Getting a Porc Puffer to eat non-live food

sueandherzoo

sueandherzoo

Active Member
Hi.
I brought home a porcupine puffer three days ago. They told me while I was at the store that he was a finicky eater and only wanted live food but said with some patience I might be able to wean him over to frozen krill - urged me to - since they said tuffies are not a good diet for a puffer. They were right - he inhales live fish but I haven't had any luck getting him to eat krill, mysis, etc. I try to throw food right in the current to imitate a swimming motion but he's too smart for that.
Do I just keep feeding him both (live and non-live) and hope he'll someday start to pick at frozen krill or do I need to keep him hungry for a few days? Not sure if this is where I need to exhibit some tough love or if I should wait until I've had him a while before I put him on a hunger strike.
Sue
 
small triggers

small triggers

Active Member
id wait till youve had him for a few weeks, you can always get ghost shrimp and gut-load them so hell be getting better nutrition. he is very skinny so it would be better to keep him eating for a while then do a 3 day starve and get some nice big frozen silversides, thaw them out and maybe use a feeding stick to simulate movement.
 
prime311

prime311

Active Member
Keep trying with non live foods. Soak the foods in garlic to entice him a little more. You should try a variety of things, krill, squid, octopus, crab, snails, shrimp. He should come around enventually, puffers are voracious eaters and will eat almost anything that looks big enough to be a meal. He may never eat mysis shrimp as they are kind of small. If you have to feed live, stick with ghost shrimp for now. Feeder fish are bad for puffers, both nutritionally and behaviorally.
 
sueandherzoo

sueandherzoo

Active Member
Originally Posted by prime311
http:///forum/post/2833115
Keep trying with non live foods. Soak the foods in garlic to entice him a little more. You should try a variety of things, krill, squid, octopus, crab, snails, shrimp. He should come around enventually, puffers are voracious eaters and will eat almost anything that looks big enough to be a meal. He may never eat mysis shrimp as they are kind of small. If you have to feed live, stick with ghost shrimp for now. Feeder fish are bad for puffers, both nutritionally and behaviorally.
thanks for the advice. I tried a flapping some silversides around on a feeding stick twice today but he showed NO interest. I guess I'm not very good at simulating a fish. I think I only have 3 or 4 feeders left so after that the puffer goes on a hunger strike for a few days.
This is so frustrating, and scary!
Sue
 
saltygerman

saltygerman

Member
Originally Posted by SueAndHerZoo
http:///forum/post/2833299
thanks for the advice. I tried a flapping some silversides around on a feeding stick twice today but he showed NO interest. I guess I'm not very good at simulating a fish. I think I only have 3 or 4 feeders left so after that the puffer goes on a hunger strike for a few days.
This is so frustrating, and scary!
Sue
Mine loves krill soaked in vitamins. I got a tip from someone about frozen peas and tried it....He luvs em!!!! He wont touch silversides or clams. He will also eat Mysis. I only gve him kril every now and then because I heard it's like puffer crack...and can cause lock jaw???
 
sueandherzoo

sueandherzoo

Active Member
Originally Posted by saltygerman
http:///forum/post/2833329
Mine loves krill soaked in vitamins. I got a tip from someone about frozen peas and tried it....He luvs em!!!! He wont touch silversides or clams. He will also eat Mysis. I only gve him kril every now and then because I heard it's like puffer crack...and can cause lock jaw???
Are peas good for them or more like a treat?
Sue
 
jp30338

jp30338

Member
Sounds like you may have to use the ole starvation technique. Personally I would would not wait any longer then necessary. Once a puffer gets really hungry they will eat anything! A trick I used with my lion was to hold the frozen krill or silverside with my fingers, and make it "swim" a little, until the lion got really close then let it go, and bam it ate the food right up.
You are also, thawing the food out a bit before trying to feed right?
In the future, you may want to make sure that any more livestock you buy is eating frozen food, and have the lfs show you. It is such a pain sometimes to get these fish eating what we want them to!
 
