The Puffer Forum

I was reading the forum pages and the feeding pages. I see suggestions to use garlic to soak food. I never had to do this before but I have a few questions just in case.
My questions are:
Can you use garlic powder or does it have to be fresh garlic?
If you use fresh garlic do you have to chop it up?
How long do you soak it before feeding?

I use it but I always use a liquid garlic solution sold in aquarium shops especially for use in food.

Just a few drops per feed soaked for about 30 minutes before feeding.Much easier than buying fresh or powdered I would think.

Yup just get garlic from a fish store or you can make your own liquid easy enough. Another option is to soak your food in liquid vitamins

My bottle of garlic extreme says to add 2 drops to 1 teaspoon of food each time you feed. It does not say you need to soak, but I do. I soak mine for at least 30 mins and will let it soak for 2 days along w/ vitamins when I thaw out what I'm feeding.

Never heard of using garlic powder. If I were to use fresh garlic I would mince a small amount of it but don't put the minced garlic into the tank just to be on the safe side. Soak the food in it for 20-30 minutes or however long you want. This method is much cheaper but I prefer to use what is already liquid garlic made for fish. The liquid garlic is much easier for me to use.

I've never heard of this before. So I just have to ask, why garlic?

Garlic is a natural stimulant for fish. They go crazy for it, and it helps fight disease.

swapperz wrote:I've never heard of this before. So I just have to ask, why garlic?

Don't feel bad I had never heard of it either until I joined the forum. That's why I asked. I had no idea they sold liquid garlic at the petstore.

I use minced garlic and it works great. I wouldn't use garlic powder though, either buy the liquid stuff, or buy minced or whole garlic and cut it yourself.

I used to mince up garlic myself and soak frozen foods, but then I got lazy and bought Garlic Guard, which comes in liquid form. I also soak all the food in vitamins

Ok thanks. Perhaps I should try it some time.

when y'all say you soak in vitamins as well, what exactly do you mean by "vitamins" ?

and if you mince up your own garlic, how much garlic per how much water ???

I bought vitamins from drs foster and smith. They are specifically for fish.

And when I soak food in garlic I just put some garlic in the cup of water with the food, I don't really pay attention to how much. I guess I put enough to smell the garlic instead of the food that I'm feeding.

sparks42 wrote:when y'all say you soak in vitamins as well, what exactly do you mean by "vitamins" ?

and if you mince up your own garlic, how much garlic per how much water ???

If you're using fresh garlic, then the best way to do it is to chop up one clove and add that, along with a small amount of tank water and the food, let it sit for 20-30min, then take out the food and feed it, it's probably not good to give them any actual chunks of garlic. And there's really no actual measurements, most people just guess, you really can't mess it up.

As far as vitamins go, I ordered mine from http://www.drsfostersmith.com I use VitaChem Marine Formula for my GSP and my clownfish and Kent Zoe Freshwater for all my FW fish. I'm sure I could use the Kent Zoe for my GSP, but it's easier to use the Marine stuff since I've also got the clownfish in there.