The Puffer Forum

I got my first puffer a couple weeks ago, (yay me!) and I'm about to go on vacation for 2-3 weeks. She's not much more than half an inch long, and I've been feeding her pretty much nothing but snails. (The ghost shrimp are still too big.) Anyway, she's so small that I've been crushing the snails before feeding. The one time I offered her an undamaged one, she didn't touch it. Will the house sitter have to crush snails for her, or can she go for 3 weeks without eating? Some of my other freshwater fish could go that long, but I'm not sure about my puffer. Or should I just have the house sitter put in live ones and hope that when the puffer gets hungry enough she'll attack? (I'd hate to ask the house sitter to crush them.)

I had to crush some of my snails as well. What I did was crush them and them use a individual mini yogourt container and froze two to five per container.

I asked the sitter to thaw it for five minutes and then dump it in the tank.


Js

I think you need to get your puffer on a more varied diet. Try feeding freeze-dried krill or plankton. Then you can dole out the tiny amounts your fish will eat for every other day feedings. I use dixie cups. Fish <1" shouldn't go that long w/o food.

Yeah frozen bloodworms work as well. I feed my red eye that. Snails, I usually have to crush them. Try killing the ghost shrimp for her. It'd probably work too.

As far as vacation feeding though--freeze-dried is easiest for the tank sitter.