# Feeding a peacock eel



## Hydr0 JoE (Jan 13, 2009)

i read they like live food, would ghost shrimp be healthy for them to be eating? and would they be happy eating them?


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## Tallonebball (Apr 6, 2009)

Mine seem to gravitate toward redworms more. I never feed live though, I always bought frozen, thawed it out in hot water, and just poured it around the area he was. After a while he would actually recognize me and eventually I could get him to eat outta my hand.


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## Hydr0 JoE (Jan 13, 2009)

thats cool, i just got one and he is so timid, even if i walk in to the room he will start freaking out, and once i put my hand in with food he jumps into the gravel, ive tried frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp, but he wont touch it and my killifish eat everything, so thats why i thought i would look into live food


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## Sea-Agg2009 (Aug 2, 2008)

You can try ghost shrimp, though I'm not sure if they will take them. If not a few shrimp in a tank wont hurt anything. You can also try live worms. Dig some up from your yard, clean them off, and drop them in. I say dig them up because the ones they sell as fish bait may be a bit too big. You can always cut them up.


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## Hydr0 JoE (Jan 13, 2009)

worms where going to be my 2nd try if the shrimp did not work, i got him at a good size he is bigger then my golden dojo loach which i have had for about 6-7 months now, i cant really tell how big his mouth is and i have never seen him eat so i dont know how big their mouths are, are they big or small?


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## flamingo (Nov 5, 2005)

It should take to worms in an instant, well in most cases. Everytime i've kept them, it was the staple food I started them on. And FYI, if you feed ghost shrimp- gutload them first. You'll be surprised what they can eat.


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## Hydr0 JoE (Jan 13, 2009)

flamingo said:


> And FYI, if you feed ghost shrimp- gutload them first.


what does gutload mean?


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## Sea-Agg2009 (Aug 2, 2008)

Basically put some flake food in a small container with your ghost shrimp. They eat the food, and carry those nutrients. When you feed the ghost shrimp to your eel, the nutrients eaten by the shrimp are then used by the eel. This is a standard practice particularly in the reptile trade. 

This isn't a bad idea considering tank-raised ghost shrimp don't have much in the way of nutrition. I suggest ordinary flake food because it has a guaranteed nutritional content. If it is good enough for most fish to live their entire lives off of, then its a good enough to me to gutload my feeders. 

Peacock eels don't have the biggest mouths, which is why ghost shrimp might not work, depending on their size. That's also why I suggested wild worms rather than the giant nightcrawlers used for fish bait. Also who knows what they give those worms to make them grow...


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## Hydr0 JoE (Jan 13, 2009)

ok cool, thanx a lot


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## Tallonebball (Apr 6, 2009)

You can try to find live black or redworms too, the pet store I work at actually sells live blackworms by the ounce and you could probably find them online


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## petlovingfreak (May 8, 2009)

i feed mine brine shrimp and bloodworms, he also LOVES earthworms. I use a turkey baster to get the food to him.


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