The Puffer Forum

what is the best staple food for juvenile (under 1") congo puffers, CBW?

I have never feed black worms before, so they won't burrow into the sand?

I tried a couple of baby crays, but he/she just watched as it walked past it's nose.

Snails aren't an option either are they?

crickets, earthworms, and home-grown or quaranteened feeder fish are big favorites
also be sure to take a look at the feeding articles in The Puffer Library under the "Learn" tab, above
black worms are a bit small for the puffer
they will burrow into the sand if uneaten, which, in my mind isn't a good thing
i'm surprised the crays were refused. try them again some time. the puffer may not be hungry or may not recognize them as food (yet!)
it will probably not eat snails. you could try it.
be sure to remove any & all uneaten food a.s.a.p.

it's under an inch, crickets and earth worms are a bit big yet.

Finding itty bitty feeders may be a challenge, will start the search later today

darb wrote:it's under an inch, crickets and earth worms are a bit big yet.

Finding itty bitty feeders may be a challenge, will start the search later today

most of the pet stores around here (so cal) sell 3 sizes of crickets: really young "pin heads", small, & large. bait stores usually have small worms, large worms, and huge nightcrawlers.
you just have to be sure that there are no chemicals or preservatives, etc. present. i'm lucky to be able to dig them up from my yard.
be sure to quarantine feeder fish. i raise guppies for "ollie"

Have you tried any mussel meat? If the mussel is too big, cut it in half. Most Congos seem to like mussels, and my small Congo loves them. So you might give that a try, if you haven't yet.
I'd love to see a picture of your little miurus, do you have any photos?

Shrimp tails & worms are what my tiny gal ate, before she got bigger.

You will have to look closely, she has blended in quite well with my substrate. It was the last of the 3M S grade, they said peach and I thought peach skin ....

Here is a quick shot I got of her, that is a 3and 3/4 in pot in the background:

http://www8.speedyshare.com/files/20500 ... ad/CP2.jpg

try a manual click ...

OMG, that pot looks gigantic!

I have tried black worms, and she looked it them and swam away.

live bait is illegal here, for fishing and bigger isn't really better in this case.

I found two week old crickets which are considerably lager than a pin head, but it was not noticed or ignored.

tomorrow I will hit the LFS for juvenile guppies because I really don't think that anything dead is going to attract her attention, even with me wiggling it on a stick (I tried FD shrimp that way).

there are 6 baby crays in the tank, sooner or later she will either figure out that they are food or get tired with their attitudes and munch on them.

but she is actively hunting and seeking now, it's only hour 30 in her new home.

Pufferpunk wrote:OMG, that pot looks gigantic!

yah, she is smaller than I expected, even though I was told about an inch.

I tracked the wholesaler down and connected with a local retailer and paid $65 Canadian. They both probably added a few points, but I am happy to have her

She certainly is a little cutie, but I am biased when it comes to Congo puffers, they are one of my favourites. You might want to think about buying some guppies and breeding them yourself, that way you know they haven't got internal parasites. That's the only problem with buying live food from a shop, it most likely will have IP's and the first Congo I had died from IP's because I didn't know about live food having parasites and it was passed on to my Congo when she ate them. Now I have two Congo puffers and I breed both Endler's and regular guppies to feed them (and my other lurkers).
Try a small piece of mussel meat and see if your girl takes that. Even though my Biscuit (the smaller of my Congos) prefers live food, she will take mussels from time to time, as well as pieces of jumbo shrimp (cut up of course).
Just curious, your girl sure is dark, is that her normal colour? Both of mine are the orange colour, which I rather like.

She came dark and that's the only colour that I have seen her wear, so far.

I only have had her since Thursday at noon and she was still in the wholesalers bag when I picked her up, so those are her Florida colours.

I am guessing that she will lighten up to match my peach sand, but once she gets settled I am going to add another colour to mix it up a bit. The peach just isn't working for me.

OMG, squee! So tiny!

have you tried defrosted Mussels, clams or shrimps yet??? coz my congo takes any of the 3 things pretty much with no fuss... all i did to get my puffer to try it was by using some aquarium tongs and waving small pieces infront of him till he took a bite...

If all else fails, you could try crushing up a clove of garlic and rubbing the food in the raw garlic to try and entice your congo to take a bite?

Awww, its so tiny! Congrats! Its beautiful too, I love how the tail is lighter.

I like your sand!! Looks so soft.