Ribbon eel, feeding advice please

[Tony B (UK)]

Ive recently bought a stunning black ribbon eel. I've fed him with some prawns from the fishmongers, he loved them. I kept on feeding him until he would take no more.

How often should these eels be fed? Any other care advice/hints/tips will be greatly appreciated

Regards,

Tony

 

[BigGimp77]

I've never had an eel so I wont be able to help at all. You might wanna try posting this in the 'Fish Only & Aggressive Tanks' forum.

 

[Eric the half-bee]

Tony, 1st off, congrats on keeping a ribbon eel as they are reportedly challenging. I've had one in my reef over a year and he readily takes frozen squid, crab, etc. I feed mine 2-3x/week along with my zebra moray. Like yours, they'd eat daily if I fed them but they don't need it. I'm surprised at the large chunks my ribbon will force down his gullet.

 

[Tony B (UK)]

Tony, 1st off, congrats on keeping a ribbon eel as they are reportedly challenging. I've had one in my reef over a year and he readily takes frozen squid, crab, etc. I feed mine 2-3x/week along with my zebra moray. Like yours, they'd eat daily if I fed them but they don't need it. I'm surprised at the large chunks my ribbon will force down his gullet.

Hi Eric,

Thank you for your reply and great advice, this is exactly what I had hoped for, words from a person who is keeping them. :beer:

How does your ribbon eel behave in the tank? Is he out much? Mine stays in his tube and waits to be fed! :spin3:

How big is your tank and have you any stream type pumps/power heads? Has your eel ever escaped? Or got injured from your pumps?

Sorry for all the questions.

Tony

 

[snorvich]

they hunt by smell so squid and other smelly seafood work well. 3 times per week would be sufficient.

 

[PFCDeitz]

I have a snowflake eel about 2.5' and i feed him daily. one whole shrimp. Ive wanted a BRE but im afraid my snowflake will eat him

 

[Eric the half-bee]

Hi Eric,

Thank you for your reply and great advice, this is exactly what I had hoped for, words from a person who is keeping them. :beer:

How does your ribbon eel behave in the tank? Is he out much? Mine stays in his tube and waits to be fed! :spin3:

How big is your tank and have you any stream type pumps/power heads? Has your eel ever escaped? Or got injured from your pumps?

Sorry for all the questions.

Tony

I did not plan for eels originally so both of mine were an afterthought. I only added the zebra moray because I found a molt of a stone crab. Very tasty critters that can grow large and wreak havoc on a tank. Well, the zebra cleaned house even finding crabs that I had no knowledge of. He behaved so well, the LFS where I bought the zebra had numerous ribbons and all were very healthy and thriving so I took a chance. That LFS is now closed and I wished I gotten another ribbon. For over a year, all I had on top of my tank was eggcrate. I wouldn't recommend this approach as both my eels could have escaped if they desired. I attribute them not bolting to the volume of my DT(400 gal) with hundreds of lbs of rock. Both eels swim around occasionally but usually sit in hiding looking out at the front of the tank. I have 4 tunze 6101s and the eels have never been injured by them. I have 3 pipefish and a pair of bangaii cardinals in my clan as well and the eels have never bothered any of them.

 

[Tony B (UK)]

Excellent and highly informative posts, thank you very much to every one who has responded.

Best regards,

Tony :wave:

 

[teemee]

Hi Tony,
Here is a pretty comprehensive thread on caring for and feeding them from a couple of months ago.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1922833&highlight=rhinomuraena+quaesita
Good luck!

 

[SDguy]

Are items like squid and shrimp good staples for an eel that naturally eats fish? Just asking, I have no idea

 

[Sk8r]

If it's of any possible use, I had a ghost eel that did in a number of fish in my tank: he preferred to feed at twilight. Beautiful creatures. I thought the fish he got were too large. Wrong.

 

[snorvich]

Are items like squid and shrimp good staples for an eel that naturally eats fish? Just asking, I have no idea

That I cannot say (whether it is good for them) but they are attracted to eating it. I suspect they will eat silversides as well but I am not sure that is good for them either. I am NOT an eel person because eels like to eat fish.

 

[Matt_Wandell]

Are items like squid and shrimp good staples for an eel that naturally eats fish? Just asking, I have no idea

The pair that we have eats almost nothing but fish flesh and very rarely krill. Smelt, herring, capelin, silversides, and lancefish. As far as we can tell these are the only captive pair of spawning Rhinomuraena in the world, so that should tell you something.

 

[SDguy]

So feed 'em fish, is what you're saying