The Puffer Forum

Hey all, got my Suvattii (he's a lil under 4 inches) for about a week now and he hasn't eaten. He was being fed feeder fish at the LFS, so I've been trying to wean him off those. I bought frozen shrimp at the store and have tried the last 3 days to feed and he just doesn't seem interested. It's been about 5.5 days since he's eaten. I'm not overly worried yet, but I'd like to see him eat in the next few days.

I've tried:

1. Soaking the shrimp in garlic.
2. Using string and placed the shrimp in the current.
3. Used a skewer and waved the shrimp in his face.
4. Turned the temp up in the tank (currently 83 degrees, was 78) so speed up his metabolism.

I am thinking about getting some frozen silverside fish at the LFS and trying those tonight. Any ideas or tips? I read the feeding article and the suvattii article but haven't found a way to get him to eat yet. Any help would be great. Thanks!

You have a smart arrowhead there!!! Because he can tell the shrimp is dead even you wave it around with the strings. Try using a tong. Grab hold of the shrimp(shell on)or silverside and make it look like is swimming around see if that works. Try LIVE ghost shrimp as well.

all I can say is keep trying, sounds like your doing all that you can, once he finally takes a bite he'll be hooked.

Ghost shrimp have no nutritional value unless I gut load them right? I guess I can put them in just to see if he'll eat them.

The guy at the LFS told me to get some earthworms from a bait shop and try those. Would those work?

Oh, do I have to feed him snails to wear his teeth down?

well your trying to get your puffer to eat dead foods so forget the ghost shrimp for now. I feed my puffers worms all the time and they are way better than ghost shrimp nutritionally, but again.....dead foods. I doubt that a suvatti will eat snails, you could try but all you need is things in shells like crayfish, clams, cockles, etc....and you don't have to worry too much about overgrown teeth, it's the Auriglobus and Colomesus crew that need constant teeth grinding, so keep trying, it took my mbu a week and a half to start eating, and all he did was move from my cousins tank to mine, good luck

or you can breed your own feeder fish. In the wild thats what the arrowhead eats. Or you can also try crayfish but the dwarf ones tho. Remember dont feed your arrowhead too often. 2-3 times a week thats enough. I feed mine every 3 days.

You'll just have to continue the work you do now. And DON'T feed him anything else than dead food. Sooner or later he gets so hungry that the almost-alive-looking shrimp looks good enough. In my experience the suvattii also is a puffer which handle changes very badly. Koseklumpen refused to eat for a whole week when I got him, partly because he didn't like the change when he moved to my house. If I do any changes to his tank now, he stops eating for several days.
The only thing I've succeeded with when dealing with "difficult" puffers, is a prawn in a thread in the outflow of the filter. I tear it up a little, so the juices gets out in the water. I remove it after an hour or so. If he/she hasn't touched it, I try again the next day. And the next day. And the next day. I give them no other choice than this prawn in the thread. Before I put it into the current, I try to wave it in front of their nose, bouncing it up and down a bit, and then I move it to the current in front of the outflow, and leave the puffer alone for an hour. Having a huge human watching it, doesn't help on its appetite. I have never met a puffer who hasn't given in to a prawn in the end.

Some success! I bought some frozen silversides at Petsmart, soaked them in vitamin infused tank water and waved it in front of his face for a bit. He chomped about a 3rd of it and surprised the heck outta me. It was pretty cool! It wasn't alot but i think enough to keep happy for another day. I'll try again on Sunday. I think he just wants to eat something with a face. lol

Cool! At least he ate something dead--that's a start.

There ya go.congrats!!!!

He's eating well now! He had another frozen silverside this morning and his belly looks full. I'll keep him on the 3-days diet and see how he does. Thanks for all the help everyone!