garden eel elp

[Kremis]

hey all ~ I made a half impulse buy of a garden eel last weekend (4 days ago) I am aware of all the requirements of these fish. He is in a 28 gallon tank at the moment( i know a little small) where most of the sand was 1 inch. I raised the back corner to 5 inches, and that is where he is now. This weekend, I will be moving out a lot of rock and keeping only a few pieces in the back corner, and the rest will be sand. I will be adding in a ton of sand, making a bigger area for him and also deeper. he is in a tank with 2 seahorses, a clown goby, a mandarin (I am aware of the care requirements of mandarins, he will be going into a bigger tank this weekend also) and pygmy perchlet. I have just bought live brine, and tried to feed it to him and he completely ignored it. I have tried every food I have - ignores every one. Has anyone had any experience with trying to get these guys to eat it? I have live brine shrimp available, and baby brine too. and almost all other frozen food / can get it
Things I have tried
live brine
newly hatched brine
mysis
frozen brine
cyclopeeze


any suggestions? pls no hate, I am looking for the best way possible to keep this animal alive, I know I maybe shouldn't have bought it, but since i now have it, I want to try my best to keep him alive. Also, I just got him 4 days ago, could he not be eating because of stress/new to the tank? Thanks. ~kyle

[eastlake]

The new tank and the stress of the move could both certainly be reasons its not eating. When I worked at a local fish store whenever the owners ordered them they almost always died, presumably from starvation. Its god that you're making the sand bed deeper, though adding the additional sand could cause more stress as well so add it as slowly as you can so you don't stir up a bunch of debris. As far as the food goes, if you're able to get some of the reef nutrition products like the tigerpods and arctipods maybe it would consider taking those, plus it'll seed your tank in the process. Good luck, they're a challenge to get to eat but if you're successful they're a joy to watch, especially a colony of them.

[Moort82]

I've kept dozens of these in a shop situation and we setup a special tank for them with deep sand bed. It was more a display as I vetted people who wanted them and no one would suitably change the tank so I wouldn't sell.
what I learned was two things. 1 they need a quiet tank to feed. In a shop this is hard and I had to feed before we were open, when no one was in and after we closed. Your feeding the right kind of things but it's beSt if you sit back from the tank and watch from afar as they can be very shy. 2 and this was important, laminar flow over the sand bed is best for feeding. This is more natural and allows them to see the food and strike rather than it to be taken by the current. Once they accept food they become easier so good luck.
I would also echo what's above and not mess with the tank to much. Think short term goals. Get it feeding and happy and then think about slowly changing the tank to suit it better. Good luck

[Kremis]

I've kept dozens of these in a shop situation and we setup a special tank for them with deep sand bed. It was more a display as I vetted people who wanted them and no one would suitably change the tank so I wouldn't sell.
what I learned was two things. 1 they need a quiet tank to feed. In a shop this is hard and I had to feed before we were open, when no one was in and after we closed. Your feeding the right kind of things but it's beSt if you sit back from the tank and watch from afar as they can be very shy. 2 and this was important, laminar flow over the sand bed is best for feeding. This is more natural and allows them to see the food and strike rather than it to be taken by the current. Once they accept food they become easier so good luck.
I would also echo what's above and not mess with the tank to much. Think short term goals. Get it feeding and happy and then think about slowly changing the tank to suit it better. Good luck
Thank you both! I will try the nutrimar foods, and try not to scare him too much when i feed :thumbsup: I will probably add sand this weekend, but not move around the rock. Now That i think about it that might be too much stress

[Kremis]

Eel has not come up for 2 hours, should i be worried?

[Kremis]

Havent seen him since yesterday, do you guys think I should go digging with tongs to see if he died ?

[andrewkw]

I kept garden eels for many years. I gave them away before I moved and miss them. One alone can be tough they are pretty social with each other. Everything else not so much. They are afraid of everything up to their own shadow.

