Fat Homer;4016736; said:
^ I don't think its fair to your puffer to starve it just because it won't eat pellets any more...
I've seen a few different puffers i've personally owned in the past go on and off pellet foods from different brands, but even then i was never just feeding them a pellet diet long term, coz no matter how hard the pellet is, it will soften up over time especially if not eaten right away... so imo hard shelled foods are irreplaceable if you want to keep your puffers beak trimmed... or at the least feed them a snail or cray once in a while...
You're misinterpreting what I wrote.
A puffer not eating for a week certainly isn't a big deal and is probably healthier for the puffer too as well as better for the water quality as it will have more time to finish properly digesting the food it already still has in its stomach... They aren't like herbivores where they are constantly eating in the wild, they probably only eat MAYBE once a week (more if they get lucky) and that is probably a big meal.
Plus you apparently overlooked this part of my post that you are referring to:
emartin said:
Keep in mind unless you feed rock hard large pellets it isn't worth it for puffers... They need hard shelled foods to keep their teeth/beaks trimmed. Some foods like mussells, krill, etc have a LOT more vitamins and nutrients than pellets have at all.
The rockhard pellets itself would only be worth it for puffers as a supplement for nutrients not as the main diet obviously, and as I pointed out (and you later replied and pointed out AGAIN) they need hard shelled foods to keep their teeth/beaks trimmed and pellets as the staple diet isn't the answer for that. Maybe as a supplement, but then again when mussells and clams and krill are all packed with vitamins and nutrients that exceed what is in pellets why bother?
The whole point of me thinking about (key word:
thinking) not feeding him for 5-7 days and trying pellets again was as a curiosity to see if he would go after them again, and especially at his current size the beak isn't an issue just yet and the added minerals in Dainichi as well as the fresh spirulina coating on the pellet would be beneficial for the puffer's health and growth and color.
Maybe I should've pointed out that I do not in any way plan on feeding a staple of pellets to my puffer (I'm already planning on a snail breeding set up) but you did take what I said way out of context... Fish can survive up to a month some species with no ill effect and puffers are no exception. Giving him more time to pass all his food without being forced out from an oncoming meal can hardly qualify as starving...
THIS is what I consider a starved puffer, and for a puffer to get like this they must've only been fed like once a month...
(NOTE: The owner of that puffer rescued it from previous owners that let the puffer get like that...which is starvation. It has NO fat and barely any muscle mass... Currently that puffer is fat and healthy and in a planted tank:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cq1rk0ZLKWs&fmt=18)
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More pics here... Doesn't even look like a puffer...:
http://www.**************.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=17931&p=187632#p187632
THAT'S a starved puffer, and for a puffer to get like that they'd have to have nothing to eat well beyond one week... Probably a whole month for that much fat and muscle to be gone. Thankfully the little guy still had strength to eat and MANY weeks later was looking like an actual puffer again...
And to show that he really had no fat... Take a look at this pic... See how "arched" the back/top of the fish looks? All the fat/muscle that would normally be there is gone.
I mean Homer...I saw you replied to that thread I just referred to... What makes you think that not feeding a puffer for 1 week is going to have any ill effects on the puffer? And if he eats pellets then he just ate and got a blast of green color enhancers... If not, then he will get krill or a big fat earthworm from the backyard and continue being fed 1-2 times a week...
the reason i reserved him was because the day i saw him he just arrived. i wanted to wait a couple of days to see if he/she is free of ichs.
I also just recently got a plump little 2" fahaka so I definitely share your excitement 
