Feeding Dwarf Puffers

[puffermama]

Hidey Ho!

I have just recently purchased a pair of dwarf puffers and am keeping them in a heavily planted, well cycled 5 gallon tank with 1 cave. I have had them for about 3 weeks. My question is, the puffers that I see in pictures on the internet are nice a fat, mine seem quite skinny in comparison. I have been feeding them frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp along with 3 live baby snails. I only see one of the snails now. Do they eat the shells along with the snail?

When I feed them, once per day, I have been putting their food in a shot glass with de-chorinated water allowing it to thaw, then I drop it into their tank. They swim around it and look it over, but seldom eat any of it that I can see. When they do bite into it they seem to spit it out. I come back about an hour later and siphon the remaining food out of the tank using a turkey baster so that it doesn't rot in their tank. I'm worried that they are not eating enough. Am I doing something wrong? Should I be feeding them something else?

 

[Betta*b*Happy!]

Hi, and welcome

How long have you had your puffers?

Mine was skinny when we first got him but he's picked up now.

If you got them from the local fish store then try them on flakes to start with (they are ok for them just not much in the way of nutrition), if that is what they have been used to then they may not recognise other food. You can then start to mix them with other types.

I would try live food as none of my fish will touch the frozen stuff as it just looks like mush!
If you feed frozemn try to rinse the thawed food in a fish net before feeding as this will remove any mess in there too.

You could try the odd bit of prawn cut into manageable chunks.

hth!

 

[SirMinion]

Never met a dwarf puffer that would eat flake.

But I agree with the live food suggestion. Live bloodworm will nearly always stimulate a puffers appetite.

 

[puffermama]

You know, I had considered flake food, but most people have said that puffers won't touch the stuff, but that is what the guy at the pet shop told me he fed them...I'll give it a shot....My puffers have been here about 3 weeks...How long did it take yours to fatten up?

Hi, and welcome

How long have you had your puffers?

Mine was skinny when we first got him but he's picked up now.

If you got them from the local fish store then try them on flakes to start with (they are ok for them just not much in the way of nutrition), if that is what they have been used to then they may not recognise other food. You can then start to mix them with other types.

I would try live food as none of my fish will touch the frozen stuff as it just looks like mush!
If you feed frozemn try to rinse the thawed food in a fish net before feeding as this will remove any mess in there too.

You could try the odd bit of prawn cut into manageable chunks.

hth!

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[SirMinion]

The guy at the shop gave them flake and now they're very thin.

Try putting two and two together.

 

[Betta*b*Happy!]

Mine wouldn't touch any other food for a long time and he fed quite happily on flake 2x day for about 3 week. he started to fatten up after 1 week.

After 3 week we started adding other food to his diet at the same time as the flakes and he took them both and still does.

In fact the other fish are lucky if they get a look in.

Sirminion - i suppose that if the fish has been used to flakes as the only source of food for some time and has been faced with the flake or die question then it would be hard for it to recognise other food.

In fact here you go it's a bit blurred as he's quick when he thinks he's getting fed!

 

[pica_nuttalli]

whether or not a puffer can be weaned onto flake seems to be highly dependent on the species. dwarfs (captive bred or not) are notorious for refusing food that's not moving. on the other hand, it seems like a lot of SAPs enjoy munching on algae wafers.

a lot of behavioral aspects simply do not transfer between the puffer species; something that's difficult for me to remember too ) .

 

[mattbeau]

When I purchased my puffer, I had gone to the LFS in question and kept an eye on them for a few days to see how they looked, talked to one of the mangers that deals with the fish and asked what they were eating and how well.

at the time they were eating blood worms and snails, (which you could see the shells on the floor)


I picked out the biggest roundest one and made sure they knew how to remove him from the tank

while he floated in the bag i threw some snails in and by the time he was in the water he was already looking for food. the snails(5) were gone within a few minutes. the next day i gave hime some blood worms which he took quite happily.
Since i have had him he's remained nice and fat and i have had no problems with him.

he'll even eat the blood worms off the floor .

I never did try him with flakes

 

[SirMinion]

Mine wouldn't touch any other food for a long time and he fed quite happily on flake 2x day for about 3 week. he started to fatten up after 1 week.

After 3 week we started adding other food to his diet at the same time as the flakes and he took them both and still does.

In fact the other fish are lucky if they get a look in.

Sirminion - i suppose that if the fish has been used to flakes as the only source of food for some time and has been faced with the flake or die question then it would be hard for it to recognise other food.

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Betta*b*Happy, what you have there is an auriglobus modestus, a particulaly vicious little puffer that once it matures feeds by injuring a fish then following it around until it's too weak to defend its self at which point the puffer eats it alive.

It's also one of the few puffers (along with South Americans and Lortetis) that will eat flake. Dwarf puffers will not.

It's in NO WAY a dwarf and grows to up to four inches.
It will also need regular tooth trimming as it's teeth grow very very fast in the absence of the algae bearing rocks that it gnaws in the wild.

I'm sorry Betta*b*Happy, but your fish is an accident waiting to happen.

 

[puffermama]

Sir Minion, sorry I've never fed live bloodworms before....where do you obtain them? What are guidelines for feeding? Sorry to be so dense but don't have any experience with live foods.

Also, is there a particular type of snail that these little guys like? (or don't like?)

Never met a dwarf puffer that would eat flake.

But I agree with the live food suggestion. Live bloodworm will nearly always stimulate a puffers appetite.

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[SirMinion]

We buy live bloodworm from any one of 4 LFSs within 10 5 miles of home. *shrugs*

Any snails EXCEPT the cone shaped ones (Malasyan Trumpet Snails) are fine.
They'll tackle any size, but tiny is better.

 

[mandi]

I don't know if this will help you, but when I feed my dwarf puffers, use tweezers to put small "pinches" of bloodworms in at a time (rather than dumping the whole shotglass) and I try to drop them into the tank near where the water pours out of the filter -- they sort of get caught in the current and it makes them look a little more wiggley and "alive". That seemed to do the trick with my little guys, but maybe mine were easier than most

 

[puffermama]

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to thank everyone for their advice and kind wishes for my little puffer babies. The last one finally passed away this weekend. I think that they must have been sick when I brought them home from the LFS because I never saw them eat.....EVER. I tried every single suggestion that I was given and some that I wasn't. I gave them frozen bloodworms, brine and mysis shrimp, thawed then I would wiggle them around in front of their little faces (with chopsticks) or drop them into the current from their filter. I gave them live snails of various sized from the very tiny to puffer sized. I even gave them live ghost shrimp. All the snails and shrimp are well and accounted for.

Note to anyone looking to purchase dwarf puffers for their own aquariums.....Check out your puffers before you buy them. Make sure that they are nice and fat and that they eat well. Mine were skinny when I brought them from the lfs but I thought it was because they fed them flake food. I was wrong. It was a long and painful process watching them die not being able to do anything about it.

 

[SirMinion]

Sorry to hear that they didn't make it. It seems that you did everything that you could.

Well done for trying so hard.

 

[mattbeau]

dont feal bad, the same thing happened to me when i bought my first dp,