Snowfalke Eel Seems Lathargic?

nafracsana

nafracsana

Member
I AM NEW TO THIS HOBBY. I HAVE A 55 GAL. TANK THAT I STARTED LAST MONTH AROUND THE 10TH. I HAVE CYCLED THE TANK AND NOW HAVE 2 STRIPED DAMSELS, 3 YELLOW TAIL DAMSELS, 1 BLUE DAMSEL, 1 GOLD BAND CLOWN, 1 FLAME ANGEL , 12 TURBO SNAILS, AND MY SNOWFLAKE EEL. MY QUESTION IS WHY DOES HE NOT EAT? I HAVE KRILL AND SQUID. HAVE PUT BOTH IN TANK AND HE DOESN'T SEEM TO WANT TO EAT. I HAVE BEEN USING A STICK TO TRY AND FEED HIM, WITH NO LUCK. HE IS VERY SLOW MOVING ALSO. I PUT HIM IN THE TANK ON APRIL 13TH. JUST WONDERING, IS THIS NORMAL?, OR IS HE ON HIS WAY TO THE BIG TANK IN THE SKY.
PLEASE HELP, I'M FREAKING OUT!!
 
shrimp134

shrimp134

Member
First off slow down with your tank...your moving way to fast...I dont know the answer to your question but I thought I had to say that!
 
nafracsana

nafracsana

Member
I don't plan on adding anything else for a month or so. This is all I'll have in it for a while. Just need to know if the Eel is getting acclimated, or is he going to bite it?
 
harlequinnut

harlequinnut

Active Member
Do you have a place for the eel to hide? He might be stress out if you don't have a hiding spot for him. Try feeding him frozen silversides or live fish to entice a feeding response. The ones you get at LFS at 8 or 10 for a dollar. Stick it on the feeding stick and feed it to eel. HTH
btw-You don't have to type entirely in caps. Doing so suggest that you are yelling or screaming.
 
nafracsana

nafracsana

Member
Yes he has plenty o hiding spaces. Sometimes I can't find him myself. i got word of the caps thing, all taken care of. So, you suggest feeding it live food?
 
polarpooch

polarpooch

Active Member
First, snowflake eels are super hardy, so I bet you'll be fine.
Your tank is still very young. It was probably too early to add the snowflake, as they are huge waste producers! And snowflakes can be picky eaters.
But you've already done it, so just be very careful about watching your water quality.
But, he'll eat. Unless you are letting him swim in consistently bad water, he'll come around. My snowflake would go on hunger strikes, too. Very little would interest him, until he just finally wanted to eat. Fresh shrimp was usually what he wanted!
 
nafracsana

nafracsana

Member
Thanks Polar for the info. I just don't want him to die on me. I did a water change on April 12th, and I clean my filters every other day. I also keep a constant daily check of gravity, nitrate, and nitrite. Ammonia not as often, and PH evry other day. So as long as he's still in there moving around I'm OK. I just hope he'll eat. I use Krill, Squid, Brine shrimp, and some other geenr algae food for all thte fish in my tank. I figure the squid and krill are OK for him?
 
polarpooch

polarpooch

Active Member
Big YES on the Skimmer. Eels are waste machines and need a strong skimmer.
Your eel probably won't die (unless he's sick, but it sounds like he's just in a really young tank). I would just keep doing what you are doing, keep trying to feed him, and get that skimmer hooked up. In a month or two you should be fine.
 
nafracsana

nafracsana

Member
No need to worry about the Eel, he went to the big reef in the sky. I saw his body all day long hidden under a rock, but he never moved from there. So, I moved some rocks around and low and behold stiff like a stick. Bought him on April 13th, I wonder if the LFS will give me some credit? I guess I'll find out tomorrow.
 
polarpooch

polarpooch

Active Member
Wow. That sucks. Give it another try, SFEs don't normally go bellyup. I had one in a very young tank once, too...and he did very well, despite some horrendous water conditions. Really strange. I feel bad for you.
My blackedge just died this weekend, too...except mine was eaten by another eel...either way, it sucks when the critters die.
I'm betting your LFS does not give you credit.
 
nafracsana

nafracsana

Member
I read in another post that your Eel was eaten. Man what a weekend. Your probably right, they won't give me credit. Oh well, lesson learned. Go slow when adding new tankmates. I also saw a pic of your tank in the photography section, really nice.
 
akinda

akinda

Member
try feeding raw frozen shrimp mine eats it. take off the shell though
you may need a eel fedder and it may take a while for it to come and get the food you may have to hold it near him and scare your other fish away i have to with my wrasse. i almost killed him cause he kept stealing the food from the eel. he ate so much that night i thought his stomach was seriously goin to split.
 
lionstorm

lionstorm

Member
i would slow down if i were you, 55 gallons is NOT that big of a tank and you have a lot of fish in there! I've got 3 damsels of all those species in my 75 gallon and they still try to kill each other all the time, not to mention a clownfish and a flame angel.
If you want my advice: SLOW DOWN.
Let your tank stabalize, handle the bio load you have now, and don't add anymore fish for a while, its already a packed house in there.
 
nafracsana

nafracsana

Member
Akinda,
Thanks for the advice, but if you looked a few posts up you would have read that the eel died. Oh well lesson learned, I went to fast adding new fish to a young tank.
Lionstorm,
I am taking it slower now. I am trying to get all my parameters in order. It just seems that my Ammonia is kind of high .25 or more. I did a water change on the 12th of this month. I was wondering if I should do another one. I only have 5 dams now, one died yesterday. The clown and the Flame. Also have 12 Turbo snails. I will also be adding a proteiin skimmer on friday. Maybe some Hermit crabs too. I wonder if they will help the system out?
 
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