# Fire eel



## PPVallhunds (May 23, 2010)

Hello everyone. Last week i brought a fire eel, its not very big at the moment but i was wondering what sort of diffrent foods can i feed him? Im going to get some frozen food later for it. Ive been told they can eat a lot of things from sinking pellets, flakes and frozen stuff like blood worm.

Also dont worrie i know its going to get big and i have acess to a 7ft tank at work so he will either move in there when he gets too big for my tank or if i decide to move im in early.


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## wilkinss77 (Sep 23, 2008)

PPVallhunds said:


> Hello everyone. Last week i brought a fire eel, its not very big at the moment but i was wondering what sort of diffrent foods can i feed him? Im going to get some frozen food later for it. Ive been told they can eat a lot of things from sinking pellets, flakes and frozen stuff like blood worm.
> 
> Also dont worrie i know its going to get big and i have acess to a 7ft tank at work so he will either move in there when he gets too big for my tank or if i decide to move im in early.


they'll eat all of that. & watch out for skin infections- of all the spiny eels, fire eels are the most susceptible to them.


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## JumperBoy (Jul 3, 2010)

Anything and alot of it.


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## PPVallhunds (May 23, 2010)

cool glas to hear that, i picked up a sample thing of nuture feed stuff with bloodworm going try that with him tonight.

Ive read you cant use certian meds with them. Im making sure i keep up with the tank mantance so i dont bump him off.

Just wish it would come out more, ive only seen him twice lol oh well i guess when he settles in and gets bigger i will see more of him.


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## Moogloo (Mar 15, 2010)

Live feeder shrimp (if thats what he was fed at shop, its all he will eat for now), bloodworm, krill, mysis, chopped up prawn, cockle and mussel. Oh and earthworms...

I wouldn't bother with flake or pellets etc, its very unlikely he will eat them, maybe as a sub adult they might snuffle up whatevers going or eat Massivore Pellets... but they are a predatory fish thats going to need a lot of frozen food and a lot of patience, they arent easy to get feeding...


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## Jnoosh (Mar 23, 2011)

Anything that moves and will fit in his mouth!
Garden worms are always a favorite, wax worms, grubs, shrimp, daphine, blood worm,
You should always feed a complete food too, so he gets all the nutrients and vitamins he needs, if you feed him live/fresh food alone you will really increase the chances of something going wrong.
I have never seen one over two foot, although I have heard that they can grow massive, tank does not need to be huge, about 50G would be ideal when fully grown (approx 4ft, or a deep 3ft)
Give him lots of different places to hide, this will increase his confidence and you will see him more 

Good choice btw, best looking eel in my opinion.


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## wilkinss77 (Sep 23, 2008)

Moogloo said:


> Live feeder shrimp (if thats what he was fed at shop, its all he will eat for now), bloodworm, krill, mysis, chopped up prawn, cockle and mussel. Oh and earthworms...
> 
> I wouldn't bother with flake or pellets etc, its very unlikely he will eat them, maybe as a sub adult they might snuffle up whatevers going or eat Massivore Pellets... but they are a predatory fish thats going to need a lot of frozen food and a lot of patience, they arent easy to get feeding...


all the spiny eels i've ever kept (tyre track, banded, peacock & fire) have eaten earthworms, & soaked cichlid pellets.



Jnoosh said:


> Anything that moves and will fit in his mouth!
> Garden worms are always a favorite, wax worms, grubs, shrimp, daphine, blood worm,
> You should always feed a complete food too, so he gets all the nutrients and vitamins he needs, if you feed him live/fresh food alone you will really increase the chances of something going wrong.
> I have never seen one over two foot, although I have heard that they can grow massive, tank does not need to be huge, about 50G would be ideal when fully grown (approx 4ft, or a deep 3ft)
> ...


they can top 3' in the wild, but like you, i've never seen one that big- i have, however, seen just one that topped 2'- my guess is that it was about 30''. the bigger they get, the more intense their colour- this one was jet black, with a luminous scarlet edge to its fins, & a row of spots the same shade of red along its side.


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## Jnoosh (Mar 23, 2011)

wilkinss77 said:


> all the spiny eels i've ever kept (tyre track, banded, peacock & fire) have eaten earthworms, & soaked cichlid pellets.
> 
> they can top 3' in the wild, but like you, i've never seen one that big- i have, however, seen just one that topped 2'- my guess is that it was about 30''. the bigger they get, the more intense their colour- this one was jet black, with a luminous scarlet edge to its fins, & a row of spots the same shade of red along its side.



30", that's not a fish, its a monster! Must have been well looked after. I have to agree actually, the bigger the fish, the stronger the colours seem to be.


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## Moogloo (Mar 15, 2010)

The biggest Fire Eel I owned was 2ft though I saw a group of them that cant have been more than 2-3 inches short of 3ft at [email protected] Hillingdon many years ago. I think it was there? I know they had big fire eels but I cant remember if that was the really big ones... hmmmm the trouble of touring the shops is yo cant remember where you saw what lol.

Personally, I think keeping an adult fire eel in a 4ft tank is pushing it, 3ft is way too small....


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## SwampK (Aug 7, 2012)

i used to have quite a big one in a 6ft tank along with an oscar, a humbug catfish and a couple of plecs. he'd eat bloodworm, earthworms, the carnivore pellets the oscar had and brine shrimp were definitely his favourite. 
Got any pics of your one yet?


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## Moley165 (Sep 27, 2010)

contraversial but gonna say it anyway, cant go wrong with baby guppies. easy to build up a stock... very easy to gut load and also very good for the eel.


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## JumperBoy (Jul 3, 2010)

Jnoosh said:


> 30", that's not a fish, its a monster! Must have been well looked after.


Thats very common these things grow like something rotton 



Moley165 said:


> contraversial but gonna say it anyway, cant go wrong with baby guppies. easy to build up a stock... very easy to gut load and also very good for the eel.


I've never had a spiney that has eaten live fish before?


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## PPVallhunds (May 23, 2010)

Sad news guys, found him dead sunday morning. Sat night i gave him some of the bloodworm mix i got for him, that was gone in the morning and he was dead. so dont know if it was the food (it was in date) or what, wates tests said water was fine and only had a pleck in there. He had a hiding spot on each side of the tank and one in the middle.

Took him and water back to pets at home today and got a refund as there water tests said all was fine as well.


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## Esfa (Apr 15, 2007)

JumperBoy said:


> I've never had a spiney that has eaten live fish before?


I have. Strike like a snake.


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