Feeding my Collomesus

[Rory the cat]

Not sure how much or how often I should be feeding little puff?

I've been giving him frozen (defrosted) bloodworm every other day, although the others in the tank tend to snaffle a lot of it. I've been popping Daphnia or flake food on top to try and guide them away from the bloodworm. The neons particularly prefer flake food.

There's a snail in the tank, but I am waiting for it to give birth so he can chomp the babies.

What else can I give him except bloodworm? I would really like to give him something crunchy as I am worried about his teeth. I mentioned feeding him mussel or cockle to the LFS but they said he was too small. How about if I smushed some up for him? Do I just get some for the fishmonger or is there special supplies I should be buying?

Also - he has the dreaded ICH right now - should I be feeding more or less?

 

[arctickev]

hi if you just chuck the frozen cubes in they will wear their teeth on it! save on the twice yearly teeth cutting. i feed mine ,frozen chopped mussels, krill, cockles (chopped) and every now and then a cube of frozen artemia or daphnia. they live with a few corys and loaches so they eat the rest.

the good thing about the frozen food is that it wears their teeth, mine don't really get that excited about snails. another thing you can feed him is a prawn (cooked) with its shell on i tie a bit of cotton to one and bounce it in front of mine and they usually attack it for a couple of minutes. f your trying new foods then its best to feed them less often so they will eat it and get a taste for the new food.
i feed mine once or twice a day depending on their bellies (when they're empty they get fed) usually give them a frozen cube (half of the double size frozen blocks) but ive got 6 with 9 other fish.

to sort out the ich you can raise the temp of the tank (i think to about 84f but double check with google to make sure)

 

[Rory the cat]

Just tried the prawn on a string but he would not have it - the other fish were going for it, but not Puff. Even tried mushing it up against the side of the tank - nothing.

I don't want to over feed the others in the tank, but Puff isn't eating what I am giving & is now chasing all the other fish and trying to eat them! What can I do?

 

[Rory the cat]

Tried the frozen food - worked to a pont until Puff got greedy, took the whole chunk ( 1/8 ) of a cube, dropped it and the other fish swarmed it before it got sucked into the filter!

I am going to have to stop now as my other fish are now seriously overfed & I am worried about nitrate. Will try again tomorrow & might turn the filter off for a few minutes next time.

Thanks for the great advice

 

[Lithril]

Also - he has the dreaded ICH right now - should I be feeding more or less?

Ich is often a sign that the water quality is going down hill. How big is the tank, is he the only fish in there? how good is your filtration and what are the water conditions (ammonia/nitrites/nitrates). Have you started treating the lil' fella yet? Also I found with my CA that if the temperature drops below 26-27 they become ver susceptible to ICH so I leave it around 26C.

I usually feed mine every 1-2 days but if you miss a day or 2 they don't seem too worried. Mine are generally fed on Frozen Bloodworm, Brine shrimp, frozen cockles/muscles, on the odd occasion Frozen Beef Heart (don't feed this often as they can struggle to digest it... but they do love it), snails (of course), pretty much anything frozen in the LFS.

Its worth investing in a battery operated hoover, and do daily vac' of the sand/gravel, it'll help keep the tank clean and stop any food they've missed from contaminating the tank.

 

[ryansfish5g]

I added my SA puffer this week to a tank with about 100 small snails in it, now there are about 5.

The thing about the snails is that the puffer doesnt just line them up and take them down. It sometimes will get into its "hunting mode" and take a few down by stalking then suddenly grabbing it and sucking it out of its shell. So what I am saying is that you may not see it eat snails, but if you added a whole bunch I bet over time you would notice that they tend to go missing.

I have also been feeding my puffer frozen bloodworms that I thaw under hot water in a brine shrimp net. He seems to love it and eats it right up.

In terms of how much quantity to feed I think it is healthy to feed puffers until they have a decent sized bulged out stomach. Any one else have an opinion on that?