The Puffer Forum

I got my fahaka when it was about 1.5 to 2 inches long, he/she is now about 7 inches. I have spoiled it with feeders (yes i know they are bad, but its an occasional treat), snails and crayfish.

To give it a bit of history, its a wuss, until last week.. he/she had 2 comets as tankmates. The fahaka seems happier without them, but I miss having them in the tank since they ate everything the fahaka didnt finish.

I am trying to train it to eat muscles. I tried putting one in the other night, an hour later I see the comets pecking at it, and they managed to eat the whole damn thing while the fahaka watched.

I will try again without the comets in the tank. My main question is, how many days can I starve my fahaka without stressing him out too much. I want to train him to eat frozen foods. The crayfish costs $3.99 here in Canada and I buy up to 5 a week!! Is there anything else I can try? I have also tried frozen krill, and he doesnt seem to like that either. I have yet to try shrimp with a fishing line tied to it. He/she only like live foods.

sumfingwong wrote:I got my fahaka when it was about 1.5 to 2 inches long, he/she is now about 7 inches. I have spoiled it with feeders (yes i know they are bad, but its an occasional treat), snails and crayfish.

To give it a bit of history, its a wuss, until last week.. he/she had 2 comets as tankmates. The fahaka seems happier without them, but I miss having them in the tank since they ate everything the fahaka didnt finish.

I am trying to train it to eat muscles. I tried putting one in the other night, an hour later I see the comets pecking at it, and they managed to eat the whole damn thing while the fahaka watched.

I will try again without the comets in the tank. My main question is, how many days can I starve my fahaka without stressing him out too much. I want to train him to eat frozen foods. The crayfish costs $3.99 here in Canada and I buy up to 5 a week!! Is there anything else I can try? I have also tried frozen krill, and he doesnt seem to like that either. I have yet to try shrimp with a fishing line tied to it. He/she only like live foods.

I've read on here that people's Fahakas have gone 3 weeks with out eatting and have been fine

Can you get Red Claw Crabs in Canada?

They're fairly cheap and puffers love them. My Mbu loves king prawns, it's his main diet. He'll also eat Bloodworms

The fishing line attached to the food is a good idea to get him onto dead food, I have to do this with my Frogfish

Also cockle meat is another good food for them

There's a great feeding article in the library. Have you tried soaking it's food in garlic?

edmlfc1 wrote:There's a great feeding article in the library. Have you tried soaking it's food in garlic?

I recommend Seachems 'Garlic Guard' ive used it myself on my difficult and tricky fish to get feeding such as cichla and hydrocynus and they did show a lot more interest in food.

Its also a good dietary suppliment.

You can also try live crayfish. If they have something to "hunt" then that might entice him to eat. I have never had a problem with Kaiser turning his nose up to a crayfish.

I have been feeding crayfish but they are getting expensive, and crabs costs a little more. We do have some crayfish that is native to some ponds and lakes in Alberta. But its illegal to transport live crayfish. I will try the soaking it with garlic. If I soak the shrimp in garlic.. i might want to add some butter and cook it for myself instead! haha

sumfingwong wrote:I have been feeding crayfish but they are getting expensive, and crabs costs a little more. We do have some crayfish that is native to some ponds and lakes in Alberta. But its illegal to transport live crayfish. I will try the soaking it with garlic. If I soak the shrimp in garlic.. i might want to add some butter and cook it for myself instead! haha

Haha

I forgot to say here in England you can buy 25 River Shrimp for 1pound, the bigger ones are about 1inch and my puffers love them, I also feed them to my Frogfish as he prefers live food.

They need to be kept in Brakish water with a airstone but no heater, I just keep them in the water they come in and put them in a 5L bottle that I've cut the top off and have managed to keep them for over a week with none dieing (the airstone is a must as they all died within a night of me taking it out!)

I'm sure Dadof4 has bouth them in the US so you must be able to get them in canada

Here's a vid of some, they're the transparent shrimp


ps you can also gut load them with veg etc

I think they sell these as "Ghost Shrimps" I thnk they go for $1 a piece.. im not 100% sure. I'll have to check it out for sure.

I really want the fahaka to start eating frozen foods.

sumfingwong wrote:I think they sell these as "Ghost Shrimps" I thnk they go for $1 a piece.. im not 100% sure. I'll have to check it out for sure.

I really want the fahaka to start eating frozen foods.

I think ghost shrimp are bigger, I might be wrong. I'll ask at the LFS tomorrow as I'm picking up some more

now i don't know if this will work with a fahaka, but have you ever tried waving the mussels infront of him/her to get a reaction??? coz my palembang won't touch a mussel if its just sitting in or on the sand, i have to wave it infront of him before he eats it up like theres no tmr...

Homer wrote:now i don't know if this will work with a fahaka, but have you ever tried waving the mussels infront of him/her to get a reaction??? coz my palembang won't touch a mussel if its just sitting in or on the sand, i have to wave it infront of him before he eats it up like theres no tmr...

My fahaka is a big wuss! its scared of other fish that he doesnt want to eat! can you believe that? lol

Once I open the lid to the tank, he goes into the make shiftcave i made for him with my driftwood.

Sometimes I wonder if fahakas are REALLY mean... well I shouldnt say that since my friends fahaka will bite anything thing that goes into his tank including fingers.

They can easily go a few weeks without eating with no significant harm.

Let your guy fast for oh say 2-3 days.. then follow the tips and tricks in the library article to get him to eat a thawed out, raw shrimp. Once he gets a taste of it, he'll probably be easy. If he's not interested.. give him a few more days and offer a new one.

You can feed nightcrawlers too.. very nutritous food that they often love to attack..

Good news.. I had to starve the puffer for about a week. I tried using fishline to dangle the mussel. He wasnt interested, I then left the mussel in over night (fish line came undone) the next day.. all of it was gone.

Now he LOVES the mussels I buy! Thank you everybody for the help! All the crayfish I have been buying was burning a hole in my wallet.

So no more feeders, crayfish and snails for the time being. Im waiting on my snail dealer (a local keeper) to give me a call and let me know she has a tupperware full of snails for me haha

You can also try crab from the grocery store. Cut it in chunks and feed one chunk at a time. Another thing I feed is clams and shrimp from the grocery store.

I'll try crab as well. thanks.. and keep the suggestions coming!