A guy at the LFS said that feeding squid to my eel will potentially cause a tank crash... Where do these ideas come from?

[Daniel@R2R]

So I was talking to a guy at one of my local fish stores that I don't frequent very often. I went looking for ghost shrimp (my preferred LFS was out of them) for my eel. The guy tried to sell me silversides, and I thanked him politely and explained that I was actually hunting for a live feeder food just to entice my new eel to eat. He immediately told me how expensive it would be to feed live food and that I should just use silversides. I explained that I wasn't planning to rely solely on live food and that I had purchased squid to feed as well (got it from the local Seafood City). He immediately began to caution me that feeding squid would potentially crash my tank and that I shouldn't feed squid ever... He said, "Yep. You'll come home and the whole tank will be milky white, and it will be because you fed squid." I just thanked him and left. Where do these ideas come from??? Feeding squid to eels is one of the most recommended practices in eel care (from my exploration of the topic). Why would he think it would crash the tank??

Btw, I fed a bit of the squid to the eel this evening...he went NUTS over it, so no need for ghost shrimp. LOL

 

[dakoop]

Some advice is pulled from their rectum. If the advice smells walk away

 

[IceNein]

I don't know, I guess that's why you have to cross check everything you hear, or stick with a trusted source.

The only thing I can really think of is like maybe someone is worried about contamination from bacteria that came from the ocean on the squid that might bloom in your tank? But we put all sorts of junk from the ocean in the tank, people have been feeding pureed/diced clams for ages.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Because he wanted to sell you silversides. Gotta say what you can to make the sale

 

[littlefoxx]

What the heck?? Lol. What kind of eel? Honestly the only thing I caution about feeding eels squid is that none of my 4 morays like it… sometimes they will take a piece but they straight up turn their nose up at it lol and its more on the expensive side for their food! But crash a tank? Nahhh. And silversides are good occasionally. I feed mine silversides every like 4th feeding (so about twice a month on their feeding cycle). That guy sounds like a troglodyte lol

 

[KrisReef]

So I was talking to a guy at one of my local fish stores that I don't frequent very often. I went looking for ghost shrimp (my preferred LFS was out of them) for my eel. The guy tried to sell me silversides, and I thanked him politely and explained that I was actually hunting for a live feeder food just to entice my new eel to eat. He immediately told me how expensive it would be to feed live food and that I should just use silversides. I explained that I wasn't planning to rely solely on live food and that I had purchased squid to feed as well (got it from the local Seafood City). He immediately began to caution me that feeding squid would potentially crash my tank and that I shouldn't feed squid ever... He said, "Yep. You'll come home and the whole tank will be milky white, and it will be because you fed squid." I just thanked him and left. Where do these ideas come from??? Feeding squid to eels is one of the most recommended practices in eel care (from my exploration of the topic). Why would he think it would crash the tank??

Btw, I fed a bit of the squid to the eel this evening...he went NUTS over it, so no need for ghost shrimp. LOL

Because he probably fed an eel or a lionfish a WHOLE squid and his tank crashed?

 

[littlefoxx]

Because he probably fed an eel or a lionfish a WHOLE squid and his tank crashed?

Lol Ive never seen an issue with people feeding squid. My only issue is that my eels turn their nose up and wont eat it. Picky little fatties lol

 

[Daniel@R2R]

What the heck?? Lol. What kind of eel?

Snowflake moray and banded snake eel.

Honestly the only thing I caution about feeding eels squid is that none of my 4 morays like it… sometimes they will take a piece but they straight up turn their nose up at it lol and its more on the expensive side for their food! But crash a tank? Nahhh. And silversides are good occasionally. I feed mine silversides every like 4th feeding (so about twice a month on their feeding cycle). That guy sounds like a troglodyte lol

Yeah! It completely blew my mind that this was his take. Can I ask, what are you primarily feeding your eels? My snowflake seems to love squid, but the banded had no interest in it. Besides, I'd like to offer variety. I'm thinking either raw shrimp or krill as the next menu item.

