The Puffer Forum

I've been posting this on this thread http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/vie ... =9&t=11519
but he hasn't eaten I've had him for 8 days now so I'm starting to get worried.

He is a 55 gallon tank with coral beauty, false perc, blue damsel, midas blenny, royal gramma, yellow watchman, some hermits and 2 peppermint shrimp and some snails. And liverock and base rock

I've tried mussles, shrimp, bloodworms, mysis, enriched brine shrimp, seaweed and clip and the pellets the others eat. I tried soaking those foods with garlic too.

Yesterday he took a nibble at the mussel but didn't eat anymore. For the first few days he looked fine so I just figured he was settling in but now he is starting to look thin

He has been hiding a lot and my tank is open on all four sides because its against the sofa so lastnight I put up a background on the open side so now the tank is only open on the two sides and about 2/3rds is open on the couch side. He did venture out last night somewhat but today he is back to the hiding. I also moved around the rock a couple days ago to make more hiding areas. He stays in those two areas but he doesn't come out.

I'm open to suggestions

You could try squid, you can buy it from the LFS, it comes packaged like blood worms. I'd soak it in vitamins and garlic over night and then offer it to him. Either that or snails that have smashed against the glass.

Good luck

can you call the LFS you got him from and ask them what he was eating?

have you tried any live food? Ie live river shrimp? Live brine shrimp?

It maybe what he needs/ is looking for....


All my fussy eaters have gone for live river shrimp... then you can start trying mysis...

Well I have peppermint shrimp in there and I haven't seen him even look at them.

I can't get to the LFS for a few days. I don't have a car and my boyfriend works today and tomorrow.

How would I go about making him eat some snails? I think the other fish would probably eat at anything I put in there or he will just run away to another part of the tank.

you could try large snails, and just crack them open and drop a few in at different places in the tank, hopefully he'll be able to get to one.

Do you guys think I should possibly set up a QT for him? I was thinking I could buy a 10 gallon and put him in there so he is alone and maybe he would eat then...

I don't really want to have to take him out of the tank because it will be stressful catching him but I don't know what to do if he doesn't start to eat!

I just found two dead hermit crabs. There were just the claw and eye part laying in the sand, no back end. They were obviously pulled out of their shell. I don't think they would have died and there are extra shells for them to move into.

Do you think it was one of the other hermits that killed them?
One of the other fish in the tank? One body was very close to my watchman goby's cave but I didn't know if they even eat hermits...
Do you think Filbert might have killed them? I haven't seen him out of his hiding space and they are on the other side of the rock of his hiding space. I would have thought he would kill the peppermint shrimp not the hermits...IF it was Filbert wouldn't he have eaten the whole thing and not left the claws and such?

He may hunt at night..

try turning off the light fro a couple of hours and watch him then....

goby's are scavengers aren't they? maybe filbert killed the hermit and then goby just dragged it to his cave...

if ther hermits were in there and fine for ages with your other inhabitants, and then they died after filbert was put in, then it's likely he ate them!

Gonna be an expensive fish if all he eats is hermits! Does prove that he likes live food though, so asap i'd get some live shrimp... your peppermint may just eb too big for him to see as prey right now?

I have a pep shrimp in with my 2 tobies & a burrfish. I also have many hermits. My Valentini hunts at night.

I had the hermits for around two weeks before Filbert showed up so I guess its him eating them! Expensive diet indeed, grrr!

I'm not sure what river shrimp are but I could get some ghost shrimp and put those in there? How long will they last in SW?

In the morning I always catch Filbert propped up on a rock asleep but that doesn't mean he sleeps all night. When he woke up this morning when the tank lights were still off he did seem to swim around a bit more but now he is back to hiding.

My boyfriend went to the LFS and bought some ghost shrimp that I am currently acclimating to salt and gut loading. Hopefully Filbert will eat them.

I told him to ask was food they were feeding Filbert before we bought him but he forgot. The guy (who is the manager that we talk to) said that its normal for him to be hiding and that trying ghostshrimp is a good idea.

Its a good thing I was at school and couldn't go with him. They apparently had a ton more puffers, a valentini AND a toby that my boyfriend described as having a black belly, yellow top and bright blue horizontal stripes that was only like 2 inches long! They didn't have it labeled so I'm very curious as to what it is!! He said it was really awesome looking.

But anyways, I really hope Filbert eats these ghost shrimp and doesn't eat anymore of my hermits. They weren't THAT expensive but I've kind of taken a liking to them, hermit crabs are pretty cute!



I will keep you all posted as to whether he eats the ghostshrimp. Hopefully they will be noticeable in his belly because I'll never find them in the tank if he doesn't eat them!

I find it strange that your puffer might be the one to eat the hermits. I have 2 puffer and 7 hermits (the same kind) and the only time a hermit died was because one of them killed each other. But there is hope.

I haven't seen the ghost shrimp so I have no idea if he ate them or not. He doesn't look like hes eaten so they are probably hiding.
I don't know how he will ever find them in there.

I find it weird that he would be the one killing the hermits just because I haven't seen try to go after any and he hides all day. But like the others said he could be hunting at night. Maybe I will turn their lights off now and see if he goes out and about.

Well I have no idea if the ghost shrimp are still in there or not. I don't think Filbert hunts at night though, last night after I turned out the lights he immediately propped himself onto a rock and went to sleep and this morning he was still sleeping there when I peeked in. And he was still there when I just turned the lights on.

I could put some more ghost shrimp in today but I really didn't want to do that because I don't want them running around in there and then all of the dying because of the salt.

Should I just keep on trying with the mussels and everything else and hopefully he will try and eat them soon?