sueandherzoo

sueandherzoo

Active Member
I think you're right about the "starvation" method...... after warming and soaking and stabbing and wiggling several silversides and pieces of krill in front of the puffer last night, I got fed up and disgusted and told him he could just starve to death for all I care.
Of course I won't let that happen but I figured it was time to get tough with him.
I have always had this "thing" for dead fish - they just skeeve me out so badly, and I'm forcing myself to get over that now that I am dealing with frozen, dead silvery things that I am stabbing while they stare back at me. This hobby makes us do things we normally wouldn't even consider!
I left two pieces of a silverside on the bottom of the tank - if he's hungry enough while I'm here at the office perhaps he'll find it. If not, I'll try teasing him with something on a feeding stick again tonight.
Is there a live food that is GOOD for him? I wouldn't mind raising something in a separate tank for him if it were healthy. My LFS has nothing but perhaps something I could order online and breed myself?
Sue
 
kingsmith

kingsmith

Member
Sue I think someone mentioned earlier that you could gut load ghost shrimp, I know I have seen them at All Pets. I also read here you could just buy a bunch put them in a ten gallon with a cheap filter feed and they will reproduce I am not sure about that but it sounds like it will work I know I have bought ghost shrimp with tons of eggs in them.
 
fish master

fish master

Member
just feed him frozen krill. he will eat it when hes hungery. when i first got my puffer, he went 3 weeks before he would eat, now hes at the front of tank waiting for the food.
 
stdreb27

stdreb27

Active Member
Don't feed your puffer a diet based on krill. That can and typically will lead to some malnutrition based problems, like lockjaw and blindness.
Puffers typically will eat just about anything if they're happy. Personally my puffer was never a big fan of silversides or other fish. However they typically so much fish eaters as they are invert eaters. My puffer absolutely loved oysters on a half shell. Those are pretty healthy.
Personally if my puffer was not eating anything dead. I'd try some sort of bivalve if you pick em up at the grocery store they're still alive. Then put some garlic extreem on it and see if it perks his interest.
 
leftyblite

leftyblite

Member
I tried this trick with my puffer and my lion and it got both of them weaned to silversides really fast. Take a live feeder fish on a feeding stick and stick it in the tank. After your puffer takes it immedialtely put a silversides on the same stick and wave it around. Mine both snapped it up immediately. It took about 2-3 feeding of this before all I fed was the silversides and not live fish. Mine also loved to eat clams, krill, and brine shrimp. Good luck!
 
sueandherzoo

sueandherzoo

Active Member
Originally Posted by KingSmith
http:///forum/post/2834261
Sue I think someone mentioned earlier that you could gut load ghost shrimp, I know I have seen them at All Pets. I also read here you could just buy a bunch put them in a ten gallon with a cheap filter feed and they will reproduce I am not sure about that but it sounds like it will work I know I have bought ghost shrimp with tons of eggs in them.
You got LIVE ghost shrimp at APC???? When I was in Sunday I asked if they had anything live, besides tuffies, that I could feed the puffer. The kid said "no" and pointed me towards the frozen silversides. I wouldn't mind going to the LFS a few times a week (an excuse would actually be nice!) but only if there were a live food that were GOOD for the puffer. Gut loaded ghost could work if I can find them. Thanks for the tip - I'll wait to talk specifically to Ed next time I'm there.
Originally Posted by fish master
http:///forum/post/2834264
just feed him frozen krill. he will eat it when hes hungery. when i first got my puffer, he went 3 weeks before he would eat, now hes at the front of tank waiting for the food.
Ouch - three weeks. Not sure I'm THAT good at tough love!
Originally Posted by stdreb27
http:///forum/post/2834319
Don't feed your puffer a diet based on krill. That can and typically will lead to some malnutrition based problems, like lockjaw and blindness.
Once I can get him eating something other than live food I can have some fun with mixing up and varying his diet. Right now the trick is to get him to realize that it doesn't have to wiggle to be good!
Puffers typically will eat just about anything if they're happy. Personally my puffer was never a big fan of silversides or other fish. However they typically so much fish eaters as they are invert eaters. My puffer absolutely loved oysters on a half shell. Those are pretty healthy.
Personally if my puffer was not eating anything dead. I'd try some sort of bivalve if you pick em up at the grocery store they're still alive. Then put some garlic extreem on it and see if it perks his interest.
I guess I'm off to the fish market after work, but not the LFS this time.
Originally Posted by leftyblite
ow">
I tried this trick with my puffer and my lion and it got both of them weaned to silversides really fast. Take a live feeder fish on a feeding stick and stick it in the tank. After your puffer takes it immedialtely put a silversides on the same stick and wave it around. Mine both snapped it up immediately. It took about 2-3 feeding of this before all I fed was the silversides and not live fish. Mine also loved to eat clams, krill, and brine shrimp. Good luck!

