The Puffer Forum

Hey I have a new gsp, maybe a week or two old. When I put my finger in the tank or near it he runs away. I would imagine this may be because he is new to the tank, but idk. His appetite is fine. He eats the crap out of ghost shrimp and small guppies. Anyway, I was wondering how I could get him to be less fearfull of me and how to hand feed him.

Well good luck with that, I have tried over and over to get my puffie to eat out of my hand and nothing works. I have had him for about 4 months now and he is used to me and loves his tank and he knows when he’s going to be fed. But when I try to lower in food in my palm he mistakes my hand for food and bites, not hard and realizes that my hand isn’t food but still. So good luck it takes a lot of patience to train him but just start with him getting used to you dropping food in his tank by lowering your hand in.

Try not putting your whole hand in. Take the bit of food and hold it in your fingertips, and just barely get the food down into the water, so that he sees mainly the food and not your fingers. Wiggle the food a little if you need to, to get his attention. It may take time, but more than likely he'll get used to taking food from your fingers eventually. I guess all puffers are different: I was hand feeding both my GSP and my Ceylon by day two. (I still feed my GSP this way, but my Ceylon has gotten too big and when he misses the food and gets my fingers, it hurts too much so I had to stop it.)

Check this out: library/puffers-in-focus/an-introductio ... d-puffers/

I really try to not teach my puffers to eat from my hand. After a while they begin to associate hand=food and won't differentiate between cleaning and feeding time. GSP's can get to a healthy enough size to cause some good sized bites (my 3 inch GSP, took a chunk out of my finger nail).

First of all, you've not had your puffer very long, give him time to settle in and get used to his surroundings. You need patience with these fish.

Secondly, I would not be feeding your GSP guppies! They are not piscivore (fish-eating) puffers and it's really not good for that species of puffer. It could very well end up with internal parasites that it will get from eating those guppies. Try offering him some bloodworms (soaked in vitamins), earthworms, and definitely snails. You want to try to give them some variety, read the article in the library on ideas of what to feed. Mine enjoy jumbo shrimp (raw) with the shell on. But just remember that they need crunchy stuff to keep their teeth worn down.

I think if you give it time, your puffer will become used to you. I would not push it because that's just going to scare him. I would take the suggestion that marksrush made -- try just putting the food into the water, without your entire hand being in. That puffer is small compared to your entire hand and it's no wonder he's scared, you would be too if something that big came at you. Especially when you consider that these puffers are wild caught, so the memories of being taken from their natural environment are still in their mind.

Give it time, things will improve.

Also, whats the rush anyway? You could have him for another 10 or 15 years, so plenty of time for him to get to know you!

I personally am not going to hand feed my fish. Because every time I would dip my hand in the tank whether to clean or to adjust something they'd all come down and start biting my arm. But a lot of people hand feed, I did too my goldfish I use to have.
you had him for what, 2 weeks? No worries, he's just settling

I have had my GSP for around 2 months and i just got him to start eating out of my hand, He likes eating frozen krill and baby dried shrimp out of my hand like someone else said try sticking just the tips of your fingers in and not the whole hand! try snails also

It's surprising to read that so many people's GSPs have needed time to start accepting food from their fingers. I've had 3 GSPs total (yes, I killed the first ones due to ignorance and thinking I knew better than the gurus on this forum), and all those plus my Ceylon started eating out of my hand by the second day I had them. Not to toot my own horn, but maybe I'm a fish whisperer or something...I seem to be able to connect with animals in general very easily.

My GSPs ate from my hand on the first day. Poor things, I didn't know what I was doing that first time.

*sigh* Since when did we start advocating feeding puffers from our fingers...

I don't!

I didn't know what I was doing, remember? That whole thing was a train wreck.

Now, I do feed my DPs from my fingers sometimes, but they can't exactly take a chunk out of me.