Stubborn Porcupine

[RTR]

Your fish, your tank, your choice.

But you asked for and got excellent advice on puffer handling. A 55 with three highly aggressive fish is really no more suitable as grow-out tank for the porc than was the 20 it was in at the fish shop. I do hope that you do not consider LFS housing as suitable examples to be followed by caring and knowledgeable hobbyists. It certainly is not. Few shop employees or even owners really have much knowledge of long-term fish keeping (years to decades, depending on the family and species).

[Pufferpunk]

Do you know if or what the porc was eating at the LFS?

[chuckfriedrice]

Thanks for the advice, I will attempt live food later this morning. Hey chuck does your puffer attack your hermits or snails?

He actually just started eating Nassarius snails . Crabs and crayfish are a favorite .

[cbr2586]

Pufferpunk: they said that they only had him for two days before I got him and that he was being stubborn for them.

Chuck: okay awesome. I'm gonna have to find a way to make those more readily available. Do you go out and buy em in bulk?

Good news! He ate about 5 ghost shrimp this morning when I dropped them in his tank. Maybe the strike is finally over?

[puffykid]

That's great, hopefully he was just being difficult with the transition. Not sure if this was already talked about but have you treated him for internal parasites most puffers come with them cause they are wild caught. If his stomach seems to get sunken within a day of feeding you may want to treat him. I hope that you enjoy keeping him in the future as I have read that they are one of the best puffers to own.

[cbr2586]

I will definitely watch him and see. I have dosed my tank with pimafix and melafix after I brought him home from the LFS. Thank you for the advice. Where do you guys get your crabs and crayfish for your big puffers?

[Squaffy]

have you treated him for internal parasites

I have dosed my tank with pimafix and melafix

Good for fungal and bacterial infections. What about internal parasite treatment? What did you use?

[chuckfriedrice]

Pufferpunk: they said that they only had him for two days before I got him and that he was being stubborn for them.

Chuck: okay awesome. I'm gonna have to find a way to make those more readily available. Do you go out and buy em in bulk?

Good news! He ate about 5 ghost shrimp this morning when I dropped them in his tank. Maybe the strike is finally over?

If you have the space start a feeder tank with Marble crayfish , they are self cloning , Pefect for an endless supply of food. You can usually get them for decent amounts on aquabid!

[cbr2586]

Squaffy: I've been soaking his food in garlic since I've gotten him to start eating recently. Any other suggestions on IP treatments? His stomach doesn't appear to be sunken in at all. For some reason he still won't touch clams or mussels...

Chuck: I will definitely check out setting up a marbled cray tank. I have a 20,15, and 10g tank laying around. What size would you recommend for a crayfish tank?

Any other foods you would recommend? Are rams horns good for them?

[Pufferpunk]

Go to your LFS & grab some fiddler crabs.

[Squaffy]

I see you're in the States, so getting Jungle - Parasite Clear should be easy enough (we can't get it in the UK, I have a friend post it from Florida)

Rather than drop the fizz tabs in the tank, just break a small piece off and soak the food in it, like you're doing with the garlic

If you can't find them, then you should be able to get hold of some Praziquantel powder (the fish variety of course, it comes in different forms for cats, dogs, fish...)

Just for piece of mind it's worth treating a wild caught fish, even if it doesn't show obvious physical signs of infestation

Sounds like you're doing everything you can. Good luck finding some

[puffykid]

I see you're in the States, so getting Jungle - Parasite Clear should be easy enough (we can't get it in the UK, I have a friend post it from Florida)

Rather than drop the fizz tabs in the tank, just break a small piece off and soak the food in it, like you're doing with the garlic

If you can't find them, then you should be able to get hold of some Praziquantel powder (the fish variety of course, it comes in different forms for cats, dogs, fish...)

Just for piece of mind it's worth treating a wild caught fish, even if it doesn't show obvious physical signs of infestation

Sounds like you're doing everything you can. Good luck finding some

+1 above also please upgrade their tank asap, puffers especially ones that get to the larger sizes are very easy to stunt even with high water quality overall volume is also important. Also would love to see some pictures of your current tank.

[arrivalanche]

+1 on the fiddler crabs. That's how. Got my mappa to eat when he was being stubborn. Puffers love hunting them.

Also, from experience I've learned to never ever buy a fish that they can't show you eating in the store. You are just buying a problem if they aren't eating.

[cbr2586]

Hey guys sorry for the absence. So after talking with the guys at the LFS I found out that his diet consisted of krill... Which to me definitely explains the lack of wanting other foods. He has eaten plenty of ghost shrimp and 3 fiddler crabs in the past 10 days. He is still turning his head up at clams on a half shell as well as any other marine food soaked in garlic or not. What's the process on weening him off krill? Do I just starve him for a few days until he decides to eat whatever I drop in the tank? Because as fun as it is to watch I refuse to have him only dine on fiddler crabs that are $5 a piece.

[Pufferpunk]

A sole diet of krill is extremely dangerous for a puffer--especially the porc. It will most definitely cause lockjaw & eventually starvation death of your fish. Try these methods for a difficult fish: library/feeding/problems-feeding-your-puffer/