Can Moray Eels eat too much?

[AmberFL03]

It's a routine that I feed my 2 Morays (~12" each) every 3 days...a month ago they were eating like 1 small silverside each...today they ate a combined 2+ silversides and 2 raw shrimp and still acted hungry!? They usually retreat to digest after mealtime so one is nestled in the PVC and the other looks like it's in a food coma under a rock lol. I don't want to overfeed, should I cut back on their feeding schedule and/or the amount I feed them or is this totally normal and just keep on keeping on?

[AmberFL03]

White-Eyed and SFE

[slief]

Morays will eat as much as you are willing to feed them. I've had all kinds of eels over the years. The more you feed them, the more they will eat however, that kind of conditioning will result in an agressive eel when you slack off. It also results in greater waste (poop) in the tank and a faster growing eel that can and will outgrow your tank in a hurry.

That said, my 5' green moray ate daily as did my Hawaiian dragon but they was also housed with sharks that needed to be fed daily. He got what he got but would consume a pound of fish fillets plus a fist full cleaned squid in a single feeding. I'd guess he weighed 15 - 20 or so pounds and was full grown. Based on that, he was eating nearly double his body weight a month and would have been happy to eat more. If you use that as a point of reference, I'd think he sould be eating 3x his estimated body weight a month if not more given that he growing.

When your eel is really hungry, he will be particularly agressive when he eats. Use that behaviour as a point of reference and try took keep in ungressive with proper feeded. His behaviour should dictate his feeding.

I've always hand fed my morays. My big green moray loved to be handled. He loved having his chin and head rubbed and his sides scratched. He'd even let me pick him up by hand and lift him completely out of the tank.

That said, different species of morays have completely different attitudes. Green's and California Morays can be the most docile and trusting. Yellow head morays are a bit psycho. Dragons are timid but can be agressive when the eat. Snowflakes are timid and fairly docile. While I've had no experience with the White Eyed morays, I'd speculate that it's a fairly aggressive eel. I say that because most of the lighter colored Morays I've played with were more aggressive than the greens or the California morays.

Use this info at your own risk. I've had lots of hands on experience with both tanked eels as well as wild eels and feel very comfortable handeling them.

[AmberFL03]

Thanks for such a comprehensive answer! I don't want to over or under feed, and I most definitely don't want an exploding eel due to overfeeding lol. My eels don't mind my hand in the tank, the snowflake occasionally will swim up and sit in my hand, but my White-Eyed eagerly swims up every time my hand goes in and makes himself comfy twisting and wrapping around my fingers...using my hand as like a cave. Eels are pleasantly and surprisingly silky to the touch...I know from their slime coat. That's awesome such a big eel species like your green was so docile to allow such handling! I guess I'll continue with my every 3rd day feedings for now and see how it goes! :spin: