Huffing And Puffing

[Tommy Gunnz]

Hello everyone!

I am pretty new to the saltwater side of the hobby and need some help in dealing with my porcupine puffer. "E.T." is really quite the character and is an awesome fish due to his personality. He is about 5 inches long and about 3 inches wide and has been in my tank for about a week and a half now. The problem I am having with him though is that he has a habit of killing my clownfish!

Apparently the saltwater 'expert' at the LFS where I bought E.T. thought it was cool to put on a 'show' for his customers once in a while by feeding him live food. When we brought him home, the 'expert' told us that we should only feed him krill or frozen silversides in order to keep him healthy. Well, the fish just wouldnt eat anything we dropped into the tank and we were basically forced to feed him live food just to make sure he didnt die on us before we could work this problem out.

So, E.T. still will not eat anything he cannot chase around the tank, and he does fine with the other tank mates (see my signature), except he has killed four clownfish. It is somewhat puzzling to me because the tank he was in at the store was filled with clownfish of all types and sizes and the 'expert' there promised that he had no problem with him eating anything but the live food.

So, right now I am at a crossroads as to what I want to stock this tank with. I would really like a regal blue tang sometime in the future, as well as some more clowns. (I know what you are thinking, but I have kids who want all the 'Finding Nemo' fish and I have to oblige or lose the tank...)

Is this going to be a problem that I cannot solve or is there something I can do to create harmony in this tank? How can I help this puffer get onto a frozen food diet without starving him enough that he starts eating everything else? Is this puffer going to completely limit what I can stock this tank with or could I just have a puffer with a slightly more aggressive personality than most?

Thanks in advance for any help you may be able to give me!

 

[crazyelece]

Although I'm no expert on puffers (I haven't had any experience with them) I have a little on trying to get fish off a live diet. What exactly are you feeding him live? You could try using a feeding stick. It is a stick with a point on the end, you stick a piece of fresh or frozen food on the end and wiggle it around the fish. Sort of acting like the bait is really alive. This should get the predatory instinct to kick in and get it to feed. After awhile it should be able to tell when the food is dropped in. You could also use other types of live food that don't act like fish. Ghost shrimp or worms might work - I'm not sure if a puffer would or should eat that though so you may want to research it a little.

 

[Tommy Gunnz]

Thanks crazy,

I am going to try the feeding stick idea. The puffer has been raised on feeder guppies and we have fed it rosies (not sure that is the right name, cant remember right now). Some one suggested putting in some mollies because they can actually live in saltwater for quite a while, but like I said, I dont want to keep this practice and would rather go to just frozen food so I know it is safe.

They do eat shrimp (krill to be exact, which is a shrimp) but ghost shrimp would be expensive since it seems like it can eat a dozen or more guppies. I will try the feeding stick and let you know how it goes.

Do you think that it would leave my other fish alone if I got it completely off live food or do you think it would still recognize smaller fish as a meal, even after it isnt eating them?

 

[FishQueen1]

i think your puffer will always eat anything small enough to get in his mouth , he is a preditor fish .

 

[Tommy Gunnz]

Fishqueen,

I understand this, however, it is killing clownfish, and it is not eating them because it could never fit one of them in its mouth. I am pretty sure the reason it hasnt killed the damsel fish yet is because at night, when the puffer is more aggressive it seems, the damsels are in the rockwork, which the puffer cannot fit into. I had the damsels before the puffer and they always hid at night, so I dont think they are scared of the puffer.

Last night when I turned on the living room lights (with the tank lights off) the puffer seemed really aggressive and was bumping into the glass as if it was trying to come after me. Is this normal or could there be something else contributing to this behavior?

 

[crazyelece]

I haven't kept a puffer so I wouldn't know any specifics on their behaviour. About all I can suggest is to try it out again if you can get it off feeders.