The Puffer Forum

Hey all!
I'm like a bad plague. You just can't get rid of me But Ryuu loves you guys.... Anyway, up to this point I've been feeding him a variety of frozen marine cubes, from blood worms to brine shrimp and other varieties. Along w/ freshwater ramshorn snails (which I've been breeding) and common pond snails.
I feel like it's time for the both of us to take the plunge into getting REAL meat He's 3" and full marine.

I've read the articles on what to feed them, but I was wondering how much of each and when? Also, what foods will give him enough crunch if I stop feeding him pond snails (they're depleting now, and I always feel really bad tossing them into the full saltwater right before their demise)?

Thanks!
Jess

When I get live fresh oysters and clams, I leave part of the flesh on the shell so my puffers have to scrape their teeth on it in order to get all the meat off. Plus they bite the shell itself, just testing it out I guess. The rest of the meat you just divide up into small portions and freeze in a flat dish so that they don't all get frozen into one large lump. But don't stop feeding him snails if at all possible, they're too good for him to cut them out of his diet. You can also feed him raw shrimp, raw crab, raw scallops...gut loaded ghost shrimp are good too, once in a while - plus they make your puffer work for his dinner. Oh - and my GSP loves sushi nori, so you might give yours some seaweed strips and see if he likes it.

When I buy fresh seafood, I bring it home a freeze it before feeding it to my puffers. When I'm ready to feed I defrost it in tank water, add vitamins and feed.

How I feed:
Crab: Take it home pull the legs and pinchers off and cut the bodies into 4 pieces, feed one piece at a time, then freeze in a ziploc bag for future feeding.

Clams and Mussel: For larger puffers, open the shell and drop one in there. For smaller puffers do as marksrush said.

Shrimp: For larger puffers feed the whole shrimp with shell on. For smaller puffers I cut into pieces.

Earthworms: Rinse well then feed.

Before buying a whole bunch of food at once. I bought 2 mussel's, 2 clams and one crab. I brought it home to feed to my puffers. I wanted to make sure they would eat it before I came home with a pound of something they didn't like. I'm about to try scallops and a few other things I saw at the seafood department yesterday. If your puffer is 3" you can feed him/her a whole mussel (they don't have much meat), or 1/2 clam (seems to have more meat).

Thanks guys. With the last post, would 3" be considered larger or smaller? Or does it depend on whether you're a half-full or half-empty type of person? LOL

For a GSP it would be on the larger side. A mussel, I would give him a whole one. A clam I would cut out at least half the meat. I wouldn't feed him a whole shrimp either. Just a few pieces at a time.

My gsp is 3.5", I watch his belly to make sure he dosen't eat too much. Now Elvis is over 10", he can eat a few mussels, a clam, some crab and shrimp and still looks hungry. Odd thing is, Elvis stops when he's not hungry. He will turn his head away from the food. Chong (gsp) would eat until he explodes.

I feed mine whole muscles.

I get a 1Kg bag from our local supermarket for about £3, lob them in the freezer, just defrost the muscle in tank water, open it up and drop it in. My hermits make sure the shells are picked shiny clean after my puffers and eel have had their fill. I take the shell out the following day prior to feeding the next one, one bag has lasted 2 months so far and still got about a quarter of it left.