Porc Help!!!!!

[saltygerman]

I have had a porc puffer for about 6 weeks now. The only thing I can get him to eat are kril. I've tried clams, silversides, Raw shell on shrimp, Mysis. I know i have read on this site about kril causing lock jaw, puffer crack etc....
I do soak the kril in Vita-chem. I've tried wiggling silversides to simulate live food on a clip floating foods. I'm at a loss any help would be appreciated!!!!
P.S. He will eat frozen peas.

 

[sueandherzoo]

Wish I could help but I'm having a similar (but worse) problem with mine. He will ONLY eat live goldfish, regardless of how long I let him go on a hunger strike. I've bought squid, clams, mussels, shrimp, a food processor so I could grind it all up, soak it in garlic, ...... won't touch it. I've wiggled everything under the sun on feeding sticks and he's not buying it.
Recently he started showing a LITTLE interest in mysis but it's going to take a lot of that to fill him up - I would rather he eat the homemade food I'm more than willing to prepare for him.
Sue

 

[unleashed]

i found with my porc the key is not to wiggle the foods like you would with most aggressive species..slight movement just to get the puffer to realize its there then hold it sill if need be letting the food rest on a rock but attached to the feeding rod (clear acrylic rod)seems to have worked for mine so far.. mine starts at the tail of the silver slide then eats his way to the head.. this is time consuming takes him a good 5 min to eat one silverslide as i hold the stick in the tank for him he swims away many times before finishing it .. he takes a few bites swims away comes back and repeats this for a while till the food is gone... try scallops also ... i just dont advise trying to feed him when your in a hurry to leave.. this can take some time till he gets used to you and his new foods.. hope this helps.. by the way i have had my porc one week he just ate first time 3 days ago.hes 2-3 inches

 

[saltygerman]

Originally Posted by SueAndHerZoo
http:///forum/post/2852503
Wish I could help but I'm having a similar (but worse) problem with mine. He will ONLY eat live goldfish, regardless of how long I let him go on a hunger strike. I've bought squid, clams, mussels, shrimp, a food processor so I could grind it all up, soak it in garlic, ...... won't touch it. I've wiggled everything under the sun on feeding sticks and he's not buying it.
Recently he started showing a LITTLE interest in mysis but it's going to take a lot of that to fill him up - I would rather he eat the homemade food I'm more than willing to prepare for him.
Sue
Hello Sue I've seen a couple of threads about your Puffer. Is yours a porcupine?

 

[sueandherzoo]

Yes, a porcupine puffer, about 2" long. Really don't know what to do with him - he never comes out of his rockwork when he's in his tank ever since I added a small yellow tang so now I have him in QT and he seems fine, but obviously I can't keep him in there forever. I guess I'll have to put him back in his display tank and hope he comes out of his shell a little before he starves to death. I thought this guy would do ANYTHING for a feeder fish but unless it swims into his rock cave, he won't come out, even to get one of those!
Sue

 

[unleashed]

ANYTHING for a feeder fish but unless it swims into his rock cave, he won't come out,
try the feeding stick to him.. if you can get him feeding from a stick while in qt once hes placed back in he may recognize it as his food source.but i dont recommend re adding him to display until he is readily eating for you... mine will not eat foods not on the stick if it falls off he doesn't bother with it..
as for chopping up the food don't bother.. send it on a stick whole.. i tried squid yum yums but they are chopped and cubed so it wont stay on the stick so he wont bother with it.. picky buggers arent they
so far the things i have tried and succeeded with are:
raw shrimp(from meijers)
small scallops
silver slides what he doesnt eat in say 15 min of standing there holding a stick and basically fork feeding him gets thrown away.. but he gets alot down in 15 min..
i hope this helps

 

[sueandherzoo]

(sigh) I worked on getting him to eat off a feeding stick for a couple of weeks while I had him in a 46 gallon by himself. I could smack him in the face with it and he showed no interest. Now that my seahorses have arrived I can no longer work on teaching the puffer to feed in there - my choices are the 20 gallon QT tank or back in the display tank. I just checked the water parameters in the 10 gallon QT tank and the ammonia is high - it's just not healthy to keep a porc puffer in something so small, even for a short time. Looks like he'll have to go back int he DT.
Sue

 

[unleashed]

what type of filter do you have one the 10 gal?if its a small one is it possible to get a better filter system for it?possibly for a bigger tank something that can handle a larger bioload?i know its very difficult to keep nitrates and ammonia down in a 10 gal tank..this may be why hes refusing foods now .id hate to see you give up on the little guy seeing as hes still trying.do me a favor and email me i have a number to someone that can give you expert advice..doggieslist13@yahoo.com maybe they can help you better on this one maybe theres more to his issues than we know

 

[sueandherzoo]

Thanks for the offer of help - I will definitely take you (and the expert) up on it. I don't want to give up on him, either, but I don't know if he's better off with me or better off back at the store. I actually talked to the manager at the LFS about the puffer a few days ago, told him the situation, and asked him if he had any room for him at the store where the puffer could be pretty much ALONE in a tank - he said "check back with me in about a week and we'll see what we can do". (they were in the middle of receiving a shipment while I was there and they also had a plumbing crisis going on so it was probably a bad time to talk to him about it).
I guess I COULD put a mega filter system on the back of the 10 QT tank (sorry for the typo in my previous post - it's not a 20 gallon) but he really can't stay there very long anyway and needs to be in a bigger tank so I'd rather find a solution for getting him to be less timid in the large tank. Getting him used to being alone in a small tank may just backfire when I finally have to move him to a display tank, no? He needs to get out there and get "socialized" and interact.
I was thinking I could move him into the QT a few times a week to load him up on food but that would be very stressful on him (and me) and not an ultimately good solution.
I will contact your suggested puffer expert . . . thank you!
Sue

 

[trainman]

My puffer actually surprised me. From what i had been reading i thought it was going to be hard to get him to eat. I stuck a small silverside in the tank and while i was still holding it. He just attack it, about took a chunk of my finger with it, i let him have two small headless ones and the time they hit the water he would have them, no wiggling them or holding them still.

 

[sueandherzoo]

I'm so jealous. Mine is still alive but I'm not sure how or why. He hides out in a rock cave and even though I found an incredible feeder fish (stayed alive over 15 minutes in the salt water!) that kept swimming back and forth in front of the puffer's cave, the puffer would only come forward about two inches. If he couldn't reach it from there he retreated back into the cave.
Lazy? Sick? Stupid? No clue. Don't know what to do. I guess I leave it up to fate at this point.
Sue

 

[trainman]

I understand, I have been trying to get my lion to eat frozen, didnt expect the puffer to take it that fast. he had been in a buddies qt and hadnt ate to great maybe why he was so hungry. I have had him in my tank for about 3-5days

 

[unleashed]

Originally Posted by SueAndHerZoo
http:///forum/post/2856279
I'm so jealous. Mine is still alive but I'm not sure how or why. He hides out in a rock cave and even though I found an incredible feeder fish (stayed alive over 15 minutes in the salt water!) that kept swimming back and forth in front of the puffer's cave, the puffer would only come forward about two inches. If he couldn't reach it from there he retreated back into the cave.
Lazy? Sick? Stupid? No clue. Don't know what to do. I guess I leave it up to fate at this point.
Sue
did you call that number i gave you?did they have any suggestions