feeding

[puff(er) daddy]

I have a 7inch mapp puffer. When I first got him I was feeding him once a day. Now, I swiched it to every other day. He loves crayfish, krill, beef hearts, brine shrimps,and squid(all are frozen except the crayfish of course).
My two ?'s are:
(1) What are some live foods I could feed him besides crayfish. He would not even give goldfish a second glance, I want to give him a healty variety of foods.
(2) How should my feeding schdule go, once a day or every other day? And how much, should I feed him until his stomach gets realy fat because he'll eat whatever and how much ever I put in there.
Confused. ALL suggestions are welcome.

 

[pufferlover]

Your variety for the Puffer is good, but if I were you I would not be in a hurry to feed it any other live food. Live food to me has 2 disadvantages. First in some rare cases you can end up passing along a disease to your fish thru a sick feeder (not worth the gamble to me). Second it gives the fish the idea that moving things (like smaller tankmates now or down the road) look tasty. I have never fed any of my Puffs live other then blackworms and brine shrimp.
Now as to how much I feed till their tummy starts to bulge out slightly. To feed until there is a huge bulge is both bad for the fish and a waste of food. They will eat as much as you will give and true it looks cute to see that little tummy with a big ball looking bulge but it is to much food and they tend then to be lazy till they digest it. In some cases they overeat so much they sink to the bottom for hours unsable to move.

 

[puff(er) daddy]

should I do this once, twice or every other day?

 

[guppie]

I try to feed my puffers once a day, with every now and then skipping a day. i know in the beginning I was over feeding and my dogface would just lie around on the bottom of the tank for hours. I do as pufferlover says just enough to see their bellies bulge a little this has worked well for mine. Good Luck

 

[trigahappynigerog]

freshwater fish wont give the puffer the nutrients that is needed, if you like feeding live foods brine, hermit crabs, snails and even damsels can be a natural and interesting to watch. feed three times a week.

 

[mark-24]

And live food generally leads to more aggressive behavior.
-Mark

 

[pufferlover]

To me feeding lots of live food is a way to avoid taking the time to figure out good foods for your fish and healthy things to keep them happy and healthy. I am not opposed to live as some fish will only eat it and need it to start on their way to other foods, but a steady diet of any one or two things is not good.