How much do I feed?

[lunarflame]

I just got my first puffer today. He's a cute little f-8 named Bumble.

I put 5 small snails in the tank before releasing him, and he ate all 5 of them in a very short time.

How much should I feed him each day? His diet will consist mostly of snails and brine shrimp. I don't want to over feed.

[Pamela]

Snails are great, lay off on the brine shrimp except for the occasional treat.
There's loads of food at your lfs that'll do...marine quartets of different kinds of bigger shrimp; cockles, clams, crab legs and other goodies from your fishmonger.
If you buy something for Bumbles that's not from your lfs, make sure it's raw, without anything added, and freeze it for 48 hours before you offer it to kill pathogens.
Have a good old trawl of your lfs's freezers...they'll have loads.
Are you breeding your own snails?
Feed him no more than he'll eat in five minutes, and makes his belly rounded but not distended.
How big is he? Once he gets over two inches, reduce feedings to three days on and one off, then once he gets to three inches, two days on and one day off.
If he's quite wee still, just skip one day a week. This is because puffers are predatory, and won't eat every day in the wild, so their livers and kidneys aren't geared up to that amount of food, so these fasts help the internal organs stay healthy.
Keep us posted, and if there's anything else, don't hesitate to ask.
Pami.

[lunarflame]

thanks so much for that.

My LPS's around here have very limited foods to give my fish. I live in a relativly small area.

I am raising my own snails... as well as brine shrimp for a snack. I also may purchase some other sea foods in the future for snacks.

He's actually quite large.. he looks almost full grown. He's about 3 inches alread, and as I have read, they only get 3-4 inches.

Tonight I put 5 small snails in the tank and he ate them all.. i was worried I may have over fed him. I didn't know he'd eat them all so fast!

So I should be feeding him two days on, and one off? I will post photos soon, he's very adorable

[LittlePuff]

Use the brine shrimp only ocassionally. There isn't much nutrition in them. Get frozen bloodworms and live ghost shrimp as well as the things that Pamela mentioned.


Kim