New Puffer won't EAT!!!

He_Man_81 · Oct 27, 2005

My girlfriend just set up her own tank

which i feel is great for her, but one of the fish she chose was labelled as a leopard puffer. I'm not sure if that is what it really is, because it kinda resembles a figure 8 or a green spotted puffer. My problem is that the little guy won't eat for me...

So far i've tried to feed him flakes, frozen brine shrimp, frozen bloodworms, and i even got two long finned danios if he felt like nipping. i haven't seen him eat yet... :swear:

The store claimed to have had him for quite some time, and they didn't keep him brackish at all, so i didn't think it would really be too much of an issue.

I'm just worried about the little guy because he is pretty neat, but he's gotten pretty thin and i'm afraid he's starving. is there anything that anyone might know to try?

RobD23 · Oct 27, 2005

You can try feeding him freeze dried krill, all puffers eat krill my fahaka puffer wont eat anything besides krill and live food. it's worth a shot i guess

guppy · Oct 28, 2005

If it is a small one, 2-3", try some ramshorn snails, I don't keep puffers but they are reputed to love them, at that size live brine shrimp might also work, also call the lfs and find out the ph., temp etc, that they were keeping it at. How long has she had it now?

Miles · Oct 28, 2005

Puffers want something meaty and crunchy to chomp on.. Usually brine shrimp and bloodworms get spit all over the tank. They DON'T eat flakes, regardless to what anyone says.

Did you put it into a newly established tank? Puffers are highly sensative to ammonia and nitrite, and would likely be stressed and refuse food if this is the case. Is his belly black/greyish? What are your water parameters?

Try krill, or freeze-dried krill.. Wave it in front of his face if you can, hopefully he will chomp it. I doubt he can catch danios or guppies, as puffers are not very agile.. If anything, try a feeder fish and cut it's tail off with scissors so he can catch it. However, I find the best appetite stimulant for these little buggers, is live Ghost Shrimp.

Also, do you have soft water? All of the GSP/F8 puffers prefer very hard water.. Add some sea-shells and crushed coral if you can. (wash them well).. Also add a heavy amount of aquarium salt, it dosn't necessarily have to be marine salt, as that would cause a huge PH swing and the salinity swing could kill off nitrifying bacteria. Regular old aquarium salt should help relieve stress and help out the osmoregulatory system. Make sure the puff has lots of hiding spots, and keep the tank light off if you can, possibly even cover the tank.

clare · Oct 28, 2005

One simple thing to get most fish eating is the good old worm.Not very nutritious but often the movement on the bottom stimulates them to strike.I feed many new fish worms to start them out.Also deffinitely the snails,the wild small puffers staple diet.

He_Man_81 · Oct 28, 2005

THANKS for all the advice on the little guy, he is eating right now as i type. Now for the update...

Adding to the list of things that i've tried to feed him are more flakes, a different variety of frozen bloodworms, New Life Spectrum Pellets, frozen krill both warm and lukewarm when left in the tank, live earthworms and sinking shrimp pellets...
he didn't eat any of those... :swear:

My Apartment complex has fairly hard water for Memphis, so that's a plus. He's in a well established tank, just recently renovated. Because i've been so worried about him not eating, i've intentionally left more than enough food for him because i know they're slow eaters. And due to this, i've kept up with water changes to keep the ammonia down. His tummy is a nice white color, he is just thin. i raised the temp in the tank to about 80 F to see if that would help.

i've heard they like to eat invertabrates so i tried to track down something, and i cannot find a single place in Memphis that has any ghost shrimp, because i'd love to add those as a snack for my dovii. But i was lucky enough to run into a store that let me come home with about a dozen garden snails... :naughty:

The first snail didn't even have time to hit the gravel before he was attacking. so far in the past 15 minutes he's eaten about 4 snails. i'm hoping that i can wean him off of the snails, but does anyone have any particular ideas on an easy way to raise snails for feeders?

xxxdrewww · Oct 28, 2005

snails do it like crazy and have a bunch of babys get about 10 appel snails in a 40 or somthin and our will have so many snails on your hands

G'safishnerd · Oct 24, 2017

I am having the same problem, I got an amazon puffer and we have been feeding frozen bloodworms, but he has not been eating them, we have 4 danios that may be eating all the food but he won’t eat even when the danios aren’t in the picture, can anyone offer advice? I really don’t want to have a fish die of starvation.

B-Kandy35 · Apr 8, 2018

My green spotted puffer wont eat and has gotten very skinny! I was told when i bought him he only ate frozen blood worms., i had him eatting those and dryed blood worms for about 1 month or 2. I was told to try clams as well cause of his beak. And ever sents then he hasnt ate (he didnt eat the first clam btw) i have his ammonia and nitrite level pretty good but i cant get the nitrate and ph sent i dont know how to fix him..... Please help.

Deadliestviper7 · Apr 9, 2018

B-Kandy35 said:
My green spotted puffer wont eat and has gotten very skinny! I was told when i bought him he only ate frozen blood worms., i had him eatting those and dryed blood worms for about 1 month or 2. I was told to try clams as well cause of his beak. And ever sents then he hasnt ate (he didnt eat the first clam btw) i have his ammonia and nitrite level pretty good but i cant get the nitrate and ph sent i dont know how to fix him..... Please help.

Keep in clean brackish water
Good foods to get him eating include snails,ghostshrimp and even live brineshrimp


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