[surfskate333]

I just started to feed my snowflake eel live small goldfish. Good idea, Bad Idea?????? I have a 55gl with a snowflake eel, emperor angelfish, yellow tang and a huma huma triggerfish.

[Ninong]

Probably a bad idea. Gold fish are freshwater fish (carp) and not part of a saltwater fish's natural diet. I know that they can be deadly for lionfish because they cause fatty deposits to build up in the liver.

P.S. -- Welcome to Reefland!

[Poseidon]

I had a snowflake eel years ago and had good luck with frozen krill on a string... Takes time and patience, but it is way better for the little guy! Some have also used ghost shrimp, but those too are fresh water and may cause digestive troubles.

[surfskate333]

What if I fed the goldfish krill which would eventually find its way to the eel? Would that make a difference???

[Key Of David]

I'm no expert but is it possible for freshwater fish to spread disease to saltwater fish? Feeding goldfish to freshwater carnivorous fish is a no no because of this possibility. A goldfish is very hardy and could look just fine but be carrying who knows what.

[surfskate333]

Sorry, I am just trying to find something live (that he can catch) that would be healthy for him?? Any suggestions??

thank you,
Zach

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by surfskate333

Sorry, I am just trying to find something live (that he can catch) that would be healthy for him?? Any suggestions??

thank you,
Zach

Zach,

I have never owned a Snowflake Eel (Echidna nebulosa) but I can tell you what Scott Michael recommends for them in his Reef Fishes, Volume 1. First off, he says you should feed it no more than twice a week because they don't eat everyday in the wild. He says to feed it as much as it wants to eat but only twice a week. You can get it off of live food by using fresh or thawed frozen seafood and impaling it on the end of a feeding stick that you wave in front of it. He uses a piece of rigid air line tubing with a sharpened end. Try fresh or frozen squid, marine fish flesh and crustaceans. According to Scott Michael, overfeeding will lead to fatty infiltration of the liver, which impairs its functioning.

According to fishbase, it feeds mainly on crustaceans in the wild: http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/Spec...sname=nebulosa

[Dive_Master]

I have 4 eels in different tanks, so I think I can help you here.

First I would not feed the Eel or any fish with live food unless I had to or knew that I would not breing any parasites or bacteria into the tank.

Goldfish are a bad idea.

I do not know how big your eel is but my eels are fed once a week with squid, shrimp, kril, silversides, octopus. Stuff that you can buy in local market.

Food for people, just make sure that the food is fresh, even not clean is better. Heads are excellent for some nutrients that they need (I am not going into details here) but let me know if you are interested.


If the eel is small, you can feed him with cut up Formula 1 to get him going.

My eels have grown to a point that I needed to put them in seperate tanks. (200 gallons each) Be ready for this or he will eat everything he can get his mouth on.

They are very interesting animals. If you like to see him really active get some moon lights.

[Dragon Moray eels]

surfskate333, i only just join up here for i see much is wrong and not only you are feeding live feeders but your size of a tank with its tank mates. In short, you have a huge bio load for your 55 and fish that will out grow it and a large angelfish, will need a much larger tank and best you have to feed the angelfish live sponge.

Of course you leave out much info other then size of your tank and tank mates, but just that few info that you shared here tells me you not do as well in time to come. I never feed my Eels or fish that i use to have before selling five my F/O tanks before i moved for i not had the room for them. I had Eels for the better part of 45 years and yes, back in the beginning, i did give live feeders But you and other today not need to do this and it be no problem of any sickness or anything as that, but they offer nothing as nutrition goes and do offer more fat. As one other said here "fatty deposits".
Silversides are ok to get your eels to feed and once feeding begins, you switch to the eels natural diet as best you can in your SF case, Crabs and shrimps. You should know that silversides offer little if any on nutritional values and their little body holds more water then anything.
Say Dive Master, which species of eels you have that needs a 200 gal tank for just one of them?
Buddy ><{{{{">

[Dive_Master]

I have a green Moray EEl in a 200 gallon tank by itself.
I have BlackSpotted (Australian) Moray EEL in a 200 gallon by itself. Similar to tessellated but not quite.

