The Puffer Forum

Am I supposed to thaw frozen bloodworms and other frozen cubes of food before feeding it to the puffer? I thought it would be good for my puffers teeth to feed the cube frozen.

The freezing cold bloodworms in the puffers stomach is supposedly harmful, but I have never found any proof of this.

The answer is yes. Puffers are sensitive to low temperature, and cold food can lead to digestion problems.

Not only that, you don't want all that extra "juice" in your tank adding nitrate.

Pufferpunk wrote:Not only that, you don't want all that extra "juice" in your tank adding nitrate.

By "juice", do you mean defrosted ice? Or the bloodworm juice.

i thought bloodworms were just frozen in water. so what juice are you talking about? and i was wondering this myself. i was planning on getting bloodworms when i get a new puffer and was wondering if i had to do anything special before feeding them to it or if i could just pop a cube in.

I buy it by the lb & break off a chunk & melt in vitamin water. Then strain thru a brine shrimp net. The juice I'm speaking of is the "bloody" water they are packed in. All nitrate for your tank.

Pufferpunk wrote:I buy it by the lb & break off a chunk & melt in vitamin water. Then strain thru a brine shrimp net. The juice I'm speaking of is the "bloody" water they are packed in. All nitrate for your tank.

Wow, I never knew that (not sarcasm)

Yeah, the cold temp is bad for their digestion and can really harm them long term. Also, I think it makes it harder to give them the proper amount (meaning overfeeding and too much left over). For my F8 and 8 bbgs, I only feed half a cube. I take a sharp knife, dip it in really hot water, and gently ease the knife down the middle of the cube. If I try to push down to cut, it just makes an uneven cut. I let the weight of the knife and heat from the water do the work.