# fire eel feeding



## LG0815 (Aug 1, 2007)

what do you feed an eel

will they eat cichlid pellets


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## davespeed3 (Mar 29, 2009)

No, in my experience, they don't seem to take any dry food. Mine will eat frozen bloodworm, fish and prawns etc Also live foods such as brine shrimp are good.


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## BenHugs (Jan 13, 2007)

Try Earthworms thats all my elipsifer eats.


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## SidGuppy (Sep 9, 2002)

it is?

release the ellipsifer inm a tank with baby cichlids and it'll revert to it's natural dinner within minutes :lol:

it won't stick at earthworms, I tell ye


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## heylady (Oct 14, 2004)

I had a fire eel when I first started in this hobby. Awesome fish!! Mine never would eat pellets, but it wouldn't eat fish either!! In fact, I ended up using his tank as a grow out for some angels I was raising...that and a java fern grow tank too. Anyway, mine would only eat live ghost shrimp and live earthworms (which I raised myself). You can gut load the live shrimp by giving them algae wafers to feed on, then feed them a couple hours later to your eel. 
These guys are very prone to bacterial and fungal infections if their skin is broken so it's important that you have sand as the substrate. They love to burrow in the sand with only their head sticking out! Also a strawberry planter makes a good hidey hole for them (or half of one) they can travel in and out of the openings which they also like to do.

Very cool animal...mine would take the worms from my hand. 

Because of illness I ended up having to sell him...at that point he was 2 feet long and very thick bodied.

One of the few fish I'd like to have again someday!!


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## BenHugs (Jan 13, 2007)

SidGuppy said:


> it is?
> 
> release the ellipsifer inm a tank with baby cichlids and it'll revert to it's natural dinner within minutes :lol:
> 
> it won't stick at earthworms, I tell ye


If my elipsifer eats baby cichlids it does a poor job. It's a pig so even if it does get small cichlids it won't turn away the free dinner.


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