Ribbon Eels

[cornyfish]

I just saw quite a few of these blue and yellow ribbon eels at Aquamarin today, thought they're v nice and not v expensive too. But read that they have a terrible captive survival rate, anyone can verify this?

[auberon]

Saw them there too! Nice and quite cheap.... Wanted to have them for quite sometime but also heard they are had to keep cos not easy to feed. Hoping to hear someone with some success rates...

[ryz]

I bought one from there... an adult black one... It took 3 days for it to start feeding but it's feeding already... have to bring the prawn meat right in front of it's head then it will grab it off your fingers... I've seen it hunt live mollies too! very cool...Maybe I'm just lucky for getting a not so picky specimen.

[ryz]

oops. repost.

[uncanny]

An update of my friend's 2ft blue ribbon...

fella doesnt touch mollies or shrimp....

has a taste for green chromis, damsels and octopus...

has v good taste...

[ryz]

Mine hunts live mollies regularly now... fight with my VOlitans for live mollies... one day it can eat 5 to 7 mollies!!! maybe even more but thats the max I fed it per day... very cool to watch it hunt... head so small can swallow huge fishes!

[blurkok]

i got a white ribbon eel, took a few days to a week before it started to eat frozen mysis.

make sure its got hiding places

[matongflush]

Do not feed freshwater fishes to marine fishes, it can cause liver problems in the long run. I would say that a diet of silversides, squid and unshelled prawns would do the job. Best of luck.

[ryz]

are you sure? because from what I know, many people feed their Lions anglers and eels live mollies as STAPLE food and have not had any problems in the long run. Maybe because mollies are more brackish water than freshwater so maybe it has the required fatty acids in it too... Mollies can live in saltwater too.. I feed my ribbon eel market prawns too but it still prefers to hunt it's own food.

[matongflush]

Yes, of coures what I write has to be substanciated. Symptoms of liver failure in fishes takes some year to develop, and by then, it may be incurable. You are right that the mollies have plenty of fatty acids which are harmful. In fact if you ask me, feeding mollies gives your eel little nutrition, equal to throwing in chunks of fat for the eel to eat. Even though mollies can survive in brackish and marine water, they do lack the specific diatery requirements of marine organisms, trace elements suck as iodine etc. I highly discourage you from using mollies as a primary food source, however if you insist on giving your eel mollies, the best thing would to feed the eels on that sparingly, say once a month? Squid is still the best staple food for eels.

[DeepBlue]

feeding freshwater feeder fish also may introduce diease to your marine fishes.....

learnt that in Luohan keeping a few years back.

Feederfishes are tough...tolerance level higher so they are likely able to survive and they do carry parasites and dieases with them. So you may be introducing all these to your preious fishes when you feed them with the feeder fishes....

PPLe dun call them long kao fish for no reason

[matongflush]

I testify to that part. Steer clear of those dirty little buggers!

[Golden Tooth]

Yup.

BTW Ryz got pics of urs in action?

[angry]

Try to wean your precious pets with lance fish. I did that with much success:) Even with a my frogfish:) I sometimes give them fresh water mollies to keep their predatory instinct alive...only sometimes:) ands i do agree mollies are bad for your precious pets in the long run.