What do you feed your Figure 8s?

[Jayhawk]

So, I've read through RTR's fine article on puffers, and my new Figure 8 (named Dougal BTW - thank goodness Spaz didn't stick on the little fellow as my wife suggested), is eating ramshorn snails (fed algae waffers and shrimp pellets) and frozen bloodworms very happily. I'm thinking of trying freeze dried krill and frozen shrimp from the grocery, too, but I'd love to hear what all everyone else feeds their Figure 8s. I've always liked feeding my fish a variety of foods.

Practical Fishkeeping's Pufferfish book says Figure 8s snack on plants from time to time (I do realize it's not the best source, but I know lots of cichlids like peas for a snack). Anyone tried peas or the like for a puffer? Would that hurt a puffer?

Thanks,

Eric

[fatpuffer]

I feed my fig 8 a variety of food such as shell on shrimps, bloodworms, chopped up tail of crays with shell on, ghost shrimps, snails, clams, and mussels.

he loves the snails and crays the most. never tried the peas but i would not hurt...just thaw, of course.

js

[Bred]

i've heard of ppl feeding peas to their puffs. i seem to remember something about removing the skin first though. i fed a slice of brown mushroom to my fahaka the other day. he seemed to like it as well as anything else he eats!

[RTR]

I feed snails primarily, along with clam/mussel, crab legs/cocktail shrimp/lobster legs (all grocery store items, chopped a bit, frozen thawed), pre-soaked FD kril.

Veggies are tried at times. For the peas, nuke a few in water for seconds, pop them out of the outer husks (discard that) and try the inner pea. Threading as when first training to non-live foods is a good start. I do this and similarly-processed lima beans for bristlenose fry, leftovers go to just about anybody. Not many puffers are intrested, but if they are it is not a bad treat nutritionally.

[Jayhawk]

RTR - Are cocktail shrimps those little precooked ones (they're always precooked in my area, but I'm 1000 miles from any ocean)? You may have raw ones back in the MD area. All our crabs and crayfish are precooked here, too, but I can usually find uncooked larger shrimp I could cut up.

I'll give the peas a try - my bolivian rams love them and my wife is already trained to set aside a few peas whenever she heats them up for us (she loves watching the bolivian rams nibble on them and she finds humor value in tetras swimming across the tank carrying a pea as big as their head).

Eric

[Pufferpunk]

Mine eat snails, freeze-dried plankton/krill, live & FD blackworms, shrimptails, pieces of scallops (or whatever I find at the produce store) & crickets

[Pamela]

Mags and Robert have shell-on cockle (their big fave), mysis shrimp, gut-loaded brine shrimp, krill, bloodworm, clams, mussels, bigger shrimp (not sure of the name), and once a week, for their veg, some pre-mixed, gel bound food that's got loads of spinach, algae and added vits, minerals and amino acids.
And, now I've got THREE triops scooting around, some gut-loaded triops. In a bit.
Pami.

[Jayhawk]

Well, my wife dropped by the LFS for crickets for my son's lizards, and she picked up frozen instead of freeze dried krill - he sure liked that! But at $7 a flat pack (which is only 3.5oz), I think I should just by some shell on shrimp and cut them up myself. It's nice to know that's a definite option.

I still want to try freeze dried krill because that will be easy for pet sitters to feed every three days (along with tossing in a snail or two) compared to having to defrost foods and all.

Eric

[RTR]

No, the cocktail shrimp around here are medium to small shell-on shrimp, frozen, not cooked. Jumbo shrimp don't provide enough crunch for smallish fish for me. I eat those myself, but cooked and shelled.

[Flusher]

After reading this thread, I zipped over to the grocery store and grabbed a shrimp ring (cooked) and a mixed bag of seafood (raw octopus, squid, shrimp, cuttlefish, and cooked clams or mussels).

Pardon my confusion - is it okay to serve puffers the cooked foods?

I plan to feed these to my F8s, my suvattii, and possibly my DPs.

[Myaj]

I believe the cooking process removes quite a few of the nutrients from the food, plus you want to make sure it is shell-on, since the whole point is the crunch factor.

[Steelgeek]

Yup, Myaj summed it up. Doesn't hurt, nor, however, does it help.

[Pamela]

I'd err on the side of caution in case there was something added to the cooking water at the processing place...like a preservative, or some flavour enhancer. My Japanese friend always tries to give me shrimp for the dudes after she's cooked it with chilli and soy, but I have to decline and go for the raw, explaining that it's not a slight to her culinary prowess.

Pami.

[anectine17]

Mine (along with my Leopards) eat snails, frozen krill, bloodworms & brine shrimp, dehydrated whole shrimp. What they REALLY love though, is small earthworms!! I dig them out of the garden for now, but will start raising them for, a) food for my fish (the BBG's love them too !), b) and compost for my wife's garden. They also like mealworms from the local bait shop. Hope to help.

Alden

[TheSmJ]

Since my snail population has taken a crash, I've been feeding live small crickets (from PetSmart), and thawed frozen bloodworms. I used to feed live blackworms, but they've been unavailable around here since December.

I'll pick up some small frozen shrimp tomorrow and see how the guys like it.