feeder fish for moray

dave_15

Member
what fedder fish should ifeed my yellowhead moray(Gymnothorax rueppelliae)? im trying some nonliving but he doesnt seem to be interested.. so slowly im goin to transfer from living to non-living...There are no other fish with him
:happyfish :help:
 

jon123

New Member
how long have you had the eel? and how big is it? Ive never needed to use live for an eel before. although ghost shrimp or crayfish would probably work best. if youve only had the eel a few days or less, i wouldnt worry about it not eating yet.
Jon
 

dave_15

Member
well hes new i got him yesturday but he keeps on looking around the tank for something and he tried to atack my damsel once (which i put in another tank now). I heard they are fish eaters...wouldnt i have to feed him fish and not shrimp?
 

cartman101

Active Member
first off, can i see a picture of the eel? Any time would be fine. I would wait a few days before feeding him, give him some time, dont sweat they can go for a long time with out food
 

dave_15

Member
ok thanks........yeah i will try to get the pictures fast becuse i still didnt get a camera all i have is a crappy computer cameras (forgot what they are called- i think webcam)
 

chipmaker

Active Member
You can feed it mollies or guppies and I also think platys, but not quite sure on those...they can handle brackish water without a problem and I have heard of folks taking it a bit further and keeping them in about a 1.020 sg for feed for certain marine fish.......so there is no doubt if its hungry that they would stay alive more than long enough till he ate them once placed in the regular tank......Mollies and guppies are very cheap and easy to raise, fast breeders.......so if that eel is so picky and fussy about having to have live food, those fish should work fine.
 

cartman101

Active Member
ok good its not a fimbriatus eel. Yeah, i would just wait before feeding my eel, do you know what the lfs was feeding him??
 

ophiura

Active Member
I would allow him to settle in a bit more before worrying too much. I agree, give the LFS a call and see what they were feeding.
 

mitzel

Active Member
seriously don't feed fresh water feeders they are bad for your fish. they don't contain the right nutrients and they will cause liver disese .
 

chipmaker

Active Member
Duuno about not containing the right nutrients or causing liver diesease, but I guess I should mention that to the LFS here that deals only in marine life, as they have kept three ells for years now feeding them nothing but guppies and mollies.........all they do is place a few in the tank and when they dissapear they throw a few more in there........Guppies and mollies are the only fdreshwater fish this store keeps mainly for food for live food for marine fish......
 

dave_15

Member
My Lfs said that they fed him fedder fish ---like guppies, silversides, minnows, molies (also fed the white eyed moray that was with him)...they also said ghost shrimp (arent those for the pebble tooth morays..not the fish eaters)
 

ophiura

Active Member
Hmmm.....I'm trying to think the last time I saw a guppy in the ocean.....
Its a pity, really, to feed them those, IMO. And I can't imagine how many guppies you would need to feed some of these eels that are several feet long.
Morays are very much scent predators; they should be pretty easily trained to go after other foods, especially things like silversides. I've worked with a fair number of eels and never were they fed live foods. It is one thing to have a finicky eater, it is another to not want to make an effort to switch them onto appropriate foods. That is what those LFS sound like they are doing, IMO at least.
What else have you tried feeding the eel? Tried any silversides, smelt, etc?
 

dave_15

Member
only some salamon and shrimps (frozen)...i might try the silversides...also i heard that fish go crazy for garlic does it go with eels too?
 

ophiura

Active Member
I would say nothing hurts...but try a few things before going back to the live foods. It is amazing how fish can control us...lionfish, in particular, are known to have this power over their owners, going on hunger strikes. But few animals will allow themselves to starve over such things...specialist feeders excluded.
 

mn1467

Member
Have you tried to put the dead food on a feeding stick and move it around the front of your moray's head maybe he needs to see the motion before he goes after it just my 2 cents
that is how I fed my SFE
 

chipmaker

Active Member
Originally Posted by ophiura
Hmmm.....I'm trying to think the last time I saw a guppy in the ocean.....
snip
Its mot that they are marine fish, but in the wild its not uncommon for them to be out and about the ocean and bay areas in brackish water where the freshwater streams empty into the oceans.......The fish mentioned above have a very high tolerance of salt, right up there with marine fish, and there are some folks who keep such fish in brackish water or salt water for a change from a typcially planted slatwater setup. I seriously doubt yur gonna find them off the great barrier reef or the Cayman wall or any other area they are not native to if it does not have a river or stream emptying intot he oceans etc.
 
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