feeding very small dwarf puffers

kass · Post by **kass** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 5:20 pm

hey guys,
I just recently, and finally, got my first puffers. 3 dwarf puffers, who are tiny, probably around 1 cm long.
I am having trouble getting them to eat. When they see the food they eat it, my problem is that they don't always see the food. Just wondering if any one had any tips they could provide for me. thanks

Jayhawk · Post by **Jayhawk** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 5:43 pm

Bloodworms and baby brine shrimp are good bets. Feed small amounts so you don't get much waste in the tank. Try crushing small snails and they'll rip at the meat.

Eric

Toadman Z · Post by **Toadman Z** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 8:16 pm

I originally got 3 tiny puffers that I kept in a 2.5g and they ate like pigs. Then I got worried that the were in too small a tank, so I moved them to a planted 10g. And they seemed to stop eating. It seemed like they just didn't find the food as well, and whe they did, the extra space made them really shy almost skittish. But I got a syringe with airline tubing attached and directed the food at them. Slowly they figured it out and started eating better. So, you could try a smaller tank, but most people wouldn't advocate this. Or, I guess I'd try getting some way to direct the food right towards them. I also found that they like live blackworms that they would pick them out of the gravel by the tail. I also think they were eating lots of little snails and such that I never really noticed in the tank. Try putting snails in there. Even ones that are too big, as they will lay eggs and make tiny little tasty snails.
Good luck, DPs are great
PS, check out dwarfpuffers.com as well

puffernuke · Post by **puffernuke** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 7:18 pm

i am in the same boat as kass. mine are about as long as the diameter of a pen. i talked to the owner of my local fish store and he gave me some
'pure" garlic juice. i have yet to try this though. any opinions?

crazyforpuffs · Post by **crazyforpuffs** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 7:58 pm

My experience with dwarf puffers and getting them to eat is this...

If they come from a LFS that just fed them flakes - it is harder to get them to eat once home in your tank...

You can try a feeding cone...

Mine love live blackworms, frozen bloodworms and snails (when I can get them) - they never have cared for anything that isn't small and squiggly....but on occasion do eat brine shrimp (which is not very nutricious anyhow).

Try to not frighten them when you come to the tank...they will soon learn that when they see you come to the tank - food is most likely to follow...and will thus come to the glass to see you and in turn, will see the food also.

Both my dwarfs and F-8's will follow me around the room (as much as they can from inside their tanks) till I feed them...they are just like dogs.

Good luck.

jumpysquid · Post by **jumpysquid** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 1:21 pm

My DPs are crazy for thawed frozen bloodworms (what they were fed at the store where I got them). They doubled in length on 3 months of this diet, and they always want more.

I drop the worms in on a toothpick. They learned in less than a day that the toothpick means food.

Unfortunately, my puffers are picky! They don't want to eat anything other than these worms and snails (when I can get them, which isn't often).

When I went away on holiday a few weeks ago I put about 10 small snails and 2 ghost shrimp in the tank. Upon returning a week later, all snails and shrimp had been eaten. But the puffers have not touched any ghost shrimp I have added since then. I want them to eat the shrimp so that the biological load in the tank does not get too high, but the fish don't even look at the shrimp as food.

They also ignored shreds of thawed frozen shrimp waved at them on the toothpick.

Do you have any ideas about how to increase the diversity of their diet (other than starving them)?

kass · Post by **kass** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 2:15 pm

I'd say try getting a hold of live blackworms, if you can. I can't find any live worms around my area though.

NikkiDee · Post by **NikkiDee** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 11:42 pm

My Dwarf puffers will only eat the freeze dried blood worms. My LFS hasn't gotten any snails yet... But to get them to eat I just stick the bloodworms on a skewer and wiggle it around. Less than 2 seconds later the food is gone. Now whenever they see the skewer they know food is coming. Its really fun to do/watch.

kass · Post by **kass** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 12:15 am

what kinda skewer do you/others use?

Post by **RTR** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 12:46 pm

My skewers are bamboo. I also have some stainless steel ones for the large fish, but usually use forceps for them.

NikkiDee · Post by **NikkiDee** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 2:54 pm

The bamboo ones that people would generally use for the barbque. Makes for easy cleanup being disposable and all.

demented_lullaby · Post by **demented_lullaby** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 4:57 pm

Wait I'm a bit lost. Blood worms are tiny, how do you get them on the skewer?

NikkiDee · Post by **NikkiDee** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 5:13 am

I pre soak them for a min or 2 on a spoon or waterbottle cap so they get all soggy then I just poke at the worm until it stays on the skewer one at a time. Don't try to get more then one worm on... Trust me it dosn't work... then I just stick it in the tank. Some times the worm will come off in the tank but then you can try to use the stick to gt it back or just show the fish where it is using the stick as the pointer. It really is alot easier then it sounds.

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feeding very small dwarf puffers

feeding very small dwarf puffers

all they want is worms