Moray Hasnt Eatin!

[Marine/Freshwater?]

Help my Freshwater Moray (19inch.) has not been eating regularly for about a month. My problems started when I bout another 8inch moray. My big moray got so obbssessed with chasiing the other eel that it stopped eating. Ive got a seperator up now. My little moray is great. My big moray has always been very "obedient" compared to my little moray. Even though i apreciate its calm and relaxed nature i wonder if it is a sign of a problem. My little moray is very energetic and is a handful. When i bought my big moray he was not very active. Ive had the big for 8 mnths without problems, so this seems odd. Maybe my moray is suffering from cyanide piosining and poor handling/shipping? My little moray is a lot healthier than my big moray has ever been. i need ways to get my moray eating. My moray twiches a lot too.

 

[nmonks]

Please tell us something about the tank. It is 100% normal (and almost 100% inevitable) for "freshwater" morays kept in freshwater to lose their appetite. And then they die. Unless kept in brackish water, these fishes simply don't last long in aquaria, regardless of their tolerance of freshwater in the wild. As a baseline, you should be aiming for 50% seawater salinity, around SG 1.010.

If you have your moray in brackish water at SG 1.010, then there may be another problem. If you *don't* have it at SG 1.010 or more, then the problem is too low a salinity.

Cheers, Neale

 

[Marine/Freshwater?]

My specific gravity is 1.016. PH 7.9...brackish

 

[Lhutch]

what worked to get mine feeding was kill a feeder guppy, drop it in swish it around near where it lives and see if he takes it if not just drop a live feeder guppy in and try and have him hunt it, dead usally works better, whats your temp at, mine would get finecky at like 78F

 

[nmonks]

Well, that should be fine. You might try lowering the SG one week, and then raising it another. Fluctuating salinity levels can (do) have a tonic effect on brackish water fish, replicating more closely their natural environment.

Morays hunt by smell: if you add too much food at once, they can get confused. Water current also swishes the smell about the tank, making things difficult as well. Hand-feeding is useful: specifically, use long forceps to hold the food in front of the mouth. Morays are practically blind, so they won't "see" the forceps, and should attack the prey.

Use a variety of prey. Frozen seafood mix is ideal, as they enjoy all the different animals in there, and you can mix it up so they don't eat the same thing two nights in a row.

Morays are nocturnal, and there's no point feeding in the day time, at least not at first. Always place food in the same spot in the tank, so they "learn" where to forage. Also, do try skipping food some days, to pique their appetite.

Live river shrimps are an excellent food for morays, so see if you can get hold of these. Feeder guppies/mollies are another option, though not one I personally recommend for a variety of reasons.

Over at Wet Web Media there's an *excellent* article by Marco Lichtenberger on these eels in their 'Conscientious Fishkeeper' magazine. It's in Year 4, issue 2 I think.

Cheers, Neale

My specific gravity is 1.016. PH 7.9...brackish

 

[Lhutch]

i tried live shrimp and my moray that i had never went for them, i guess its best to try a few things