Now, this was fun food!

[Troender]

I will be switching over to puffer talk in the end of this topic.
Last Thursday I picked up the fishes of my dreams, a group of beautiful Brochis multiradiatus. Since I got them, they haven't eaten a thing, and I was getting more and more worried about them. Deworming them didn't help either. Today I called the shop where I bought them, and asked what they had been feeding them. That didn't help much, as they had been feeding them bloodworms - the same as I've been feeding them. But they also gave me another helpful advice: try giving them earthworms. So I went outside and dug up a few. Wow, what a reaction. That was a huge success! The Brochies just went nuts. I've never seen a violent cory before (I call brochises cories too), but those huge cory relatives wasn't gentle with the poor worms. Those waving little worms was just so tempting that the fishes couldn't stop themselves from eating them.

After this, I still had a few earthworms left. I know it's puffer food, all though I've never tried giving my puffers earthworms. So I decided to give them what was left. I put worms into the tanks of my suvattii, my turgidus and my palembangensis. The two last puffers, I didn't see the reaction on, as I left the room before they had seen the worms. But my suvattii... Ususally my suvattii is rather violent when eating. And it's over in a split second. But the speed he managed today, I've never ever seen before. He was so agitated that he missed at the first try, probably chasing the reflection on the glass instead. But he didn't delay much, and before another second had passed, the worm was no more. I've never seen any puffer move so fast! So what I'm trying to say is: earthworms are a huge success as puffer food (and as brochis food too ). Next time I have trouble with getting a puffer started eating after having IPs, I know what to use (if it's not winter). No fish can stand against the temptation of livng, moving, waving earthworms.

[bigfatfish]

My old GSP used to love worms that were a little too big - the ones that would put up a bit of a fight!!

[bauk]

Hehe, great they all loved it!

I know the problem! until i find In my home town a aquarium store and buy them by 20 for €1,-

[indie]

Have to totally agree After my new Arrowhead puffer didnt eat for 4 weeks I tried an earthworm on the advise of Pufferpunk and he had no problems eating them!

[Dadof4]

I raise earthworms in my dining room under one of my tanks just for feeding the puffers. My Suvatti tries to eat them so quickly and viciously they come shooting out his gills. My turgdis is the same way once he finds them, I have to drop them in the filter current so they go floating past. Occasionally my GSP will take tiny ones and it's rather funny to watch him try to tackle a bigger one. If you raise them yourself and provide them a nutritious diet they can be very healthy for puffers.

[marksrush]

Wow, cool, very good info to know.

[omplmpa3]

The first time I gave my F8's an earthworm I actually got nauseous. They hit the worm from both ends and tore it in two. There was a pinkish/beige cloud that surrounded the puffers and then bits of worm flying everywhere. They were eating so fast that half of the worm would fall out of their mouths as they were trying to stuff more in. It was the first time I had actually seen, with my own eyes, a feeding frenzy.

[Troender]

That's our innocent looking puffers.

There was one large earthworm left in the tank of the Brochises. It was just too large for them to handle. It was (and still is) alive, and crawling around on the bottom. On its way, it tickled one of the brochises (which didn't see it coming, as it was facing the other way) on its butt. Wow, that fish got startled.

[By_a_coo]

I'm glad I read this post! I completly forgot how crazy my puffers go when I used to give them earthworms.

Instead of waiting for spring/summer time, wouldn't you be able to buy live earthworms in those stores that sell soil, flowers, etc. ?

[Dadof4]

They are real to raise. If you do an internet search for earth worm or night crawler breeding and keeping you get all sorts of good articles.

[LilGreenPuffer]

My Suvatti tries to eat them so quickly and viciously they come shooting out his gills.

Okay, this isn't an earthworm story, but it was so funny, I had to say it - Today, I was feeding my DPs frozen bloodworms, and as usual one went down the wrong way and came out of James Bond's gill. He actually chased it in circles, like a tail, trying to catch it!

[Troender]

Today, I was feeding my DPs frozen bloodworms, and as usual one went down the wrong way and came out of James Bond's gill. He actually chased it in circles, like a tail, trying to catch it!

Cories does this all the time - getting bloodworms down the wrong way. And then they try to suck it in again. It looks just like a child trying to suck in his snort. A friend of mine even saw another cory trying to catch the bloodworm coming out of another cory's gills. They had a short match of pulling the bloodworm between them, before the naughty cory was named the winner, and went away with the goodies.

The first time I saw a cory having a bloodworm hanging out of its gills, I panicked. I thought it would choke by it. But I quickly found out that they are used to handle things like this.

The leftover earthworm is still alive, and crawling around on the bottom of the tank. How long can they stay alive under water? I thought they would suffocate pretty quickly.

[LilGreenPuffer]

They use cutaneous respiration, meaning that they take oxygen in through the skin, so they're still getting some from the water. Water holds less oxygen, about 30% of what's in air, so he'll suffocate, but more slowly.

Just thought I'd share one of my recent lessons in Biology class...

[CarmenH]

OMG, I never thought of earthworms for puffer food! (I used to culture various live foods. fruit flies, white worms, etc for my "regular" tropicals but I don't have anything going any more and everything would have been too small for these two anyhow). Frankie gets grocery store shrimp, snails, and freeze dried krill and Douggie gets Ocean Nutrition Formula One cubes and snails.
So anyhow, after reading this thread, I went out into the garden and dug up 2 worms. Frankie (Cochinchinensis or cutcutia???) instantly devoured his. Doug was buried and having a nap and wasn't interested, so I took out the worm and gave it to Frankie. He got fat and very happy but was still hoping for more! Douggie then woke up and started swimming around so I decided to dig up one more to try. The reaction was CRAZY! He ripped it in half before it hit the sand and swallowed half in one gulp. He stalked the still-wiggling other half, then attacked and swallowed it. He's now swimming around, extremely happy and peppy, and his orange saddle is almost neon!
I soooo have to get an earthworm culture going, I had to dig really deep to find them and we're heading for winter...LOL hubby will be thrilled...or not :-/

Carmen