There is generally a lot of negativity towards owning ribbon eels because something like 95% do not survive more than a couple of weeks in captivity due to not feeding.
I have owned a Blue ribbon eel for over a month now. He is in a reef tank along with some other fish.
After purchasing the blue ribbon eel i made a stop at another fish store and bought rosy reds for feeding. I acclimated him to my tank by floating the bag for about 2-3 hours. when i released it, I was hoping for him to go hide into some abs tubing I put together, instead he was used my live rock as a hiding place for the first 2 days. I noticed that when he was not in his tube he was swimming around the tank often (probably looking for a way out) and he would not accept any food offered. After the second day i coaxed him into the tubing, About a half hour later i offered him a rosy red on a skewer and he grabbed it instantly and retreated to his tube. over the next two days he ate about 6-7 more rosy reds
since then he wants to eat everything!! when i put my hand in the tank he tries to eat my fingers. I've caught him biting my blue tang, yellow eyed tang, and copperbanded butterfly fish. i'm not sure that he will eat frozen foods yet, but i am assuming that he will because when i feed flake food he tries to eat the flakes and he also tries to eat frozen PE mysis shrimp but they are to small.
If you are planning on owning a blue ribbon eel, this is a list of things that IMO are necessary if you are to succeed in keeping any type of ribbon eel for a long time.
-don't keep this eel in the same tank as another eel(unless it's another ribbon eel) or any fish that will be competition for food.
-be sure that you have pristine water parameters.
- Before you purchase a ribbon eel make sure it already eats in the store. if you are going to have it ordered see if you can find out how it is collected. it is a fact that many ribbon eels are caught with cyanide which is probably the number 1 reason why so many experienced reefers have failed to keep this species.
- Have a tubing structure of PVC tubing (i used ABS but later learned that it may affect my water quality...i hasn't yet) make sure the tubes are long enough to cover the whole eel. mine also has multiple entrances. From my experience with this eel it won't eat unless it has the perfect place to retreat to.
-when feeding the eel use small live fish on a skewer or from a thin pair of tongs; bigger utensils seem to intimidate the eel at first. DO NOT try to force him to eat, when it is ready to eat then it will eat. rosy reds worked well for me and i have read that they have worked well for others as well.
i have also read that they are more likely to feed when other fish in your tank are in a feeding frenzy. i think that this is also true because when i feed my fish my eel tends to bite my fish occasionally.
here are some photo's of my ribbon eel...
I have owned a Blue ribbon eel for over a month now. He is in a reef tank along with some other fish.
After purchasing the blue ribbon eel i made a stop at another fish store and bought rosy reds for feeding. I acclimated him to my tank by floating the bag for about 2-3 hours. when i released it, I was hoping for him to go hide into some abs tubing I put together, instead he was used my live rock as a hiding place for the first 2 days. I noticed that when he was not in his tube he was swimming around the tank often (probably looking for a way out) and he would not accept any food offered. After the second day i coaxed him into the tubing, About a half hour later i offered him a rosy red on a skewer and he grabbed it instantly and retreated to his tube. over the next two days he ate about 6-7 more rosy reds
since then he wants to eat everything!! when i put my hand in the tank he tries to eat my fingers. I've caught him biting my blue tang, yellow eyed tang, and copperbanded butterfly fish. i'm not sure that he will eat frozen foods yet, but i am assuming that he will because when i feed flake food he tries to eat the flakes and he also tries to eat frozen PE mysis shrimp but they are to small.
If you are planning on owning a blue ribbon eel, this is a list of things that IMO are necessary if you are to succeed in keeping any type of ribbon eel for a long time.
-don't keep this eel in the same tank as another eel(unless it's another ribbon eel) or any fish that will be competition for food.
-be sure that you have pristine water parameters.
- Before you purchase a ribbon eel make sure it already eats in the store. if you are going to have it ordered see if you can find out how it is collected. it is a fact that many ribbon eels are caught with cyanide which is probably the number 1 reason why so many experienced reefers have failed to keep this species.
- Have a tubing structure of PVC tubing (i used ABS but later learned that it may affect my water quality...i hasn't yet) make sure the tubes are long enough to cover the whole eel. mine also has multiple entrances. From my experience with this eel it won't eat unless it has the perfect place to retreat to.
-when feeding the eel use small live fish on a skewer or from a thin pair of tongs; bigger utensils seem to intimidate the eel at first. DO NOT try to force him to eat, when it is ready to eat then it will eat. rosy reds worked well for me and i have read that they have worked well for others as well.
i have also read that they are more likely to feed when other fish in your tank are in a feeding frenzy. i think that this is also true because when i feed my fish my eel tends to bite my fish occasionally.
here are some photo's of my ribbon eel...
