Porcupine Puffer Feeding Issues, Help Please.

[PreciousPuffer13]

ok so i just recently bought a porc a few days ago
BUT -- the people at the LFS told me NOT to ever feed him live food, or any sort of veggie. he told me to ONLY feed him freeze dried krill.
im really super confused because everything on here says the opposite & they are a really reputable aquatic store. they've been in business for years, and are independently owned.

if anyone has any tips, or ideas, or any sort of info on what im SUPPOSED to feed my new little friend, please feel free to tell me, im open to any suggestions! thanx in advance!

[edmlfc1]

Krill is ok on occassion but not as a staple food. Krill will give a porc lock jaw. It may take a year or longer maybe even a few months. I really don't know how long it takes but it always has the same result. A porc on an all krill diet will get lock jaw. There is a great feeding article in the library under the learn tab. You can try feeding him/her food soaked in garlic. If you are having trouble getting it to eat try gut loaded ghost shrimp, people shrimp tied to a string, earthworms or crickets. But also try to get them to take dead food as soon as you can.

[PreciousPuffer13]

thanx for replying so quick! haha.

am i allowed to feed him (his name is Bugsy, from the movie Bedtime Stories) shrimp and stuff from a grocery store? i know the store i shop at sells frozen shrimp, and oysters. i thought they werent allowed to have people foods with alot of additives and preservatives?

[edmlfc1]

I feed my puffer's food from the local grocery store fresh seafood department. As long as the food is raw and uncooked it's ok. If you buy fresh seafood, freeze it first, defrost in tank water, soak in vitamins then feed.

[DRRT]

I completely 100% disagree with your LFS. Please read as much as you can concerning your puffer, by educating yourself, you can help keep him healthy.

Porcs eat a wide variety of invertebrates in the wild, from shrimp, clams, oysters, mussels, crabs, and all sorts of other little critters. Their teeth never stop growing, so offering shellfish with the meat still attached will help keep the teeth from overgrowing. you could potentially feed it live snails or crabs as a treat so it can hunt and wear down the teeth. Offering seaweed and other veggies is a good way to round out the diet. If it doesn't want to accept them, be sure to soak the foods in vitamins, a couple things i use is Zoe and Zoecon from Kent. Not trying for product placement, but that's what i use and recommend.

Do not, repeat, DO NOT feed him the krill anymore. prolonged eating of krill can cause lock-jaw and vitamin deficiencies.

Ok, that's enough from me for now. Please go check out puffer pedia and there are also a couple of articles and threads on feeding. hth

[edmlfc1]

Porc puffers teeth will not over grow. They are about the only puffer that has plate style teeth. No need to worry about feeding crunchy foods. You won't have over grown teeth with a porc puffer.

[DRRT]

whop, sorry i like to generalize

[PreciousPuffer13]

awesome, thanks so much guys.

i disagree the LFS also, it just seemed odd when i said "did u start feeding him live foods yet" and they went "no, never do that. only freeze dried krill, or anything with krill"
whatever though, ill just go buy him some shrimp and neat foods like that.

another question -- why do u soak the food in vitamins?

[DRRT]

in the wild, they eat such a variety of foods that they get all the vitamins they need. theoretically, if you fed it a large variety of vitamins, you wouldn't need to give it vitamins either. but, just like me, i can get lazy and don't vary my diet enough and eat too much pizza and not enough spinach. i, when i remember, take vitamins, so goes for the puffer

[edmlfc1]

Vitamins will keep them healthy and keep their immune system up. It's not that you "have" to feed vitamins, it's that you "should" feed vitamins to keep them healthy. Any other fish that you feed flake or pellet food will get all the vitamins they need. With feeding puffer's things like shrimp, crabs, clams etc. it's best to include vitamins in their diet. A healthy puffer is a happy puffer.

[PreciousPuffer13]

i couldnt agree more!
i just wanted to make sure. my gut instinct was to feed shrimp, frozen foods, and ghost shrimp - gut loaded with wafers of course!
i guess everyone has different opinions of how to feed them.. but the LFS doesn't intend to keep the puffers for more then a few months, so i guess thats why they dont take the time to feed a variety.
who knows. all im concerned with is that my lil guy is healthy, and "buzzing" around the tank -- with a pot belly

[LilGreenPuffer]

Probably the reason that they said not to feed him live food is that it can give your fish diseases and parasites if it's not quarantined first. If you quarantine its food first, it should be fine.

[PreciousPuffer13]

gotcha. ill find out if he likes the frozen uncooked stuff first. that seems the easiest right now. ill prolly get a few ghost shrimp also. how do i quarentine those? sorry to bother you guys with so many questions, im sorta new at this. i trust you guys more than any petstore haha.

[DRRT]

I've never actually fed live foods, but wanted to leave the option open to you. i feed frozen "people" foods. If he is eating freeze dried krill, i see no reason why he wouldn't go for other dead foods.

The LFS i worked for for a bit only fed sw fish frozen krill, brine shrimp, seaweed, and the occasional frozen fish food veggie mix cubes. I asked why when they also sell frozen prawns, which are better for the fish or mixing mysis shrimp into the mix as well. imo, mysis is better than brine shimp because the shrimp are bigger and so a picky eater can get more out of eating one or two pieces. They said they fed the krill over prawns because they are bigger, and the brine over mysis because they don't really have mysis in bulk. So it has a lot to do with being cost effective.

[LilGreenPuffer]

gotcha. ill find out if he likes the frozen uncooked stuff first. that seems the easiest right now. ill prolly get a few ghost shrimp also. how do i quarentine those? sorry to bother you guys with so many questions, im sorta new at this. i trust you guys more than any petstore haha.

To quarantine them, just put them in a small aquarium (I use a Tupperware, but it needs to be covered, because they jump!) and keep them there for at least a week. Feed them anything - I use algae pellets and frozen bloodworms, the exact same food that I feed my other fish. At the end of the quarantine period, if they have no visible problems, then go ahead and feed.