawns aren't expensive, so why risk a fish over a few bucks? Just my 2c.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henward Posted April 13, 2011 Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 5 years, cant argue with that, i guess just going from my experience and feedback from others. but yeah, 5 years, if you wanna go wtih that model no worries. but as ally said, price for cooked and raw shrimp is identical. storage is identical. Natural is better IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snookie Posted April 13, 2011 Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 could it be the salt content ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henward Posted April 13, 2011 Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 not sure. cooked and raw should in theory contain the same. i feed beef heart and raw prawns now and its completely all good. but what works though man 5 years old, that must be a big eel pics? size? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilah Posted April 14, 2011 Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 I dont think feeding cooked prawn would be any worse than feeding beef heart (the whole mammal protein/fat thing) but still seems healthy so can't be too bad Hasn't grown much in the last year or so, somewhere between the 50-60cm mark i think. Will try put up a pic sometime in that other spiny eel thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henward Posted April 14, 2011 Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 yeah surprisingly, there is a large proportion of people feeding beef heart to carnivores overseas wtih great success, though some research say otherwise, the proof is in the pudding i guess. i have seen a pic of the biggest ornate on MFK, and its fed on beef, soemthing like 20 yrs old or something crazy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nymox Posted April 14, 2011 Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 There is NOTHING wrong with feeding beef heart to spiny eels. Just make sure that they have other foods available too, for example as mentioned RAW prawn. I go to the Asian supermarkets and get raw prawn cutlet 5kg bags for $12.99 I have 4 eels now, (recently lost a half banded due to malnutrition) and they are all eat beef heart. I usually buy several beef hearts, a pack of 5kg prawns, add a garlic clove and a zuchuini throw it all in the blender then freeze it. Makes for easy feedings. The problem with a vast majority of the spiny eels is the fact that they are wild caught, so very very fussy. Hence I couldn't save the half banded as he would just not eat anything. I feed every other day, about 10% of the eels total length is adequate. Keep them hungryish, as they will be more active and happier. Spiny eels are prone to obesity, make them work for a feed its both physically and mentally stimulating which leads to a happy and healthy life. Try putting their food in a pvc tube for example. simple but they will enjoy working it out. Avoid cooked foods of any kind! The reason being, cooked foods will evaporate the majority of the moisture content within those foods, that moisture holds important nutrients and enzymes that help break that food down and process it. Without these important enzymes some of the food will be harder to break down and build up over time, causing rot within the gut leading to poisoning. Its why I am against process foods such as colourbits being "better" then fresh and live foods because of the nutritional values stated. There is a lot more in those foods that make those nutrients easier for the animal to absorb, which means less food for more bang, better for both the fish and the keeper. My ornates are about 2 foot in length, the girth is very impressive too probably have a few of the heaviest fresh water fish in nz in public captivity. Most of that growth in on beef heart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ally07 Posted April 14, 2011 Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 Funny you should say that, Nymox. I recently decided that once I'm through my box of pellet-stuffed frozen prawns for my aro, I'm just going to force him onto pellets one way or the other. Getting pretty tired of stuffing the pellets into the prawns which ultimately results in him eating more prawn mass than Hikari. At 17% protein content, I think the prawns just aren't worth the effort. Not looking forward to weaning him off prawns! :roll: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henward Posted April 16, 2011 Report Share Posted April 16, 2011 i couldnt wean my aro off, too weak lol i cant resist feeding it. my jar is eating only prawns now, pellets is too expensive. black is eating pellets, the last of the hikari and then prawns too. just too expensive to feed pellets - once they get to a good size, pellets does not put on size anymore, prawns is more than sufficient for good diet. locust i feed to by the way, for trace and minerals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ally07 Posted April 16, 2011 Report Share Posted April 16, 2011 i couldnt wean my aro off, too weak lol i cant resist feeding it. my jar is eating only prawns now, pellets is too expensive. black is eating pellets, the last of the hikari and then prawns too. just too expensive to feed pellets - once they get to a good size, pellets does not put on size anymore, prawns is more than sufficient for good diet. locust i feed to by the way, for trace and minerals. I know, right?! We're such soft-hearted owners.. People say that they starve their aros for 10 days straight to get them onto pellets, but I don't think I have that kind of stamina haha. I'm sure if I'm persistent enough he will eat pellets only. I find that the Hikari floating sticks are still affordable, whereas Massivore is really expensive so that's reserved mostly for the ornate and the pleco - I want to see how big I can get them lol. Just curious what you guys think about the Japanese earthquake.. Do you reckon that the Hikari factory would have been affected, thereby making the fish food unsafe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knightmarc Posted April 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2011 Just tried Raw Pawn on my eel, went down a treat. I soaked it in garlic guard 1st which may have helped, still hand feeding and now he gets all his food not like with the blood worms where 1/2 would get stolen, now the other fish just nip my hand in protest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henward Posted April 22, 2011 Report Share Posted April 22, 2011 to be honest, i have never found garlic guard to make a difference. just from observation. I dont actually know wether or not these products are scientifically tested in a controlled environment or sold purely on theoritical benefits. it will eat the prawn by itself im sure. also, the chances of shrimp actualy absorbing garlic guard is probably minimal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knightmarc Posted April 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2011 Yeah I stopped adding it after acouple of days and he's still super keen, so keen he's grabbed my finger afew times at feeding. I only used it cause he had already shown no interest in beef heart and thought it might help get him onto pawn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knightmarc Posted April 26, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 26, 2011 At 1st I found it amusing but now it's getting to be annoying, my eel bites and pulls on my fingers when I feed him raw pawn knocking pawn out of my hand and losing it to the other fish. May try long strips instead of small chunks and see if that helps being able to hold them out front rather than in my hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingmatherz Posted June 7, 2014 Report Share Posted June 7, 2014 Where do people get the shrimps from? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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