Help....How do you get your fish to eat?

[bluegoose972]

Ok guys, I'm just not having any luck getting my dog faced puffer or my eel to eat. Here is the background....I have had the eel for about 3 weeks and the puffer for about a week. I have been able to get the eel to bite into a krill, but I think it is because he is mad that I'm sticking this thing in his face....he doesn't appear to swallow it. But the puffer has yet to eat. He has been looking very good, but yesterday, he started to look a little lathargic (spelling?). Anyways, today I stopped at my lfs and asked them...they recommended trying a feeder or a ghost shrimp and see if he was interested. Well, when I got home, he was sucked up against the filter intake (he does this alot...sorta rests there for some reason). When I waved that feeder in front of him, he nailed it...Obviously he is very hungry. So....How do I get him to eat krill, squid, or silversides...I've tried all of them?

 

[grouperhead]

my lion wont eat anything unless i stick it right in his face and wiggle it around on te feeder stick. do you have a feeding stick? try all sorts of foods, clams, shrimp, krill, squid, silversides, mysis shrimp, etc. im glad to hear he ate some feeder shrimp. if he doesnt eat any frozen foods at the next sitting, drop in a shrimp and right after he takes it drop in a froze food. this worked for my lion. try squid for the eel, they love it. bo

 

[bluegoose972]

Well, I have a large pair of tongs that I use, but have recently switched over to long wood skewers. They actually work really well. I split the blunt end with a knife, pry it open with my finger nail, and insert the food into the gap. It holds the food tightly and the wood stick is very thin.

 

[guppie]

As soon as you get the puffer and eel feed well for a couple of days, then let the go with out food for a couple days, after that try feeding them, if they don't eat wait a couple more days and try it again, when they get hungry enough they will eat. A feeding stick is good for the eel, just stick in front of his face, it also helps to let him know that the food will be on the bottom of the tank and not on the top, sometimes this help them from trying to get out of the tank. good Luck

 

[bluegoose972]

Well, the good news is that I purchased a couple of dozen ghost shrimp last night and the fish had a feast. No, I didn't give them all at one time. The eel finally grabbed onto one and devoured it, followed by a second. I threw in two for the puffer to eat. He chased them around for 10 minutes before getting frustrated....I couldn't stop laughing. Well, I felt sorry for him and knew he was famished so I used my prongs and held them so he could have dinner. He ate three of them.
I checked with both of my lfs....neither of them have the feeding sticks...And have never heard of them. I contacted Big Al's Online and they are currently out of stock. So, I sweet talked my lfs into ordering me one(he is gonna order several and have them on hand).
Thanks for the info guys. I feel alot better now that they have eaten something. I will now try to sneak in some frozen and get them away from the shrimp.

 

[musipilot]

Our panther puffer loves the formula one frozen. Give it a shot.

 

[bluegoose972]

Well, the good news is that all the fish are very active now with the live feedings. I've been trying to sneak in a few frozen goodies. The huma trigger will eat anything. The eel won't touch the frozen but is learning to come over to the end of the prongs to get food(ghost shrimp). The puffer loves the ghost shrimp and he will take a bite out of the frozen, but typically spits it out. So, overall...I think this is gonna work, given some time.
Thanks for the input guys.

 

[njtrooper]

This may sound stupid but I did it when I first got my snowflake. With the squid and/or frozen foods, waive it around but be careful not to touch him with it he wont eat it. Sorry if you already knew this but I didn't at first, When you mentioned he bit the krill but didn't eat it I thought that might be why, Defensive.

 

[peasly1]

if you are not, I would still keep trying the krill, I have found the few eels and puffs eventally take it and then cant get enough

 

[jakob4001]

the only problem w/ live foods like brine shrimps or the ghost shrimps or even feeder goldfish is that they do not have much nutrional value to them...usually the petstores have them stashed in poor conditions such sas confined spaces & do not feed them...how can something that is not fed have barely any nutrional value to it...what little nutrional value they may/may not still have left is quickly used up by the time they reach the home...they are Ok for occasional feedings or to possibly get troubled feeders to eat, but SHOULD not be used as main diet to sustain them...uusally variety is best & at some point you will probaly want to ween them to other foods you can even purchase form your local fish market store or trusted grocer