They will eat anything in their path.

[Dragon Moray eels]

Dive Master, Im afraid you be misjudging the Green for a 200 for it isn't fully grown yet. For the Green in body thickness will be as the widest part of a football and will grow as large as 7' and can grow so much larger.
I Done had a Green when at the age of 17 and info back in the 60`s were info wasn't so available on these animals and people back then were saying a 150-180 gal tank would do find. But i setup a 300 and it was too small for the Green for in little as two years, the Green was at a size of 5'+.

Also animals so huge as the Green, the Giant Moray Or the tess would require a deeper tank as well as huge in gals and if i was to ever had the idea of keeping a Green again, the tank would be no less then a 1000 gal tank, but i would prefer a tank for its better health of 5,000 gals. I know what your going to say but take into account that eels like the green hunt days or night.
What size is the Green now? And what size tank it is in at this time? You will also know that with such large Eels that you need to have strong snap locks keeping your covering in place. And of course, you can go smaller in tank size for the Green, but i wouldn't go less in the case for a green then 500 gals.

Buddy ><{{{{">

[Dive_Master]

The green is in a 200 gallon by himself. He is happy now. He is only about 5 long.

We'll see how happy he is. I do not mind getting him a bigger tank if he need it.

The glass tops are heavy enough for now. I realize that he will be stronger and try to jump, but there are always 25 lbs weights in the basement that I can use.

I think he will be fine, thanks for your concerns.

[Dragon Moray eels]

do not mind getting him a bigger tank if he need it

The Green will in time need the space If it will take you a while in doing so for so large a tank, it be best then that you start now in collecting the things you will need for a large tank and not wait to the last minute and you find yourself at a budget and cannot afford to do it later and the longer you wait, you will need some help in getting the Green from one tank to place in the other.

there are always 25 lbs weights in the basement that I can use

Best if you cannot get your lfs to help in secured latches for you will need much weight on the glass cover in time and not place those exercise weights if you can, but if you do, be careful in where you place them and only place the weights at the edge of the glass cover and not in the meddle.

So the purpose for this response is, you need to get started right away on the larger tank for this Green and not wait to long.

Buddy ><{{{{">

[goldfishees]

Originally Posted by Key Of David

I'm no expert but is it possible for freshwater fish to spread disease to saltwater fish? Feeding goldfish to freshwater carnivorous fish is a no no because of this possibility. A goldfish is very hardy and could look just fine but be carrying who knows what.

Hold on I've had goldfish for seven years and they're the only fish I've ever had. Yes, it is true that some come with diseases, but doesn't all fish some times come with disases too. In my seven years of having goldfish I've had over 15 I can remember only 1 coming with a disease and I think that he got sick when I had him because I didn't have a filter. I would assume that if you were to put a goldfish in a saltwater tank then the goldfish would swim around then die within 10 minutes. Key of David your ingerint.

DON'T BE DISIN MY GOLDFISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dragon Moray eels]

Originally Posted by goldfishees

Hold on I've had goldfish for seven years and they're the only fish I've ever had. Yes, it is true that some come with diseases, but doesn't all fish some times come with disases too. In my seven years of having goldfish I've had over 15 I can remember only 1 coming with a disease and I think that he got sick when I had him because I didn't have a filter. I would assume that if you were to put a goldfish in a saltwater tank then the goldfish would swim around then die within 10 minutes.

DON'T BE DISIN MY GOLDFISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now it is very unlikely that any freshwater diseases could ever affect marine animals, but the only down side in using freshwater feeders is, they are like feeding junk foods. You know, it is like kids eat chips and all. So it not the case you have to be concern about freshwater diseases but only that feeders offer nothing in nutrition and do offer fat.