Ugh, now you're asking me to impale a live fish...... this hobby is not for the weak at heart. But I can see how that would work beautifully. Time to call in hubby for this - maybe I'll assign him to feedings. Ugh - stabbing a live fish.

I'm sure I am setting him back a little with his "getting acclimated" because I've already moved him once in the week I've had him. The small quarantine tank I put him in was too small - he was polluting it (and so was I with my feeding attempts) and I was having a hard time keeping the ammonia low so I moved him to an empty but running 46 gallon (getting it ready for seahorses). Then when I'm done quarantining, he's learned to eat, and I move the slow-moving fish out of my big display tank I can move the puffer in there -- he'll have to acclimate one more time. He looks healthy, so far, and is starting to come out of his shell a little. When I sit next to the tank he starts peeking at me from behind the rocks and starts to come towards me a little. It'll take time, I'm sure, but he looks like he's worth the wait.
Sue
 
kingsmith

kingsmith

Member
Originally Posted by SueAndHerZoo
http:///forum/post/2834555
You got LIVE ghost shrimp at APC???? When I was in Sunday I asked if they had anything live, besides tuffies, that I could feed the puffer. The kid said "no" and pointed me towards the frozen silversides. I wouldn't mind going to the LFS a few times a week (an excuse would actually be nice!) but only if there were a live food that were GOOD for the puffer. Gut loaded ghost could work if I can find them. Thanks for the tip - I'll wait to talk specifically to Ed next time I'm there.
Yeah they have them in the fresh water displays I think they sell them more as livestcok thean live feed but they are pretty cheap if you buy more than 10
Good Luck and I hope your little Porc will fatten up soon
 
leftyblite

leftyblite

Member
I know it wasn't easy the first time I had to put the live fish on a feeding stick either, but hte results were amazing. My wife and daughter have told me to be sure and do this when they are not here.
 
sueandherzoo

sueandherzoo

Active Member
In an attempt to spare myself of having to stab a live fish I went to the store and bought fresh squid. I came home and soaked it in warm tank water and garlic for 30 minutes and anxiously stabbed it and "swam" it across the tank. The puffer came out to check it out and then went the other way. I ended up smacking him in the face with it, hoping he'd get mad enough to bite it. He did, then spit it out.

He gets garlic-soaked seafood and I ate a microwavable Lean Cuisine. What's wrong with this picture?!?!
 
stdreb27

stdreb27

Active Member
Originally Posted by SueAndHerZoo
http:///forum/post/2835223
In an attempt to spare myself of having to stab a live fish I went to the store and bought fresh squid. I came home and soaked it in warm tank water and garlic for 30 minutes and anxiously stabbed it and "swam" it across the tank. The puffer came out to check it out and then went the other way. I ended up smacking him in the face with it, hoping he'd get mad enough to bite it. He did, then spit it out.

He gets garlic-soaked seafood and I ate a microwavable Lean Cuisine. What's wrong with this picture?!?!
no joke, half the time in college, I'd make my fish food and eat it... Puffers when they eat will take food then spit it out it isn't uncommon.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top