Need Help With My Spiney Puffer

L

Larry

I have just got a new spiney puffer and I read online to feed them something meaty. I have tried shrimp, and silverside and he won't eat. I had him for about 3 days and he haven't eaten anything at all. Do I need to feed him something alive? I also bought a dogface puffer too and he's eating like a pig. Any help would be deeply appreciated.
Thanks


Larry
 
mine was the same early on, i had to feed feeder minnows andlive stuff from lfs for about 2 mts. now he eats defrosted silvers and anything
 
@Larry wrote:
I would also like to know what "gut feeding" is. said:
Hi,
Gut loading is just feeding the ghost or brine shrimp nutritional foods before feeding it to the puffer/fish.

Cheers,
Click to expand...
 
@Larry wrote:
What kind of nutritional food should i feed the ghost shrimp or brine shrimp? said:
Just feed them whatever you feed your fish(flake/pellets). Ghost and live brine shrimp neither have a lot of nutritional value by themselves, but are good to use when trying to get fish to start eating. It's very hard for fish to resist live food, so you "gut load" the shrimp and trick the fish into eating their vitamin's :lol:. Once they start eating that then work in other foods, also try using a skewer to feed the puffer, put a shrimp on it and "wiggle" it around, maybe he'll go for it. HTH

Cheers,
Click to expand...
 
Just put some flakes or something similar in the bag of shrimp... Wait a while and dump a half dozen shrimp in the tank and see what happens. If he takes the bait, go ahead and dump in as many as he can eat. It's okay if some are left over since ghost shrimp are hardy and the puffer can have fun hunting them down. They don't know the sensation of "full" though so don't be worried if his stomach ends up really distended.

If ghost shrimp don't work, try brine shrimp. If none of those work maybe try live feeder guppies (depending on the size of your puffer, he might ignore them if he's still small). Never underestimate the power of garlic too. Soaking food in garlic (sold at the lfs) can work too.
 
Well....I couldn't find any ghost shrimp at the lfs so I went and got some feeder minnows. When I put them in, the dogface puffer, picasso trigger and lunar wrasse will eat them but the spiney still wont eat. Do I need to take him out and put him alone in a tank by himself?


Larry
 
Bop him on the head first to knock some sense into him...I'd probably try isolation and once he settles down put some live food. You could probably drop some live hermit crabs and snails once he settles down. Dropping them in will get his interest; he may tear into those crabs like a dog with a bone. Just a note though once he's in a QT try medicating his food with anti worm medication. Puffers tend to have worms a lot. Not sure which medication though..
 
Thanks Yvette, I will do that tomorrow (except for bopping him on his head cuz I might accidentally kill him hahhahah). Thanks everybody for your advice so far. I hope this work.


Larry
 
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