food for a puffer

[Red_devil_man]

I have just bought a figure 8 puffer and was wonderin would it eat goldfish flakes,or freezedried blood worms.

[Oddball]

I've never known one to eat flake or FD. Live blackworms, frozen bloodworms, ghost shrimp, snails, young crayfish, Live brine shrimp, and FW mussels will fit its' menu.

[fatsolomon]

my green spotted puffers eat flake whenever i put it in, which is rare due to the face that they need hard foods to keep their teeth short

[MarlboroMan]

I used to buy shrimp with shells, not the cocktail kind. Id feed the fish the shrimp part and the puffer LOVES the legs and shell.

[nick h]

Red-Devil Man,
how big is your figure 8? ive been keeping them for years. they are great fish but must be fed a strict diet of meaty foods. if its still young you could get away with feeding it frozen mysis, frozen bloodworms, and frozen krill. as it gets older, feed it cut up market shrimp and mussels. feed it snails as much as possible throughout its entire life. this is important because it will help to wear down their beak-like teeth. without this their teeth grow to the point that they will starve. you might want to breed you o wn pondsnails in a seaperate tank. its real easy. i do a 2.5 gal. with a lamp pointed toward it. a small powerhead, no substrate and lots of expired food. give this tank a 100% h20 change once a week, cause snails are actually quite messy. anyway enjoy your figure 8 puffer, dont froget to give him lots of hiding places. if well kept these guys will live to be about 17 or 18 years old.
nick

[mistergn10]

My Puffer will eat flake. Well he will eat anything I put in the tank.

[JardiniBoy]

How about land snails?

[i have crabs]

misis shrimp works for me

[big E]

My gsp likes to eat shrimp and loves the freeze dried krill,