extremely picky dwarf puffer

[masterfishes]

i have a dwarf puffer (female or very young male) that will only eat live foods and no lfs here sell live foods (that i know of) does anyone know where i can order bloodworms or black worms on line without a credit card and in very small amounts.....i cant feed snails and ghost shrimp to the por thing forever....help is much appreciated

 

[Jen]

What about getting some shrimp or prawn from your local gorcery store?

 

[Undawada]

CFC is the master of getting predatory fish to eat frozen foods, he probably can give you some sage advice.

Sorry I can't help you more.

 

[masterfishes]

the grocery stores here only sell shrimps and prawns that r already dead and my dp will only go after it if its moving plus they r too big...DP's only get 1" long! it can barely eat a ghost shrimp(i just tried those yesterday) and its really skinny like some one skwished it so it needs some more fatening food. thanks for trying though...both of u

 

[blackfinshark_3]

i donno if this is good or not.

but when i use to have columbian sharks i fed them worms that i had left over from fishing trips...they loved it sooooooooooo.

 

[Undawada]

I'd also reccomend that you ask Sir Minion, Paul MTS or any of the other puffer freaks in Oddballs Institute.

 

[masterfishes]

ok thanks

 

[vantgE]

I think it would be worth the effort to wean them on to frozen food, they aren't going to let themselves starve before trying it,


This is like what I do although live to frozen is probally very different then flakes to pellets I have to do this sort of thing everytime I get a new container of food


-Hold off feeding for a three days then try frozen food-leave a little bit in the tank longer then you should so it has the time to think about it but not more then 12 hours and watch your watter parameters
-If that doesn't work give it a day or two normal feeding
-then try feeding frozen food when it is hungriest dureing your normal feeding schedule, follow up with it's regular food a while after and remove anything uneaten, for a few days
then start over until it works from the top again

 

[Opcn]

You've got to do your research buddy, Puffers are all very picky about live food. I think you would be best off turning a good sized tank into a pond or ramshorn snail farm, get your hands on a handfull of snails and in two months if you feed the tank well you till have an unending supply, MY puffer was eaten by a filter 6 months ago and I havent fed the tank since but its still got 10-20 pond snails in it.

 

[andywg]

Get some frozen bloodworm and hold it over an airstone or the filter outlet to make the worms appear to wiggle. This tricked my brood into taking them and they've never looked back.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

i don't have much to say except that puffers are a rare exception in that they actually will starve themselves to death rather than eat an unappealing diet.

i did read in a different thread that your DP is in an undersized tank. you may have more luck with it if you upgrade and provide adequate places for it to hide. excesive stress can often create anorexic behavior.

 

[masterfishes]

well thanks for ur help everyone....my puffer is currently busy chasing down 2 ghost shrimp(is that a good enough food source)

 

[masterfishes]

i did read in a different thread that your DP is in an undersized tank. you may have more luck with it if you upgrade and provide adequate places for it to hide. excesive stress can often create anorexic behavior.

i dont think this is too much of a prob i have about 1/2 of the tank filled with plants(fake ones, i can never keep real ones alive)

You've got to do your research buddy, Puffers are all very picky about live food. I think you would be best off turning a good sized tank into a pond or ramshorn snail farm, get your hands on a handfull of snails and in two months if you feed the tank well you till have an unending supply, MY puffer was eaten by a filter 6 months ago and I havent fed the tank since but its still got 10-20 pond snails in it.

im currently trying to breed some i have about 5-10 large enough ones for breeding and have about 20 or small enough for feeding my puffer(my lfs also gives me free snails as they have too many in the livebearer tanks)they havent breed in a few months(when i wasnt trying to) can u guys give me some tips on doing so

I think it would be worth the effort to wean them on to frozen food, they aren't going to let themselves starve before trying it,


This is like what I do although live to frozen is probally very different then flakes to pellets I have to do this sort of thing everytime I get a new container of food


-Hold off feeding for a three days then try frozen food-leave a little bit in the tank longer then you should so it has the time to think about it but not more then 12 hours and watch your watter parameters
-If that doesn't work give it a day or two normal feeding
-then try feeding frozen food when it is hungriest dureing your normal feeding schedule, follow up with it's regular food a while after and remove anything uneaten, for a few days
then start over until it works from the top again

when i try frozen bloodworms my puffer watches it as it falls and after it hits the gravel it pays no more attention to it and if it does try to eat it just spits it back out