Baby F8 Puffer Food?

[nikkifro8994]

I bought a Figure 8 puffer today and put him in a 10 gallon tank. I know it's too small for him but it's only for a week while I cycle a 20 gallon tank for him. I also bought some swords that he enjoys hiding in. The lfs I went to was selling different types of frozen food. I bought a multi-pack which has 4 types of 1 cm cubes. 1 (bloodworms, brine shrimp, cyclops, and daphnia) 2 (brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, krill, plankton, spinach, lettuce, and spirulina) 3 (Brine shrimp and spirulina) and 4 (bloodworms).

I was talking to the man who supplies and handles all of their fish. Getting all of my questions asked this morning before coming home and researching to verify what he told me. He said I should feed the f8 half a cube every other day for a few days and see how he does. When his belly is round, stop feeding him. When it is flat, feed him more. He also said I could feed him snails or fresh seafood from walmart to help keep his beak short. But he didn't tell me how much or how often.

I have a couple ramshorn and pond snails in another container for breeding that I am planning on giving to my f8 when they get a little bigger. Right now all of the baby snails are too small for him to eat.

How often should I give my f8 shrimp, clams, or snails? Do I do this instead of frozen food or with it? Is there a certain kind or will any old mollusk do? Do I have to do anything special to it, or do I just drop it in the tank and let him have at it?

Please help
Nikki

 

[divegirl]

Hi, pretty much the feeding regime depends on the fish. I would follow the advice you have been given and watch his belly size.....but be careful they can go from fat to obese in one blood worm Don't over feed is the main thing here. You can always give more but you can't take it back!!!! De-frost half a cube at a time in some tank water. I then use a syringe to drop feed a little at a time!

My puffers get 'hard shelled' food three times a week but then they are not babies [or F8's, although I have kept them].

My LFS sell frozen cockles in their shells that my boys love and are a nice high protein food for them. Just be aware that you will need to remove some of the 'meat' if feeding to a single fish.

Lisa x

 

[nikkifro8994]

i called my lfs and they told me they sell little ghost shrimp and clam halves. listed below is my feeding plan for a week. please tell me if i need to tweak it any.

feeding plan:
monday: half of block 1
tuesday: half of block 2
wednesday: small shrimp?
thursday: half of block 3
friday: half of block 4
saturday: small clam?
sunday: frozen krill?

does that look good for my baby? he is a little over an inch long. he is only supposed to be 3 inches as an adult. so i think he is about 4-6 months old maybe?

 

[divegirl]

Hi, you have a nice mix of food there....my lot would be jealous!

I would suggest giving a rest day once a week....no matter how much he begs!!! And like I said before feed a little as you can give more but you can't take it back and Puffers really are greedy fish! You will probably end up throwing a fair bit of food away in the first few weeks but it shouldn't be too much of a problem....and you can cut the blocks into smaller chunks with a little practise.

Have fun!

Lisa x!

 

[nikkifro8994]

okay. well he gets frozen krill in 1 of the cubes so i can skip food on sundays. thanks!