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Aka the black ribbon eel in the juvenile form, the blue ribbon eel in the male form, and the green ribbon eel in the female form. This is another notoriously difficult fish to keep, I've had some success with one and would like to share my observations. I've witnessed a couple friends and other hobbyists lose them rather quickly, even when they were eating. The 2 biggest obstacles, and with most predatory fish, is treating for parasites and feedings.
I got my guy almost 2 years ago as a juvi barely 12". I do recommend the same parasite/deworming treatment as would with lions, I got him before I was using general cure. I treated the tank with prazi pro and actually got him eating dead food within 2=3 weeks. I then mixed in metro/focus with his food, feeding every other for about 2 weeks. One friend had a black ribbon come in eating dead food right away, the eel still only lasted a few months. I have seen eels and lions live a couple few months then stop eating and die, yeah they can live this long with internal parasites. A ravenous appetite is also a sign of internal parasites, think about it, the worms are eating all the food. So treating with Metronidazole and Praziquantel is highly recommended.
Upon arrival I put him in a 40B qt/observation tank and gave him a couple of small mollies and a few ghosties to live with, and hunt down at his leisure. 2-3 days later I could find hide nor hair of his prey, so I started to tease him with some dead food. No avail, so I stocked the tank with live again, watching him hunt I quickly realized how flinchy and delicate he ate. He was also very scared of the tongs, initially this guy was a scaredy cat. So I got these slim stainless steel tongs and realized he might do better with small slivers of dead meat meat, instead of something chunky.
After slicing foods into thin strips and using the slender tongs, I got him start taking dead food within 2-3 weeks. He will eat silversides, squid, octopus, silver fish, and krill. You need to be very delicate, tease him with it, make him chase it, sometimes he'll take it from the tongs, sometimes I let it go for him to chase down. He's still just as tough today, these guys are notorious to just stop eating dead after a while, so maybe continuing to occasionally offering live foods may be advantageous. I give mine a live molly or a couple of guppies at least every couple of weeks or even more, and ge has a chance to chase down a live ghostie that my lions let escape. Another guy I know lost one after several months while eating a dead only diet, I think he had been underfed. It's tough to get this guy eating sometimes, so some think some people think if he grabs a couple of pieces he's fine, while it can be likely he's being underfed.
My guy has now been turning blue for what seems like almost a year, I'd say he's at least 30-36" now. Initially he was in a 125g, the tank was wiped out by velvet and I decided to shut it down. The eel survived and I put him in my 90g lions reef. These guys are most often recommended for a 125g or larger, but he seems to be happy in the 90g. He does have a pvc home, because he is slender a 1.5" pvc is fine and easy to hide. Because this is his re-home, I couldn't bury the pvc, the tank had already been up for years.
I got my guy almost 2 years ago as a juvi barely 12". I do recommend the same parasite/deworming treatment as would with lions, I got him before I was using general cure. I treated the tank with prazi pro and actually got him eating dead food within 2=3 weeks. I then mixed in metro/focus with his food, feeding every other for about 2 weeks. One friend had a black ribbon come in eating dead food right away, the eel still only lasted a few months. I have seen eels and lions live a couple few months then stop eating and die, yeah they can live this long with internal parasites. A ravenous appetite is also a sign of internal parasites, think about it, the worms are eating all the food. So treating with Metronidazole and Praziquantel is highly recommended.
Upon arrival I put him in a 40B qt/observation tank and gave him a couple of small mollies and a few ghosties to live with, and hunt down at his leisure. 2-3 days later I could find hide nor hair of his prey, so I started to tease him with some dead food. No avail, so I stocked the tank with live again, watching him hunt I quickly realized how flinchy and delicate he ate. He was also very scared of the tongs, initially this guy was a scaredy cat. So I got these slim stainless steel tongs and realized he might do better with small slivers of dead meat meat, instead of something chunky.
After slicing foods into thin strips and using the slender tongs, I got him start taking dead food within 2-3 weeks. He will eat silversides, squid, octopus, silver fish, and krill. You need to be very delicate, tease him with it, make him chase it, sometimes he'll take it from the tongs, sometimes I let it go for him to chase down. He's still just as tough today, these guys are notorious to just stop eating dead after a while, so maybe continuing to occasionally offering live foods may be advantageous. I give mine a live molly or a couple of guppies at least every couple of weeks or even more, and ge has a chance to chase down a live ghostie that my lions let escape. Another guy I know lost one after several months while eating a dead only diet, I think he had been underfed. It's tough to get this guy eating sometimes, so some think some people think if he grabs a couple of pieces he's fine, while it can be likely he's being underfed.
My guy has now been turning blue for what seems like almost a year, I'd say he's at least 30-36" now. Initially he was in a 125g, the tank was wiped out by velvet and I decided to shut it down. The eel survived and I put him in my 90g lions reef. These guys are most often recommended for a 125g or larger, but he seems to be happy in the 90g. He does have a pvc home, because he is slender a 1.5" pvc is fine and easy to hide. Because this is his re-home, I couldn't bury the pvc, the tank had already been up for years.