how to train the puffer on pellets (my methods)

[PuffsDaddy]

Let me summarize the OP for people whose reading comprehension is subpar.

Here is a way to get added nutrition into your puffers diet. Sneak pellets in with its food and if you are patient it may learn to take them on its own. I feed 50/50 pellets and meaty/crunchy food. Have a nice day.

I was really amazed at how this guy was treated on here.

[RTR]

I disagree, solely on the basis of regular pellet feeding to puffers detrimental effect on water quality being significantly greater tan that of the foods I use most -live snails and frozen/thawed seafoods. If I can detect the difference in water quality degradation in my tanks, I will not use such foods.

I am of the considered opinion that my water and tank management are directly responsible for the long lives that most of my fish display. I see no reason to compromise that for a minor reduction in convenience for myself. I get really hard-nosed on high water quality. If I know how to do it right and am not willing to do so, I do not keep the fish.

[jus85411]

first off, i can see this person being a sales rep/owner of NLS, trying to get people to try getting their puffs to eat pellets when if you ask anyone knowledgeable here about a good diet, pellets are not even an option given to you. why? because its not natural for them. its not fair to compare feeding puffers pellets to feeding cichlids pellets. what do cichlids do? and what type of fish are they? they will literally eat anything that drops in the water, which is why nutritional pellets were made specifically for them/koi/goldfish/community fish cause they will eat anything. sure my damsel will eat flake/pellet/shrimp/clam/mussell/etc but he will also eat the my puffs poop... where as my puff wont eat another fish's poop. geeze i wonder why? cause its just a ball that floats around with no movement to attract him. where have you ever seen a pellet advertised solely for a predator fish with comparable diets to puffers? not even just advertised for puffers, predatory fish in general. try feeding any real shark a pellet, it could be the size of a grapefruit and i think the most they would do would be investigate. puffers are like sharks, part of the stimulating-ness of being a predator fish is the kill, the blood, the mess.

sure puffers go on hunger strikes, but thats when they are stressed about something(move into aquarium/from aquarium, changes in tank, parameters etc). and i would love to see a post on here that a puffer died of starvation(confirmed starvation), not being too far gone from walmart-esque care or IPs. you wont... you can feed pellets all you want but NIMFT, and im sure most if not all seasoned puffer owners here will agree. there may be nutritional value, but why when you can just soak the natural foods to the puffer in vitamins/supplemental nutrients? why risk hiding a pellet in your puffers food and he takes a bite inhaling at the same time(which most tend to do) and the whole pellet(those XL NLS pellets you got there) gets lodged in your puffs throat? whoops... dead puff most likely. no thanks, once again NIMFT. i would feed pellets to my puff, but only by gutloading live shrimp, crayfish etc first if i set up my breeding grounds. i just suggest not being lazy/cheap and just get the correct suggested diet and vitamins. $40 you can get your vitamins, clams, shrimp to last you almost a month depending how many puffs your feeding

[jus85411]

Let me summarize the OP for people whose reading comprehension is subpar.

haha im pretty sure everyone understands what he is trying to do here, just not the logic, reason or means behind it. talk about subpar comprehension

[JRC3]

I saw the original post as a way to get more vitamins and such into the puffers diet...Just like gut loading shrimp or like adding supplements and vitamins to food. I'm not going to do it but that is how I saw it.

Personally I think this thread has gottin out of hand and I think a few posters assumed the thread starter was feeding their puffer only pellets. If a thread is TL;DR then don't comment on it.


Besides, I was at Walmart and the sign on their GSP tank says they should be fed flake and pellets. I took a picture, don't make me post it...Cause I will do it.

[jus85411]

haha i remember very well. i wasnt referring to the feeding pellets as walmart-esque lmao it was the 20 of them in a 10 gallon, all torn up with IPs as well i was referring to with the care. there are better ways to incorporate pellets if you were really persistant in using them. you can grind them up and make a mix of different foods, freeze it and break off what you need as needed. but you also still run into the problem once its defrosted that RTR was talking about, ruining the water quality by the debris from it suspending and dissolving, rather than resting on the bottom like most foods would do so you can vacuum it out

i saw the original post as that way too, but why when we feed the varied diet we do to make sure their diet is nutrient rich. wouldnt something like hes trying to do just make you think that if he gets his puff to eat them regularly that it wouldnt take up a good portion of his diet just to save a few bucks?

[jus85411]

also, its common knowledge for anyone that keeps/kept puffers and knows anything about them that pellets/flakes arent used by most people and therefore will raise questions on ethic when someone reads that they are trying to train their puff to eat them. when i saw the subject i just thought to myself "oh geeze, cant wait to see what people say to this person" because i knew some people would not like it at all and bash him and question him. but if you know that pellets arent usually part of a diet recommended then your bound to know that your going to get bashed or questioned for it. so why post it? why not just keep it secret? other than to just create a stir or try and get people to buy your product? i had a GSP that liked flake for some reason when i would feed my damsels. dont know why, it just liked flake. yes flakes are nutritional but why should i try to feed them more or try to get my other puff to eat them? because they are cheaper? no i still got the shrimp, clams, vitamins.