Because he probably fed an eel or a lionfish a WHOLE squid and his tank crashed?

LOL Maybe.

Because he wanted to sell you silversides. Gotta say what you can to make the sale

Haha! This does seem to have been the focus...

 

[JayM]

I won't ask you to name the store (unless you really want to), but, considering that we're practically neighbors and the likelihood that we frequent the same stores is pretty good, can you at least drop the city?

 

[littlefoxx]

Snowflake moray and banded snake eel.

Yeah! It completely blew my mind that this was his take. Can I ask, what are you primarily feeding your eels? My snowflake seems to love squid, but the banded had no interest in it. Besides, I'd like to offer variety. I'm thinking either raw shrimp or krill as the next menu item.

LOL Maybe.

Haha! This does seem to have been the focus...

Nice!!! I dont think I would feed the banded snake a whole silverside, their mouths are so small and I remember @Slocke saying he had to feed small pieces to his! Snowflakes dont really eat silversides since they dont really eat fish. Ghost eats them sometimes but I feed silversides to Ivar and Loki, my fang tooth eels! That guy knows nothing about eels

 

[Slocke]

I have an article on this site about what to feed. Or you can look at my early youtubes

 

[Daniel@R2R]

I have an article on this site about what to feed. Or you can look at my early youtubes

Thanks! I had read your article. It's one of the reasons I knew squid was a viable feeding option. Ha! I'm planning to pick up some raw shrimp as well. The guy at the LFS kept telling me to feed silversides. He said to wiggle them in front of the eel so it would think it was alive...I just kept thinking that if my goal is to keep eels that don't eat my live fish, then feeding them fish that I'm trying to trick them into thinking are alive might not be the best idea for achieving that goal.

 

[littlefoxx]

Thanks! I had read your article. It's one of the reasons I knew squid was a viable feeding option. Ha! I'm planning to pick up some raw shrimp as well. The guy at the LFS kept telling me to feed silversides. He said to wiggle them in front of the eel so it would think it was alive...I just kept thinking that if my goal is to keep eels that don't eat my live fish, then feeding them fish that I'm trying to trick them into thinking are alive might not be the best idea for achieving that goal.

Eh not entirely true! I wave the food and silversides around like that and mine dont pay attention to fish lol. Ive also trained them to come out of the holes and near the top of the tank and away from other fish when I feed them. I also hand feed them. Very smart fish, they know what my finger is even! If they accidentally get a finger or part of my hand they release immediately and dont bite me and switch to the food. Nebula the zebra eel is still learning this so I occasionally get nipped by her but the others are usually very good! Part of my favorite thing about eels is interacting with them during feeding! Love them

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Eh not entirely true! I wave the food and silversides around like that and mine dont pay attention to fish lol. Ive also trained them to come out of the holes and near the top of the tank and away from other fish when I feed them. I also hand feed them. Very smart fish, they know what my finger is even! If they accidentally get a finger or part of my hand they release immediately and dont bite me and switch to the food. Nebula the zebra eel is still learning this so I occasionally get nipped by her but the others are usually very good! Part of my favorite thing about eels is interacting with them during feeding! Love them

Good to know! I was just thinking that since I just got them, I'd start with caution (and figured since other foods worked for these guys, maybe I'd pass on actual fish. LOL). I'll be less hesitant to try them in the future.

 

[AydenLincoln]

Sorry I can’t help but laugh at advice like this at least now haha. But to a newbie this can be really bad and set someone up for failure. I too have gotten awful advice. Something I will never forget was the time which the person told me all my fish would die because I didn’t cycle my tank and that caused me to leave the store sobbing. I have since grown and been successfully years later and all my fish didn’t die lol. It’s laughable now but it wasn’t at the time as a newbie. So I hate when fish stores give people bad advice or people who work at fish stores just spew off opinions as facts etc. because it has ultimately lead to a lot of failure or dropout in the hobby which is sad.

 

[Triggreef]

Ridiculous. I've fed squid for years to my eels. No issues whatsoever.