how do you get young fahakas to eat frozen food?

[lesleyanndunn]

I know Ive only had my wee guy a few days, and hes doing well
He will eat snails, and bloodworm soaked in vitamins
He already knows to beg at the glass! and gets excited when anyone approaches the tank.
Have tried twice with cockle in shell, but its ignored.
How do you 'train' them into eating these foods?
Starve him for a day or so?

I know alot of people have bought small fahakas over last couple months, so any info would be helpful!

[PolishPuff]

Try soaking food in liquid garlic.

[Pufferpunk]

library/feeding/problems-feeding-your-puffer/

[Hilly]

Im sorry you're having trouble getting him to take anything frozen, mine accepted frozen food from day one and i've been feeding every other day since I got him. I have to open the cockles for him as they're quite large and he hasnt got a chance of getting in them yet but he attacks them and scrapes them clean to the shell. Musselsand whitebait are readily accepted as well in small amounts.

Maybe try not feeding him for a day and try again and then if that doesnt work try the suggestions in the article.

[lesleyanndunn]

thanks, hes eating bloodworm and snails really well
but would like to get him into other things.
its early days yet, he will learn lol
my gsp gorges on the cockles, so least theyre not going to waste!
will persevere!

[L!$A]

Some other alternatives that Nala really likes is market prawn, or wild shrimp.
She also is a huge fan of earth worms.. and meal worms as an occasional treat

[Adria]

Agreed on the garlic idea!

My fahaka is also young. He didn't really "get it" when we dropped anything other than snails in for awhile but we added garlic and he understood. He'll eat frozen shrimp out of my hand now (yes, we watch our fingers just in case he gets curious what those would taste like haha).

[LilGreenPuffer]

With my puffers, they started out eating frozen, then I fed them all live and they got spoiled. When I tried frozen again, they wouldn't eat it. What worked was when the food got caught in the filter current and looked alive. That, and they were pretty hungry after a week of no food. It doesn't hurt them to go without food for that long, and it can often convince them to try something they've previously refused.