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Im not sure if this is the right place for this, but i just got a 4" fire eel and stuck it in my 60 gal tank with some south american cichlids. its been about 3 days and i have not been successful with feeding him. I have tried live guppy's, brineshrimp, sinking pellets, and flake. Even after lights out he doesn't even bite, any suggestions?

It may be slightly uncomfortable with the cichlids, especially if you have an agressive species like convicts or green terrors. What kind of substrate do you have? Can it/does it burrow in it? You could also provide a length of PVC pipe for it to hide in (more than one would be better, in case the cichlids get curious). Fire eels are carnivores, but as far as I know they aren't particularly agressive, especially when it's that small. If you have a spare 20 gal tank, I'd put it in there for a few weeks by itself to beef up a bit, feeding live brine shrimp and possibly healthy guppy fry (not full grown guppies, it sounds like it's still too small). Eventually, this eel can end up being 30 inches long (or more, I think), so a 4ft. or larger tank will probably be necessary.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

yeah i have two pieces of PVC pipe in the tank, but yeah he's in there with a couple convicts and a GT so i get what your saying. I got him to eat some blood worms but he doesn't seem to be doin all that well.

You really need to move him to his own tank for a while, or move the cichlids. You could possibly get away with partitioning the tank by getting or making a divider, but that eels needs to move to better conditions soon, or you will indeed lose him.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...