feeding dwarf puffer

[penna32]

ive tried frozen bloodworms and he just swism after them but never eats them .. same with flaked food and freeze dried blodworms .. would garlic extract work with the bloodworms ? what are other options to feed this lil guy without it being live ? what do you need to keep snails in your tank ?

[crazedpuffer]

How long have you had him? It can take a while for it to eat. You might want to try brine shrimp see if that gets him going. Live Blackworms are your best bet though.

[penna32]

i just got him 2 days ago .. i figured about the time just cuz thats normal especially for guys with picky apetites .. but my mom wouldnt allow me to keep live worms for the little guy and we dont have any garlic extract, my mom never even heard of it lol but im gunna go thte LFS and get krill plankton anthing
and hope it works

[Boxermom]

Very few puffers will eat dried or flake food. It often can take a week or more before they settle in and start eating normally. Just keep offering a couple of the bloodworms every day and it'll eventually start eating. Mine took over a month!

Hopefully you cycled the tank first, yes?

[crazedpuffer]

What size tank? Is it well planted? I had a dp who wouldn't even swim because the tank had little plants and it was only 1 gallon.
Any pics?

[penna32]

10 gallon tank .. fully cycled of course lol .. ill keep feeding him and look for some snails at my lfs .. should the snails be small ? he is VERY small

[penna32]

its not extremely planted, i need to save up some money for plants because im buying a double strip lighting hood for my 20 gal so i can keep a lot of plants .. but once i get some more money im definately planting that tank to its limits because i love the look of a planted tank

[Boxermom]

Snails should be approximately the size of his eye.

[penna32]

proud to say he just ate .. i dropped a couple thawed out bloodworms with a turkey baster and he was a little intimidated (i think becuase of the pressure the baster was putting at him) but he went right away and chomped down

[penna32]

oh lol .. i dont think i can find snails that size .. maybe ill feed him the bloodworms until he gets a little bit bigger .. his eye is about the size of a peice of sand

[Nick]

Just get some pond or ramshorn snails, any size, and put them in a tub with a few chips of cuttlebone(pet stores carry it, birds use it) a carrot piece and wait. It only takes the eggs a week or two from hatching to reach perfect DP size, even with pond snails. You should change the carrot piece periodically, but all other items for raising snails just increase how many you get how fast, and are not strictly necissary.

[kimmers318]

If you feed larger snails to your dwarf he/she will just suck out what meat they can and leave the empty shell. Just be careful that you remove empty shells so if there is any leftover meat in there it doesn't start to rot and foul up the water.

[Nick]

You shoudl also not consider large snails "break wearing" but since DP's need only the littlest beak maintenence, using the larger ones most of the time is not that big a deal.

[penna32]

"break wearing"?


would the tub with the snails give out an odor ? need any special temp. ? need a cover? lol

also would i put the snails in the tank and wait for him to eat them, or let the snails chill in the tank until he does.. or put them in at feeding time and take otu the ones he doesnt eat ?

[Nick]

It won't smell if you change the water when it gets ichy, a good idea in any case. Warmer, up to 85 deg, is better, in that it will generate more snails faster. I'd toss some of the right size in once a week, to be eaten at his own pace.