The Puffer Forum

I bought a porcupine puffer about 3 days ago. he is very small, about 2.5-3 inches in length. I am having trouble feeding him . I have seen him eat brine shirmp and frozen krill but he doesnt really go after the food when the light is on. I did some research before i purchased him and found out that they are nocturnal. but i have seen videos of these puffers active during the day light. my question is how can i make him more active during the day and make him more food crazy. thanks.

Treat him for IP's, if you haven't started already, Porc's are notorious for having IP's. Try feeding him at night and then slowly feed him earlier and earlier each night until you can get him eating in the day (done this with other nocturnal fish with success) . Soaking food in Garlic also works well for getting Porc's to eat. Also, three days is a short time, let him acclimate to his surroundings and his appetite should pick up a little.

There is an article about treating for internal parasites in our Library. Also, many great feeding articles. Do not feed krill as a staple food to your puffer. Get him away from it ASAP! A diet of krill causes lockjaw in puffers & has lead to thousands of puffer's deaths, especially porcs.

Dadof4 wrote:Treat him for IP's, if you haven't started already, Porc's are notorious for having IP's. Try feeding him at night and then slowly feed him earlier and earlier each night until you can get him eating in the day (done this with other nocturnal fish with success) . Soaking food in Garlic also works well for getting Porc's to eat. Also, three days is a short time, let him acclimate to his surroundings and his appetite should pick up a little.

sounds good. ill give it a try. how do i test for internal parasites?

Please read the article.

Here ya' go! Awesome article! library/hospital/internal-parasites-pre ... treatment/

I read the article. i have a couple of questions. the only symptoms i can relate to that is the fish isnt food hungry as others. other then that i dont see any sort of red or white worms out of their anus. im not really a big fan of chemicals and i would rather go about it on a natural way. but what do you suggest is the best way in getting rid of ips. if it consists of using chemicals then i might be persuaded. as well the salinity in my tank is 1.019.

Why is the SG so low? This may be part of the problem. How long have you had the puffer? Many will go off food & sulk, when moved.

Pufferpunk wrote:Why is the SG so low? This may be part of the problem. How long have you had the puffer? Many will go off food & sulk, when moved.

the salinity is that low because a friend of mine that owns a bigalsaquarium chain (local fish store) avised me that if i was going to do a fish only salt water aquarium, a salinity that low will avoid the fish getting parasites. I bought the puffer on saturday so about 3 days ago. he is in a quarentine tank right now and he just mostly hides behind the filter pump.

as well, what do you suggest is the healthiest alternative of food for him?

All in the feeding articles in our Library. Short-term, to prevent a stressed fish in a LFS from having Crypt a low SG is ok but for best health, keeping a SW fish in BW long term is not a good thing.

Pufferpunk wrote:All in the feeding articles in our Library. Short-term, to prevent a stressed fish in a LFS from having Crypt a low SG is ok but for best health, keeping a SW fish in BW long term is not a good thing.

I could bump it up too 1.020. but what would you suggest is a good salinity for sw fish long terms. my display tank is at the same salinity of 1.019.

I know the different types of food i can feed my porc, but i just want to know the healthiest method in food types. it doesnt really say the healthiest method of food for a porc in the library. or maybe i just cant find it. for example; my fahaka i take his frozen food and soak it into vitamin water. i dont mind spending alot of money on the food just as long as i know he is healthy. the porc puffer is the whole reason i got into sw aquariums. he is like my child. LOL.

Is there anyone out there that has a porc and knows what is the best food to give the puffer?

I abit unsure of what is the best food for porcs..

he lives off small prawns...and I grind up a fish food for him (then freeze it).. it consists of garlic, squid,octopus and prawns with shell

amm... he is still very small at the moment prob 6-7 cm's..

but the same as you I tend to find him resting or sleeping during the entire day (on his favourite rock at the back corner, camouflaged to similar colours as the rock) and from 9PM he is as active as anything... swimming next to the glass begging for food.

so i might try Dadof4's suggesteion of slowly moving him away from the night feeding to be more active during the day...

it makes sense to me.. at juvenile stage they will go with their instincts of feeding at night.. so hopefully i can break that habit..

my tank is at sg of 1.023 Ive had him for about 3 months or so now