Dog Face Puffer

[shazza057]

Hi Iam new to this so please bare with me. I have a dogface puffer. I have had him about a week now and he isnt eating. If someone could help me and give me some ideas on what to do i would love to hear from you..He seems to be healthy other wise... I dont want to lose him so please help.........

 

[ox5477]

what was the lfs or supplier you got it from feeding it?

 

[Colin_T]

Try offering it some live brineshrimp.
You can also get a piece of cotton thread (for sewing clothes) and tie a single knot in the end. Trim the excess from after the knot so the knot is right near the end of the string. The other end has a needle on it. You use the needle to push through a small piece of prawn. Then slide the prawn down to the knot at the other end. Now carefully lower the prawn into the tank and jiggle it about. Most fish come up and grab the prawn and give it a pull. Then it slips off the knot and they get something to eat.
The idea of the knot is to hold the prawn in the water column until a fish takes it. This means there is only one piece of food in the tank and it is unlikely to cause a water quality issue. If you put a heap of food in at once most of it will settle on the bottom or behind rocks and the fish will ignore it.

 

[Erised]

I don't know anything about salt water fish, but usually there is an underlying cause for a fish not eating. It might just be settling in to it's environment still, or there might be something wrong with it's environment.
Just a couple of questions which might make it easier for others to help you.

Has he eaten at all since you've had him?
Did he accept frozen/dead food in the lfs? He might only eat live food.
How long has your tank been set up for?
Do you have any other fish in the tank with him?
Have you got live rock in the tank, or is it fish only?
Has the tank had time to cycle if you aren't using live rock?
What size tank is he in?
What are your water stats?

Puffers in general do take a little while to settle down in tanks as they stress out easily. A lot of puffers also aren't used to 'dead' food and will take a while to accept frozen food. They are however very sensitive and require a well cycled tank and good water stats. Raised ammonia levels can cause them to go off their food, and if the tank is newly set up it's likely there will be a raise in this now you've added fish.