The Puffer Forum

JBurg wrote:I have about a 6-7in puffer it seems he is always hungry no matter what. How often should i feed him?

At that size at most every other day until his belly is a bit rounded. How often what and how much do you feed? Like PP said... is he skinny? Also, ck out the feeding articles out in the library.

Ive found with my gsps that they will eat until they explode. So at the moment I only feed until their bellys are slightly rounded and do this once per day. Between 4 1" gsps, they eat half a mussle between them, or quarter of a frozen bloodworm cube. I think they would eat until they killed themselves if i let them

My Mappa will do that...he stole the zebra eel's shrimp and gorged himself so much he's still fat after not eating for two days...obnoxious puffer!

I have 2 baby GSP, and I feed them once a day 6 days a week. I've found it really hard to tell when they've had enough to eat, because as soon as they see me getting their food, their tummies start to swell. It would be awesome if someone was able to post pics of an underfed puffer, a normal one, a full one and an overfed puffer?

Thanks in advance.

I have a new GSP, he is about 1 1/2 inches and I have been feeding him very small MTS ( I will be going to pick up some frozen bloodworms soon ). I have been picking the smallest ones I can find from my main tank and tossing them into his smaller home. He now knows exactly what snails are now and will circle around them before picking them up. He looks as if he is trying to suck the snail out, he will pull it into his mouth, spit it part way out (looks like he is taking a smoke) and then he will swallow it whole!

Is this normal? Can his stomach digest this properly? He seems OK a day later, his stomach bulge has gone down, but it just kinda scared me at first.

MTS are not a good snail to feed your puffer, as their shell is too hard for your puffer to crack. They have been known to chip their teeth on these snails.

Damn... and of course these are infesting my main tank.... sadly I used to have thousands of pond snails in a 1g aquarium with some java moss. I never changed the water (only added it) for months and the snails kept thriving. Bah, MTS.

HELP!!!...I don't know if I'm overfeeding my cute little puffers or not, but I'm definitely not underfeeding them. Lately I've been feeding them pretty big shrimps by holding the shrimp in the water and letting them eat until they're full and won't eat anymore. They usually eat a couple of bites of meat. Odo's belly gets pretty bloated (he's a pig). Is that bad? I think I may have fallen for their puppy-dog eyes saying "feed me" "feed me". Odo is a GSP and Cassie's a F8. I feed them every day...should I cut off on the feeding? I would appreciate any help and suggestions.

What kind of meat? Do you mean non-seafood, like chicken or beefheart? I'm pretty sure that's not good for them...

They should be fed until their tummies are rounded. As for frequency, that depends on the size. I've heard daily when they're 1" and under, every other day up to 3", and 2 times a week after that. Don't take my word for that, though.

Oh, ha ha, I mean meat off the shrimp I'm feeding them.

I was fooled by my LFS into buying two Figure 8's for my daughters 5 gallon take two weeks ago. I'm a cichlid lover and haven't been intouch with the Puffer world until now. Both goobers are about a 1/2 inch and seem to always be hungry. I was feeding every other day, but now I see the 'errr' of my ways...I was feeding frozen blood worms, brine shirmp and beef heart. But after reading all the info, every day is ok? I was also told they would eat flake food, but I found out very quickly that wasn't on their meal plan. I'm angry at my LFS in so many ways right now, but I just want to get all the info figured out for them. Any non-frozen foods that are good too?

Great feeding articles in our Library. Feeding them is the least of your problems right now though. You need a much bigger tank for them. Please start a seperate thread on this in the BW puffer forum.

Sorry, "BW" ? I've been reading a thousand things on the site over the past two hours and am learnging a lot, but BW?

Dobiemom1 wrote:Sorry, "BW" ? I've been reading a thousand things on the site over the past two hours and am learnging a lot, but BW?

Brackish Water.

this isn't quite about over feeding, but is it ok if when my figure 8s dont eat a whole shrimp, i put it in a cup and then back in the freezer. then the next time i feed them shrimp(about every other feeding) i take that shrimp, thaw it out in cold water, and then put it on a string and suspend it in my tank for them to eat on it again(they love it on the string, theyhave to chase it around). i do this about 4 times, then if there is any shrimp left... which usually if there is, its not much(they are fatties) i throw it away. is this ok to freeze it, then thaw it, and freeze it again?