What are the BEST/CHEAPEST means for live feeder fish (saltwater)?

[JLAudio]

I have a blue ribbon eel that is notoriously hard to feed, but mine seems to take a serious liking to live fish (i.e. 3 of my fire fish :grumpy:, 2 mollies I put in, this all in one week).

I know mollies can be put in saltwater as feeders, but kinda expensive, would goldfish acclimate? or young guppies? anyone know where they sell cheap feeder saltwater fish like live silversides?

I KNOW THIS IS A CRUEL CONCEPT (FEEDING LIVE FISH) BUT AN UNFOURTENATE PART OF KEEPING CERTAIN ANIMALS

 

[bad coffee]

you need to feed them saltwater fish. fresh water fish have different body chemistry, and are not good long term feeders for saltwater fish.

have you tried to ween your eel onto frozen fish? maybe frozen silversides that you hand feed? do a bit of searching on 'hand feeding eels' and see what info you come up with.

if you can't get it to accept frozen, you'll have to shell out the cash for some chromis/damsels, ect that are on sale. the other option is to find a clownfish breeder and buy the culls. either way it's not cheap. did you happen to consider this before you aquired the eel?

b

 

[Phyl]

Does your eel like shrimp? We use a sien net at the shore to catch ghost shrimp and throw those into the tank for our yellow morray (18"?). They're able to live just fine, for as long as necessary, while the eel & lionfish hunt them down. We're lucky that our eel & lion eat prawns/krill readily so we don't *have* to go the live route unless we care to (also lucky that they don't eat any fish).

 

[duke62]

i dont know if there is a difference where the salt water fish came from .im wondering if you can use keelies from local bait store.they are live and very cheap

 

[fritz]

Big net + Sheapshead Bay down by Kingsboro = best/cheapest means for live feeder fish

 

[JLAudio]

I did not consider this at all. It wasnt an impulsive buy either. Ive been searching for a good eel, but most are too aggressive for a reef. I was slightly influenced for this specific eel by the LFS guy. I know him for years and know that he has been successful with this eel and many other exotic stuff. At the store he ate silversides, but seems to show no interest in mine, just my FIREFISH! I didnt realize how finicky they are till I researched after the fact, I merely trusted him. I do feel my eel is a healthy eater, just have to ween him off living stuff.

 

[JLAudio]

Duke that sounds like a good idea, curious about temp and other possible problems for that fish

Arent ghost shrimp for freshwater? If not I can get them from LFS. Also I heard of these white shrimp which are cheap feeder shrimp for saltwater.

 

[cb747]

Get some silversides and put them on a stick and wave it infront of the eel. It will eat it eventually. Also while your trying to persuade your eel to eat frozen stop feeding it anything live. When it gets hungry enough it will eat frozen. Ribbons can also go for a week or 2 without eating anything. I feed my eels every 2 to 3 days as they dont need to be fed daily. You can also try the same thing using frozen krill. Mine eat anything i throw in the tank now.

 

[JLAudio]

Im gonna really try and get this guy eat''n some frozen cause all this live food is getting inconvenient