Picky DP

Phoenix91 · Post by **Phoenix91** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 7:40 pm

So i've had my 2 DPs for a while now and they've been doing great. At the weekend i gave them each a snail as a treat and now the smaller 1 is refusing to eat his regular food. They normally get bloodworms and have been eating them fine. For some reason the 1 has decided he would rather have snails and unfortunately i don't have a huge stock of pond snails anymore. I tried giving him a pond snail this morning because his not eating is worrying me but the fatter dp beat him to it and he went hungry again.

How can i get him back on his blood worm diet? how long can dps go without eating? he's not the fattest puffer, never has been. He's been treated twice for ips but just never seems to gain a lot of weight. The other dp is quite fat.

xrayjeeper83 · Post by **xrayjeeper83** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 7:42 pm

try dipping the food in garlic, or some(including myself) has fought picky eating by not feeding em. They wont let themselves starve to death. After a while they will get hungry and eat

Phoenix91 · Post by **Phoenix91** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 7:46 pm

I have garlic, i'll try that! I was tempted to try not feeding him at all and see if he would just get so hungry that he'd eat, i'd hate to see him die over something as silly as not wanting to eat a worm.

xrayjeeper83 · Post by **xrayjeeper83** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 7:57 pm

yea that would suck, just soak it with garlic for a few mins and also try to keep the fatter one away till you can fatten the smaller one up.

Use something to divide them, a net or a piece of plastic you can easily slide in the tank

Phoenix91 · Post by **Phoenix91** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 7:59 pm

Well i gave the garlic a try and the fat one ended up with the worm but only after the skinny one turned his nose up at it. I'll also find my net and keep the fatty away when i try again. I'll keep trying and see if i can rustle up another snail just in case i have to resort to that to keep him from starving. Silly fish.

Post by **Pufferpunk** » Sun Sep 18, 2011 11:18 pm

Skinny may = IPs.

DrKennethNoisewater · Post by **DrKennethNoisewater** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 2:36 am

my friend just lost a dp to loss of appetite. it had gotten really skinny and died. i tried to help him but it was too late

pay very close attention! mine would NEVER say no to a blood worm even if sick, so something could be quite wrong.

goldielocke76 · Post by **goldielocke76** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 3:16 am

How long should you treat for IPs in a DP? I am having a similar situation with mine still-- except mine won't eat the bws after it's been soaked in meds, even with garlic! I have to let them soak in med/garlic mix overnight, then dump half of the mixture out, and add some water in to it and then let it sit again...then and only then, will he eat the medicated bws. He's still on the thin side, and I treated for IPs for a week. What do you all think? Does he still need to be treated?

Phoenix91 · Post by **Phoenix91** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 4:56 pm

Pufferpunk: i've treated this puffer for IPs at least 3 times. I would definitely treat again but until i can get a food that he's willing to eat i'm at a loss as to how to treat him.

He's getting pretty skinny, i'm worried about him. I managed to scrounge up a snail and he wolfed it down so it's not a complete loss of appetite. My snail breeder has eggs and tiny baby snails (not big enough to feed yet) in it but it's waiting for them to grow a little to get a food source that's holding me back just feedng him snails to fatten him up.

Any suggestions as to what i could try feeding him? the bloodworms get a quick glance, yesterday he took a taste and then left it. I went out and bough baby brine shrimp but i'm not sure they're big enough to feed him. I got the frozen kind and it seems like once it's thawed it's just a watery cloud of pink. Anything else i could try? if i could get him eating i could treat again for IPs just in case.

joey90 · Post by **joey90** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 5:02 pm

one thing that might help, when I first got my DP's there were very fussy as to what they would eat I began using a pipette to feed them. For the first week or so I fed them exclusively with live bloodworm, I then tried frozen mysis, cockle pieces, brineshrimp and frozen daphnia. Now they eat anything I put in the pipette, they will come straight to the pipette whenever it is placed in the tank.

sevenyearnight · Post by **sevenyearnight** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 5:10 pm

If he's eating snails, then go out and get as many snails as you can. He can live off of snails. If that's all he will eat, he could starve to death while you try to get him to eat something else.

Phoenix91 · Post by **Phoenix91** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 5:12 pm

I already use a pipette for the bloodworms, but thanks for the suggestion. I'll try frozen mysis and frozen daphnia though, i can pick some up tomorrrow.

Phoenix91 · Post by **Phoenix91** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 5:13 pm

where will i get pond snails? the first batch i got were in a plant i ordered online.

sevenyearnight · Post by **sevenyearnight** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 5:43 pm

Call around to every fish store in your area, explain your situation and ask if they have snails. Even Wal-mart. If no one has them, you can ask someone here if they can mail you some.

Phoenix91 · Post by **Phoenix91** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 5:48 pm

Okay thanks. I'll check around tonight, and i i can't find any i'll put a post up here. Thanks.

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