It can take some time for them to get comfortable. In fact when I gave them away my friend did not see them for several days despite the fact I had them for several years. I would suggest live brine at first only because they swim around. Step back from the tank. This way you cannot be seen. Also make sure the flow in the tank means food will pass over them. If he settles in a spot where the food won't reach he may or may not move and starve. Once comfortable any frozen food is fine. I remember when mine were afraid of pe mysis but over time they started eating it.

[ramasule]

Good luck with you eels.

Here is a video my buddy shot on our dive trip.

Moderate flow murky waters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnzijayRcGs

[Kremis]

Thank you. Yes I am aware they like to be in groups, and am looking around at the LFS's for more garden eels. I have set up the flow so it blows over a part of deep sand where the current eel settled. his only competition is seahorses, so that shouldn't be a problem :P The main issue with feeding that I have is that as soon as I put the BS in he hides. But when he does come out he never eats any

[Kremis]

Just hit 15 day mark, and yet he still isn't eating :( anyone else have any experience?

[Kremis]

I got home from school today and tried to feed him some cyclopeeze. To my surprise, he showed interest, and after a few minutes took a bite. After that, he ate around 7 more. He looks like he is finally going to eat! Thanks to everyone who helped :)

[Big Hank]

Thats awesome news! Keep updating!

[Moort82]

Good news. I have a suspicion that it may have been eating a little out of view as they seem to lose weight quickly. So hopefully now it seems to have started you will be in for an easier time.

[Kremis]

Good news. I have a suspicion that it may have been eating a little out of view as they seem to lose weight quickly. So hopefully now it seems to have started you will be in for an easier time.

I thought that might have been happening too, because it doesnt seem possible to last for 16 days without eating for a fish..

[LeslieP]

I have had one (Mr. Squiggles) for a few months now and after a few shy days, he is out most of the time. He seems to know by now that the other fish won't bother with him.

Mine has eaten frozen food since the beginning and I make my own. I squirt some on the opposite side of the tank first to get most of the fish away from him. Then I squirt some right over him. When he sees the food pipet he comes way up out of his hole to grab the goods. He'll do a few ducks back down if the larger fish come by, but then he pops right back up. I really need to get a buddy for him.

[Kremis]

He is now eating cyclopeeze with a lot of enthusiasm. Is this a food that I can keep him on long-term or would I need to train him onto something else? I hope to pick up a few more eels this weekend

[jayball]

He is now eating cyclopeeze with a lot of enthusiasm. Is this a food that I can keep him on long-term or would I need to train him onto something else? I hope to pick up a few more eels this weekend

I would work to train him on something else in addition to that. Even though it is a high quality food variety is always better. (basically everything in existance is cheaper than cyclop-eeze too)

Just mix in a little of something else during feeding time and they should take to it eventually.

[Kremis]

He is now eating cyclopeeze and mashed up brine shrimp. He is also getting braver, and doesn't hide for half an hour + as soon as he sees me. Well, yesterday I picked up 2 more from the LFS. Both had been there for over a week, and are very tiny. I mean TINY. They are probably only 5-6 inches long. Both ate today, so that shouldn't be a problem. My tank is set up with rocks in the back, and DSB in the front. In between the rocks and sand bed there is like this little like 2 inches by 2 inches pit with about 1 inch of sand. When I put the 2 new guys in, 1 went to the back of the tank (1 1/2 inch sand) and the other went into the pit. Like there is a nice sand bed, why.. ? I got the one who was in the back to move to the front, because I was getting worried that it wasn't getting enough food (back there is more or less a dead zone). So that one moved to the front with a little encouragement. I couldn't get the one in the pit to budge though, i dont know how but it hid somehow in there. I am hoping he will move on his own, like my first one eventually did. I did see him eat though, which is good. Does anyone have any experience with garden eels fighting? I mean I know they live in colonies, but I have seen videos of them fighting, and being that the 2 new guys are less than half the size of my current one, I am little bit worried. I will post pics later on :)

[Kremis]

Continuing on tank build here - http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=2605314