Help with Ghost Eel- varying diet

[Isis]

I would avoid feeding any saltwater fish anything that is of freshwater origin, especially ruby reds and goldfish. Not only are they an equivelent of potatoe chips, but they are normally not kept in well cleaned areas, and could spread bacteria and bad viruses to your main display.

As for other foods, you can find them in regular markets, like HEB, or in Asian stores. In the frozen section of the grocery store, there is usually a frozen bag of various seafoods, which also includes imitation crab meat. You don't want to put that in your tank. The rest should be unseasoned and uncooked. You can thaw it and feed to the eel. You can also use this same mix to feed your corals if you put in food processor.

To this point, i have exclusively fed krill, but have tried to feed silversides and scallops without any success. When i introduce the silversides to him, it's almost like he doesn't care for the smell of it. He will retract his head from the food and go back into his cave.

Sorry, I took this as having difficulty in getting him to eat frozen foods.

The natural diet in the wild is squid for most eels. Also try feeding some live fish (like ruby reds) and see if he even likes something like the silversides. The nice thing about those is that they die in the saltwater, so they slow down a lot before they expire. If your eel has poor eyesight (most do), this will help allow more time for the eel to catch it's prey. I know my eels would devour any fish (frozen or live) that touched the water. Along with table shrimp and thawed squid.

I apologize if i confused you and others. Yeah, my eel will eat frozen foods, but he ONLY eats krill.

About the other foods (i.e. ruby red's, squid, octopus, etc.) that have been suggested, are they typically sold in the local aquarium stores or can i also find them at HEB?

Just try to vary as much as possible. If you try Isis' suggestion and go a day or so longer in between, the eel will be more prone to try something new, and you might even be able to entice it to eat during the daylight hours.

I apologize if i confused you and others. Yeah, my eel will eat frozen foods, but he ONLY eats krill.

About the other foods (i.e. ruby red's, squid, octopus, etc.) that have been suggested, are they typically sold in the local aquarium stores or can i also find them at HEB?

Thanks again for all of the help and suggestions.

[SaltyJim]

I would avoid feeding any saltwater fish anything that is of freshwater origin, especially ruby reds and goldfish. Not only are they an equivelent of potatoe chips, but they are normally not kept in well cleaned areas, and could spread bacteria and bad viruses to your main display.

I agree with this, and I was mearly suggesting to try live feeders as a way to introdce the eels to food other than krill. I do not recommend feeding feeders for a long term since they really do not have the nutritional value they need to survive. A few here or there will not hurt the tank or inhabitants, and may actually help the eel vary it's diet.

Jakob, you can get frozen squid and other foods at a LFS as well as the local grocery. Sometimes, the frozen blocks of food from the LFS will be loaded with vitamins, which with a varied diet should not be necessary. The HEB is much cheaper ;)

Hope this helps.

[67Demon]

Thanks a bunch Kim & Jim. Definately the advice i was looking for.