Now you would in years see a huge difference from your lionfish in its hunt between feeders and damsels, for when it hunts, it is active and is more healthy over all unlike feeding feeders that the chase ends pretty quick inside of that ten minutes or its dead anyway. Also those feeders do shorten your marine animals life span, you might not agree but it is a fact nevertheless.
Buddy ><{{{{">

[Key Of David]

Originally Posted by goldfishees

Hold on I've had goldfish for seven years and they're the only fish I've ever had. Yes, it is true that some come with diseases, but doesn't all fish some times come with disases too. In my seven years of having goldfish I've had over 15 I can remember only 1 coming with a disease and I think that he got sick when I had him because I didn't have a filter. I would assume that if you were to put a goldfish in a saltwater tank then the goldfish would swim around then die within 10 minutes. Key of David your ingerint.

DON'T BE DISIN MY GOLDFISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I, for one, would never say goldfish are "bad" fish. I kept them for longer than you think and only goldfish. I kept them for several years and I liked them. I hated to get rid of my last ones. You obviously took what I said the wrong way. My meaning in my post was.....that if you constantly introduce new strange life into your little established captive system you are GOING to introduce disease to that system I don't care what kind of fish you use. The reason I said "goldfish bring disease" is that THAT is the kind of fish most often used for this purpose. It would be the case for any other fish constantly being introduced into your system.

Besides.....I would think you would be FOR not using feeder goldfish since you like them so much.

[goldfishees]

Originally Posted by Key Of David

Besides.....I would think you would be FOR not using feeder goldfish since you like them so much. :)

Hold on a minute what made you think I feed goldfish to my fish???? I never said that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have only had goldfish, shrimp, and snails and I never used live feeders exept for now and those live feeders were shrimp. I never would feed my fish goldfish even if they another kind of fish. Out of the 15 goldfish that I have had 11 of them were comits a.k.a. feeder fish and none of them got aten just started flooting exept for the 3 inch one I have now that is twice the size of any of the fish in my tank and it is swimming right now. So don't assume.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by goldfishees

Hold on a minute what made you think I feed goldfish to my fish???? I never said that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have only had goldfish, shrimp, and snails and I never used live feeders exept for now and those live feeders were shrimp. I never would feed my fish goldfish even if they another kind of fish. Out of the 15 goldfish that I have had 11 of them were comits a.k.a. feeder fish and none of them got aten just started flooting exept for the 3 inch one I have now that is twice the size of any of the fish in my tank and it is swimming right now. So don't assume.

Are you saying that your 3" comet is twice the size of any of the fish in your tank and yet you have had 11 of them? Didn't any of them live long enough to reach their normal adult size of 12"-14"?

[goldfishees]

Originally Posted by Ninong

Are you saying that your 3" comet is twice the size of any of the fish in your tank and yet you have had 11 of them? Didn't any of them live long enough to reach their normal adult size of 12"-14"?

No, see I got sick and tried of them so I didn't take care of them for a month and in that month they died.

[Key Of David]

Originally Posted by goldfishees

Hold on a minute what made you think I feed goldfish to my fish???? I never said that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have only had goldfish, shrimp, and snails and I never used live feeders exept for now and those live feeders were shrimp. I never would feed my fish goldfish even if they another kind of fish. Out of the 15 goldfish that I have had 11 of them were comits a.k.a. feeder fish and none of them got aten just started flooting exept for the 3 inch one I have now that is twice the size of any of the fish in my tank and it is swimming right now. So don't assume.

I didn't assume anything. The person who started the thread was thinking of doing it....it had nothing to do with you. BUT....coming up against someone that is trying to say that constantly adding feeder goldfish to a system is possibly asking for disaster isn't exactly working AGAINST feeding goldfish.

Also.....comets are actually a little more "fancy" than common goldfish and aren't considered "feeders". Common goldfish are the "feeder" fish you see on sale for $.25.