Feeding problems

[balistidae]

i have a 3-4 inch porky puffer. I recently came across about a 6" clown trigger. NOw i need some feeding advice. When i put the food in the porky is so fast and manages to swallow everything whole just as the trigger is getting there. ONce the trigger sees the food gone he starts biting at the puffer. Normally they have zero agression toward each other its just when feeding time comes around it hits the fan....any advice on peaceful feeding methods??

 

[tony detroit]

Yeah, feed more food

 

[lionstorm]

i dont know why but the image of your trigger biting at your gluttonous pufferfish made me smile. I have a pufferfish and I have the same problem, mine gobbles down as much food as he can cram into that fat little body of his and if you aren't careful he's the only one who eats, so here is how i handle this situation:
Assuming you have a fairly decent sized tank that is semi long try this, what I do is drop food in on the left side of the tank and then some on the right also and after the puffer is done with the left and heads towards the right i put another on the left, this usually works ok. If your trigger is getting there late you could try just putting one piece in, letting the puffer have at, and then once you have the trigger's attention feed the puffer and trigger with the side to side method.
One thing that I've done kind of by accident is condition my pufferfish to seeing a plate and thinking 'food!' this can be a problem when I walk by the aquarium with food for myself and I stop and think "why is the puffer going crazy?" and then it dawns on me i'm teasing him.
Anyways with mine conditioned to the plate he follows it like a horse to a carrot and I can usually lure him to one side of the tank where he instinctively stares at the plate near him through the glass and waits on that side of the tank until I feed him, this works for me when I need to distract him.
Hope these ramblings help you

 

[evilss]

i used to have to throw some food on top and feed my trigger and eel with a feeding stick. you could also try that. worked great for me.

 

[balistidae]

thanks guys...i tried both methods and i had quite a bit of success with the feeding stick...man they are beasts

 

[conogre]

Use caution......porcupines ARE gluttons, but are almost completely zilch in the aggression department, while the clowns are famous as Jeckle/Hyde fish.....good tank fish until one day they cop an attitude and kill everything in the tank with them, then start destroying the LR, heater and such.
To make matters worse, if the Clown kills the Porky, you will probably lose both fish......like many puffers, they are highly poisonous to anything that eats them, either whole or in pieces.
We lost a bandtailed puffer during the night once, and as a result, lost over a dozen wrasses, triggers, etc.......everything that took a bite died, and there is NO antidote for the tetrodoxin.
By the way, have you ever seen an adult Clown trigger?
Imagine a full sized football with a bear trap for teeth, then make it twice that big......for real.