Ribbon Eel question

I just got a black or juvenile ribbon eel yesterday and I was wanted to get some tips on getting him to eat. I know its not gonna be an easy thing but I also know that it can be done. I have tried some ghost shrimp as well as some thawed silverides soaked in garlic extreme with no luck yet. He seems to be very healthy and very active. The LFS that I bought him from said that he was eating brine shrimp earlier this week but they were sold out at the time and would have some more in later this week. He sticks his head out of his pipe but anytime I get close to him or put any food near him he's more scared than anything and won'y check it out. I've had pretty good luck (knock on wood) with difficult species in the past but I would like to hear from anyone that has had first hand experience and what they did that worked. I've looked at a lot of videos online and they all use one of those gripper things to hold the food so maybe he is scared of my hand but it has also only been one day so far so maybe he is just been adjusting. Thanks for any help guys.

 

FWIW, I've never had any LFS say that a fish was not eating... :

That said, one popular suggestion is to give him live guppies; just drop a few into his tank and let him 'hunt' them. While freshwater fish are not recommended as a long-term food source, they're a great way to get your ribbon accustomed to eating in his new environment. Once he becomes more comfortable with his surroundings, you'll want to switch him over to raw seafood flesh.

BTW, I would strongly recommend using tongs-- ribbon eels, just like all other morays, have wicked teeth.

 

Haha, thanks for the tip about the teeth. So far he's been pretty docile so I haven't even thought of that. I'll try the guppies and see what happens, I also might try some brine shrimp as well just to get him eating.

 

I strongly recommend DIY-ing yourself a "stealth stick".

Food size is often a huge issue with weaning predatory species. Most folks offer their fishes food that is WAY too large, which can intimidate the fish, and cause them to pass it by. I'd start with food items that aren't much larger than the fish's eye, or the distance between them.

To get the eel eating, guppies, small mollies, and ghost shrimp are good to begin with. Stay away from goldfish, rosy reds, and any other Cyprinid (carp family). Be sure to gut load live feeders with a good quality marine flake food, vitamins, spirulina, etc.

Weaning is best accomplished during QT where there are no distractions/competition.

Here's an article on weaning preds that describes the stealth stick:

Tools of the Trade: Equipment & Techniques to Convert your Fish onto Frozen

 

Awesome thanks for the info. I was wondering about the size of the food needed. A lot of the research that I've done has shown that they eat anything from small bits of mysis to multiple whole silversides in one feeding so I was wondering about what to use. I placed some ghost shrimp in his pipe but I'm not sure if he ate them or what, I haven't seem them since haha so idk. Another question that I'm having is, a few of my hermits have discovered the pipe that he lives in and I can see them around the enterances, would they irritate him or harm him? He doesn't seem to care one way or the other but was wondering if it would be a problem later on?

 

Well when I was feeding the other fish and what not in the tank today and I was feeding mysis so I thought what the heck lets see what happens. So I used some tongs and tried to give him some and he was interested for a bit and checked it out twice but wouldn't bite. Hopefully that's a good sign that he's willing to eat

 

Anyone out there have any first hand experience with this particular species??

 

Went and got some feeder guppies today to see if I can get him eating on those. I caught a few and brought them close to him and he came out and was interested but then after checking them out for a bit he wouldn't bite. Maybe it was because I have them by the tail in my hand but this was because I could hold on to them with tongs. Idk if he was afraid of my hand but seemed to want to check it out at least. I hope it's just a matter of time till he get hungry enough haha. It's only been three days so far but ik have a freezer full of different foods for him to eat when he finds something he likes.

 

The ribbon eel is exceptionally finicky and will readily prefer starvation over accepting food when something isn't quite right; a human hand holding it would be one of those "somethings". The guppies need to be free-swimming so he can hunt them, or as Greg suggested, on a stealth stick so it appears natural.

 

I liked the idea of the stealth stick but I'm not too sure where to get a clear stick like the one that they used in their set up. Does anyone know where I can get something like that? Or if I could order something from lions fish layer?