snowflake eating questions any help would be great

[reefwisher]

I bought a snowflake eel about 10-11 inches long 2 weeks ago this saturday and got him in a 10 gal. QT tank for now while my FOWLR tank is cycling. The day after I bought him he ate a piece of krill with no problem, 2 days later he ate 2 pieces of krill eagerly. It now been 9 days since he ate. Is this normal or what? All water parm. are good and he has been active. I also got a dwarf zebra lionfish in with him which I got at the same time I got the snowflake eel and he is doing well plus eating every day. The QT tank has had copper in it. The last dose of copper in it was 10 months ago and since then has had several water changes and had sat fallow the last 6 weeks. When I got him I put a POLY-FILTER in it to pull any copper left in there and the poly-filter is now a off white color so not much copper in there. I am also curious if eels are more sensitive to copper then fish are? Any help would be great as this is my first eel and I don't want to lose it. I have fed him off of a feeding stick and tried leaving the krill by him and even tried garlic guard, no luck. The new tank is just about done cycling as my nitrite is at .12 just between 0 and .25.Also the only med. use in my QT tank was Mardel CopperSafe.

 

[nominis]

it's pretty common for them to stop eating for periods with no real reason - i doubt it's the copper content. you could try offering it a silverside - i had one that generally prefered silversides over krill. good luck.

 

[ronert]

are you hand feeding? or just relying on him finding the krill? snowflakes are darn near blind, so hand feeding might help, if you're not doing that already.

 

[Puffalicious]

try small pieces of scallops soaked in garlic. My 6" SF eel took that right away and loves it.

 

[snommisbor]

I bought a long piece of plastic tubing and I cut one end to a point. I use it to stick pieces of silversides, shrimp, squid and I put it close to his face and he eats great. I also buy clams on the half shell at my LFS and throw one in every few days, plus he will occasionally find the frozen cube which is for the other fish and steal it. I try to always vary his diet so I dont feed the same thing no more than 3 feeding sessions.

 

[sean48183]

Yeah they will go on eating strikes. I think it is how they are. They probably eat more in captivity than they actually do in the wild so I think it takes time to metabolize all the food. Mine just ate last night after not eating for 10 days. You will know when he is hungry again. Good luck.

 

[Snapper66]

I have had mine go on Eating Strikes up to a Week before but they Always come Back Hungry.If may not like His Surrounds much but who Can Say.I doubt you have a Problem at all I wouldnt lose to much Sleep over it.

 

[reefwisher]

Thanks for all the inputs, Will be trying to feed him again today. He has been active these last couple of days. So not to worried yet. I think he'll be happier when I can transfer him to his new home the 29 gal. tank. I just bought a 40 gal. breeder tank which will be his new home again in the future.

 

[reefwisher]

Went to try feeding him again tonite and he came out a soon as he smelled the food in the water and ate 3 pieces of silverside with no hesitation. I am learning about these eels on their eating habits. Good to see him eating.

 

[sean48183]

Yeah mine ate again today too. They just do this. I try to feed every 2-3 days. Anymore than that seems to cause a hunger strike.

 

[sean48183]

Oh yeah another thing. Just because he seems to be settled in and not trying to escape doesn't mean he won't do that either. Mine got out about 5 days ago after not having done it since we first got him. I got a little lazy with my covering leaving my feeding hole open on my egg crate. Won't do that again. Anyway good luck and I'm sure your eel will be around for another 20 years or so.