The Puffer Forum

Hi everyone, I got a new DP 1 month ago. He got a nice round belly after the LFS showed me that he was eating so I went ahead and purchased, however the belly quickly went away after I got him home. Appetite seems normal but the rounded belly continues to disappear soon after feeding and has started to become concave. My biggest issue is that the LFS was only feeding him brine shrimp. I have tried feeding frozen and freeze dried bloodworms, live blackworms, and live snails. I have tried soaking the different worms in garlic, still with no luck. I've tried feeding worms after several days without food, and during or after feeding brine shrimp to see if the brine shrimp would stimulate less picky behavior. Still the only food the lil guy will eat is brine shrimp. So now I'm wondering if there is a way to make the brine shrimp more nutritious for him? Also, since it seems clear I need to treat for IPs, is there an effective way to do this by dosing the brine shrimp?

Answers to above questions:
1. Water parameters
pH- 7.6
ammonia, nitrite- 0
nitrates- 0-0.5

2. 10 g tank, only inhabitants are single DP with 2 otos

3. Feeding brine shrimp daily until belly becomes rounded with occasional day of fasting. 25% WC twice weekly

4. No recent changes

5. Tank set up 2.5 years ago

Brine shrimp has very little nutrition. I see no reason they wouldn't eat live worms. Keep trying.