Noodles the picky puffer

[crowsmuse]

good afternoon puffer friends.
i have a dwarf puffer named noodles and im having an issue.
firstly, i got her for my 5gallon planted tank that had a snail problem, the plants i put in came with some unwanted hitchhikers.
well miss noodles took care of them in short order, and soon, no snails left for munching.
finally i got her eating fat juicy red blood worms (mind you, only when they are thawed, and only if they are red and juicy, and only off the tongs, miss noodles just glares at me if they fall to the bottom of the tank, in fact they stay there till i remove them a day or so later)
then, i got some snails from the store, she ate only the eyes and feet, and left me with a decaying mess to clean every day,
so i got some smaller ones, now.. she wont eat them..
and they are getting out of control again.
sigh.. what am i gonna do with noodles?

[Pufferpunk]

Mine only eats live blackworms.

[bertie 83]

Refrain from feeding bloodworms, if the puffer is hungry the snails will be taken. Welcome to the forum

[purplecandle]

Don't wait a day or so to take out uneaten food. Generally I wait maybe 20 minutes and then remove uneaten food. Waiting more than an hour or so will cause water quality problems

If you feed snails, feed no bigger than the puffer' s eye. If they are bigger than than that they will just suck them out. If the snail is a big one you can crush it yourself then feed.

All that being said, dwarf puffers don't have the same teeth issues that other puffers have. Plenty of people only feed blood worms or live black worms.

[RTR]

+1 to purplecandle's comments. Puffers are quite good at training their keepers.

[Pufferpunk]

Refrain from feeding bloodworms

Why?

[bertie 83]

I didn't explain myself properly. From experience puffers will usually take the easiest food option, in this case bloodworms, if the op wants rid of some of the snail problem, holding back on the bloodworms will make the puffer eat the snails.

[purplecandle]

+1 to purplecandle's comments. Puffers are quite good at training their keepers.

My green spots have me buying them crab legs lately. Those things are expensive!

[Pufferpunk]

Look into my very large, round, adorable eyes... You WILL feed me crab legs... NOW!!!

[purplecandle]

Look into my very large, round, adorable eyes... You WILL feed me crab legs... NOW!!!

They are doing exactly that right now. They can see me pull their food out of the freezer to thaw on the counter. Thank goodness they don't know about Red Lobster restaurant. They would insist I put them on leashes and take them there....sad thing is, I would.

[Master of Puffers]

+1 to purplecandle's comments. Puffers are quite good at training their keepers.

My green spots have me buying them crab legs lately. Those things are expensive!

my fish food budget is getting close to the school snacks for the kids budget..

[Master of Puffers]

Look into my very large, round, adorable eyes... You WILL feed me crab legs... NOW!!!

They are doing exactly that right now. They can see me pull their food out of the freezer to thaw on the counter. Thank goodness they don't know about Red Lobster restaurant. They would insist I put them on leashes and take them there....sad thing is, I would.

Heaven help me if I walk past the mbu tank carrying anything plate like or white..he'll sulk for an hour if I tease him like that...silly fish

[crowsmuse]

Thank you all very much, yes she's training me well. Must have taken a lesson from the birds while I was at work.
Sometimes I see her staring up at the tongs, as if wondering why they aren't feeding her.
And her big round adorable eyes are hard to say no to.