# Baby Conger Eel....a very important question



## Guest

when i went snorkeling at a local beach, my little sister was rumaging around a tide pool. she ended up finding baby conger eels, that seemed to be only hatchlings. we took a few home and i put them in our 40 gallon saltwater tank. all but one has survived and he has been in there for over a week, maybe 2 weeks. I figured since it is a hatchling, it must be eating something to have survived this long, but im not completely sure what. im thinking debris from frozen Formula 1 food. I just noticed he was still alive last night when i was moving around some decor and he came swimming out. since he is so delicate, i thought it'd be better if i moved him into a smaller confinement so that i could moniter him better, so he is in a large vase with water from the tank, an air stone, a thermometer, sand from the tank, and a rock from the tank and i plan on doing a water change once every couple of days. I just put him in a few minutes ago and he is still showing signs of stress by swimming around the top and near the glass. 

my question is, was this a good idea, or should i have left him in the 40 where he was surviving?

please help, thanks


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## Guest

scratch that, i just found another one in the tank! 
cant believe it

anyways, i moved the other eel back into the tank. i figured if he's surviving in there, why move him
if anyone still has any comments on my decision, please post.

thanks


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## hail_sniper

yeah, more space would be better, i dont know much about those eels, but they would probably eat mysid shrimp, the krill, to my knowledge most eels eat about the same things, so look up what a moray or w/e eel eats and try feeding them that


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## Guest

okay thanks, but their mouths are TINY! i was thinking daphnia but i dont know of any place near me that sells it.


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## redpaulhus

Hey Scuba -
very cool.
I've collected a few of what I thought were juvinile american eels (_Anguilla rostrata_) but never a conger (I've also caught alot of adult eels when fishing for freshwater bass  )
The ones I kept successfully were maybe 4 inches long, and ate anything and everything...

If they are too small for brine shrimp - how about freshly hatched baby brine shrimp ? Or frozen baby brine, or cyclop-eeze ? or take a block of frozen food (brine, mysids, etc) and scrape the edge with a razor to get small pieces ? Sometimes I dice up cubes of frozen mysids or brine to get the same effect, but "chunkier" and more varied...

Just how small are they ?


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## fishfreaks

wow, what a nice find! i hope the best for your fishies!! if you could fine the cyclope eze at your lfs, i think he would probably eat that since you say they are so small.


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## Guest

thanks for the help everyone. im pretty sure they are eating debris from frozen foods, but i haven't actually seen them eat it. 

they are about 3 inches long (the length they are right after changing from larvae) but their heads are about 3/4 of a centimeter. so you can imagine how tiny their mouths are. im just happy i have survivers, and i might actually have a chance at raising them. im going to try the food ideas you guys gave me.


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## fishfreaks

cool! let us know how it goes


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## Guest

I am very excited! i finally witnessed one of my babies eating frozen formula 1 food!!!! 
i could not be happier! 
now tomorrow i am going to scoop out the little guy while i siphon the tank and clean it up a bit. i also need to make a hood in the near future, for this is a breeding tank (i was told by someone?) and is old and has weird measurements. so i cannot buy one. dammit.
but now that i know that one of the babies is eating (im didnt see 2 tonight but he may just didnt come out) i can rest easy and im one step closer to raising these guys.


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## TheOldSalt

That's great news!

By the way, fish which are "programmed" to eat only certain things don't start switching to that specific menu until they've passed the larval stage and are in early juvenile phase. The thing is, they'll only switch IF that food item is available. If it isn't, then they'll keep eating whatever is handy, and after the time of dietary specialization has passed, they'll never get specialized. That means that if you have juvenile fish of a species normally very difficult to keep because it's diet is too hard to meet, then keeping that food away from it for a few months will prevent that problem from arising.

Does this mean that things like butterflyfish which only eat live coral can be raised to eat flake food?

YES! That's exactly what it means. There is at least one company even now working on producing such fish.

Your eels, if already eating aquarium fare, will continue to enjoy such foods all their lives, most likely, which will make things a lot easier for you in the years to come. However, if you should release them into the sea again someday, they might not have a clue how to hunt. Something to think about, if you're trying to decide if you should keep them.


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## Guest

i also thought about how i would handle two eels that got so big if i was to raise them. since they are in a 40 gallon and obviously would not be able to get to 6 feet long, i was thinking about asking my local aquarium if they would be interested (of course it will take them a while until they are full grown, if they even survive, which i am beginning to have positive thoughts about).


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## predator

im confused... your from rhode island right? all that i have found said that congers are a european species... i mean water temps are about the same so i can see it, but y cant i find info about them around north america?


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## Guest

i dont know why you cant fiond info about them around North America, but i definitely know they live around here...the local divers have seent them, they swim into lobster traps all the time, and our local bait shop sells them.


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