Overfeeding?

[gmate]

Can I overfeed my green wolf eel? It's male based on how vibrant green and mottled it is. It's at least 16-18 inches long and the thickness of a pingpong ball, at the very least.

He was being fed live freshwater minnows at the LFS for several months, I've got him on silversides. He eats anywhere from 2-8 in a feeding. How often should I feed him? He'll eat twice a day if I let him. I'm trying to keep him satiated for a few days / week so he can acclimate to having the snowflake of similar size in the tank and not be super aggressive (I expect some issues, but I'd like to see it go pretty well - the snowflake was in a tank with four other eels so it's not the SFE that I'm worried about).

Even though he eats like a pig, I should only feed him two or three times a week? Can I feed him daily, just a little? Should I be mixing it up and offering something else besides silversides?

Any tips on feeding the beast is well appreciated.

 

[namxas]

It's not a problem to feed the fish to satiation for the purpose you have in mind, but I wouldn't make a habit out of it. Overfeeding can lead to hepatic lipidosis, and will also have a negative impact on water quality (what goes in must come out).

I used to feed my SFE twice a week when I kept one. Now, we feed our preds 3x a week (M-W-F). It's best to mix up a fish's diet...shrimp, SW fish flesh (salmon, tuna, snapper, shark, etc), squid, and molluscs are all good choices.

HTH

 

[gmate]

That does help, thank you. I think for the next week or so I'm going to feed small portions once or twice daily. That will keep his mind off the tankmates until he's accustomed to their presence. I've done that for a week now with the green wolf eel, and he hasn't even taken a shot at the two clowns which are about 2 1/2 inches each (not baby small but not fully grown). Once I've got the snowflake eating steadily and they're not too aggresive I'll slowly cut back on feedings to three times a week.

I guess I'll just have to mix up the food types though. Regular whitefish from the grocery store like cod or haddock, silversides, and shrimp? One type of food each feeding, three times a week sounds reasonable right?

 

[gmate]

edit double post

 

[rayn]

When I had mine I fed with the others on a every other day type deal. He would eat anything dropped in the tank he could find. I had the wolf with two puffers and a volitan with no issues. I would occasionally see the wolf wrap its mouth around one of the puffers and just hold it, then let it go.