Will a snowflake eel hunt down inverts no matter what?

cdnco2004

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Jumbo Frozen krill for fish food. Buy it online have it shipped. I started him on smaller pacifica krill and worked his way up to the jumbo. He will take jumbo Mysis as well but they are smaller and makes it hard because they have such bad eye sight and will strike the tips of the tongs and miss the food and then get put off by biting the tongs and go back into burrow.
 

ISpeakForTheSeas

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Just to add to why I'm saying krill really shouldn't be a long-term food for predators:
Shrimp is high in thiaminase, so feeding as a sole diet, long term, will result in vitamin B1 deficiency.
Here is a clue; scallops are high in thiaminase. True silversides are not, but most of the aquarium “silversides” being sold are really a type of smelt, and those are high as well. I think only the Sanfrancisco bay brand is true silversides. Shrimp are also slightly high. What this could mean is that over time, your eel became deficient in thiamin. I always supplement predatory fish diets with thiamin and vitamin E.

The length of time you’ve had the fish and the gradual onset of symptoms support this idea as well.
The eel may be healthy for a while, but eventually it will develop deficiencies - Selcon won't provide the needed thiamin; the Vitachem might or might not (it's a proprietary blend so they don't say what's in it), but I personally wouldn't bet an eel's life on it.


@ajremington68 lion king has some great write-ups on eel care that I'd suggest looking into.
 

Mr_Knightley

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@Fishels I got the eel for free ma man for you. Thing escaped my tank in one night. NOT WORTH IT
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In case you haven't thrown it out yet... Snowflake eels can dry up for as long as 36 hours and still be alive. If this one jumped out last night then there's an 80% chance it's still alive.
 

ajremington68

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In case you haven't thrown it out yet... Snowflake eels can dry up for as long as 36 hours and still be alive. If this one jumped out last night then there's an 80% chance it's still alive.
No I didn’t he’s very much alive, just trying to figure out what to try and feed him.
 

ajremington68

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Just to add to why I'm saying krill really shouldn't be a long-term food for predators:


The eel may be healthy for a while, but eventually it will develop deficiencies - Selcon won't provide the needed thiamin; the Vitachem might or might not (it's a proprietary blend so they don't say what's in it), but I personally wouldn't bet an eel's life on it.


@ajremington68 lion king has some great write-ups on eel care that I'd suggest looking into.
Can you like his page or a eel feeding thread?
 

ISpeakForTheSeas

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Can you like his page or a eel feeding thread?
Here's 3 of my most comprehensive threads on feeding lionfish and other predators.

If you have questions on the thiaminase content of a species of fish you may want to feed to your lions, see the link below:
That said, salmon is pretty much the gold standard; mackerel is a decent second place to my understanding.
 

ajremington68

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Jumbo Frozen krill for fish food. Buy it online have it shipped. I started him on smaller pacifica krill and worked his way up to the jumbo. He will take jumbo Mysis as well but they are smaller and makes it hard because they have such bad eye sight and will strike the tips of the tongs and miss the food and then get put off by biting the tongs and go back into burrow.
Question my eel has been in the tank for only like 2 days and first night he jumped, and before I got him he was just in a bucket so he has had a very hectic last couple of days. But he hasn’t ate once I tried to feed it thawed organic shrimp chopped up. At what point should I be worried? Also the tank was setup with display tank water and some rock the night I got him and the ammonia was at like 2ppm the next day and I have done 2 10 gallon water changes on it and got it done to like 0.5 and doing 10 gallon changes every day till I get 0. But with all that being said normal for him to not eat and when do you think it would?
 

bobnicaragua

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I had a snowflake in a mixed reef for over a year and a half. I mostly fed him shrimp from the grocery store. I gave him a chunk of food with chop sticks most nights. He didn’t bother my shrimp or hermits.

I think getting a small eel and feeding it well is the key. That being said I got rid of mine before he was fully grown. They produce a lot of waste.
 

Steve and his Animals

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Question my eel has been in the tank for only like 2 days and first night he jumped, and before I got him he was just in a bucket so he has had a very hectic last couple of days. But he hasn’t ate once I tried to feed it thawed organic shrimp chopped up. At what point should I be worried? Also the tank was setup with display tank water and some rock the night I got him and the ammonia was at like 2ppm the next day and I have done 2 10 gallon water changes on it and got it done to like 0.5 and doing 10 gallon changes every day till I get 0. But with all that being said normal for him to not eat and when do you think it would?
Large morays can go literal months without food. Just leave him alone for a while, let him get his wits about, find how he got out of the tank, and try again in a while.
 

littlefoxx

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So you think even if shrimp was in hole he’d dig and eat him? I guess there’s just a wide variety of personalities because I’ve seen some with cleaner shrimps


Do you have a fuzzy dwarf lion with it?
Yes I have a fuzzy with my snowflake and jeweled moray
 

littlefoxx

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No I didn’t he’s very much alive, just trying to figure out what to try and feed him.
Just saw this. Ignore my other post. I feed LRS chunky, chopped squid, table shrimp, rods predator, silversides and another predator blend. I dont feed them krill really at all. Only like once a month as a snack.
 

Readywriter

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My dream tank is to have like a 125 gallon reef that is based around a snowflake eel. But at the same time I’m really wanting a Goby pistol pair. If the eel is well fed and the shrimp hides when the snowflake is out and about is it relatively safe?

I understand completely that any shrimp or crabs can be fair game no matter what. But I’ve seen tons of snowflakes on YouTube along with cleaner shrimp and the like. What say you more experienced peoples?
I had one in a 72 that left my cleaner shrimp, and every other invert, alone. If you are diligent in keeping it fed and training it to only eat in a specific spot of the tank, and learning its feeding schedule, I feel safe saying you wont have any problems.
 

cdnco2004

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Question my eel has been in the tank for only like 2 days and first night he jumped, and before I got him he was just in a bucket so he has had a very hectic last couple of days. But he hasn’t ate once I tried to feed it thawed organic shrimp chopped up. At what point should I be worried? Also the tank was setup with display tank water and some rock the night I got him and the ammonia was at like 2ppm the next day and I have done 2 10 gallon water changes on it and got it done to like 0.5 and doing 10 gallon changes every day till I get 0. But with all that being said normal for him to not eat and when do you think it would?
Give him time to settle. It can take them awhile to want to eat and they can go a pretty good period of time without eating unlike most fish. They wont want chopped up organic shrimp. You can try extra small whole shrimp.
 

cdnco2004

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I had one in a 72 that left my cleaner shrimp, and every other invert, alone. If you are diligent in keeping it fed and training it to only eat in a specific spot of the tank, and learning its feeding schedule, I feel safe saying you wont have any problems.
Thats how mine is in a 75. Lots of ornamental shrimp and hermies and he ignores them all. They are stupid and will try to steal his food but he just ignores them.
 

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