[JRC3]

...wouldnt something like hes trying to do just make you think that if he gets his puff to eat them regularly that it wouldnt take up a good portion of his diet just to save a few bucks?

I don't think it is, but if it's about trying to save a few bucks then feeding pellets wouldn't be the way to do it. Seafood is just too damn inexpensive in the quantities for feeding puffers. Puffers of any size.

...so why post it? why not just keep it secret? other than to just create a stir or try and get people to buy your product? ...

Because we are here to discuss things and if people keep it to themselves, we don't get to decide if it is good...or bad. I'm sure there have been other topics that weren't "the norm" that turned in to something good.

Is this guy from from the manufature? Does anyone know? He does seem a little hung up on a single brand name.

[PuffsDaddy]

Oh I'm positive hes representing some manufacturer of fish pellets, it all makes too much sense. If only he could have convinced you all. Billions!

You guys are too much.

[J-P]

Dang... and I was going to invest in a Puffer Pellet Manufacturer and start selling too

[LilGreenPuffer]

first off, i can see this person being a sales rep/owner of NLS, trying to get people to try getting their puffs to eat pellets when if you ask anyone knowledgeable here about a good diet, pellets are not even an option given to you. why? because its not natural for them. its not fair to compare feeding puffers pellets to feeding cichlids pellets. what do cichlids do? and what type of fish are they? they will literally eat anything that drops in the water, which is why nutritional pellets were made specifically for them/koi/goldfish/community fish cause they will eat anything.

Actually, I don't think this person was really a sales rep. I happen to LOVE New Life Spectrum myself and would recommend their products over just about any other brand.

Also, I think it is unnatural to feed ANY fish prepared food. The entire practice of keeping a fish in a tank is unnatural. The real question is, does it provide the nutrition that they need without any negative side effects? This can be debated all day, but you can't say that it's unnatural to feed prepared food to puffers but not to other fish.

A truly high-quality prepared food can be a component in a healthy diet, IMO.

[Flutter]

I happen to LOVE New Life Spectrum myself

I haven't been bold enough to try them yet. Which kinds do you find taste best?

I truly don't understand why this topic has blown up the way it has. Whether you agree with the OP or not they put a lot of effort into it and posted it to help others. I don't think they deserve the hostility that's been shown to them. This is a nicer board than that...

[J-P]

Most are die hard stereotype that are narrow minded and ignorant. It's obvious threadstarter is not a salesman and NLS is a reputable brand that's already highly commercialized. The puffer market is simply not a lucrative market to even make any r specific product for. In case you don't know, many arowana and catfishes eat a highly nutritional pellet diet that are far more expensive than your common off the market dead seafood. A few folds more expensive. The reason I include pellets as a PART diet is because they are highly nutritional and 100% free of parasites. If you think it's unnatural, and think that a puffer should be treated like a marine shark. LOL. Do go ahead and feed them live food to keep it as NATURAL as possible. The debate won't end with the ignorant and hard stereotyped mindset if your not open to suggestions. Know your facts.

wow that was harsh....

[ScallyWag]

My apologies if I sounded harsh. A little carried away.

[jus85411]

im not narrow minded, ignorant, and whatever else senseless "harsh" words you want to throw out of your keyboard. what do puffers eat in the wild? crustaceans mainly, shrimp and other meaty foods im pretty sure. the most natural way to supplement this in the aquarium(also not really natural but hey, what can you do to stop it from happening?) is by feeding exactly what is recommended. sure there are countless types of pellet foods out there, some nutritional some not, and some better than others. not saying its bad to feed pellets i would be a hypocrite as i feed them to my other fish. im saying for a predator fish there really is no point unless he seems to go nuts over them like my GSP does a shrimp or clam and not him eating it because he thinks there possibly wont be more food after those things. im not comparing the puffer and the shark itself, its the type of diet and the mindset of such a predator fish. you cant say that puffers arent seeming to be mini sharks aggression and personality wise. this is the way my GSP seems anyway minus the aggression to a point. they like to stalk their prey if the moment isnt right to attack, they exploit weaknesses and study their prey. im open to suggestions, why do you think im successful at keeping my puffer alive and well? do you think i knew everything i know now going into getting the fish? nope not at all. so suggest all you want, but all i was saying was not in my fish tank. and if you read a little more, maybe squint so you can see a little better, i say maybe a way to incorporate this into the diet without keeping the pellets whole and possibly your puffer choking on them because your hiding it in food, was to grind it up and put it in some sort of premade frozen mix. but even if you do that you run into the water polluting problem that RTR mentioned once the pellets dissolve