Scallops for a GSP? Freshwater fish?

[zookey]

I have a picky eater on my hands as far as my GPS. I have bought many foods for him from the LFS including: Frozen bloodworms, Frozen Shrimp, Frozen Seafood delights. He eats the bloodworms alright but they do not seem to be his favorite and will quit eating long before he looks full. He does not seem to care much at all for the shrimp, but somewhere here I read that if the shrimp is pink it has been cooked and these are pink. He is okay with the Seafood delights but again does not eat until he is round.

Finally I found some night crawlers and he seems to happily eat them. He really likes snails but they are getting harder and harder to find around here in the middle of winter.

I also had read here that some of you shop at WalMart's frozen seafood section for puffer food. Over the weekend I was at WalMart so thought I would see what they had in the seafood section. Apparently seafood is not in big demand in the "Land of 10,000 Lakes" -- apparently fresh water fish is what we eat. We have lots of fish type foods packaged by Van De Camps and the like, but I am sure the breading and oil from deep frying is not on the menu for my puffer. They did have some small shrimp but they all stated that they are cooked. I did find some "uncooked" shrimp but it has been shelled and is much larger than my puffer.... I think it was called Giant Shrimp. I was hoping to find some kind of muscle, clam or oyster. The only thing they had in a shell was "prepared" clam on the 1/2 shell (or maybe it was oyster, I don't remember) that looked like it was more of a stuffed seafood with paprika on it .... again thinking this is not suitable for the puffer.

Then I came across a bag of "uncooked" scallops. Still there are no shells involved but would those be alright for the puffer to eat. I understand that this will not help at all with his teeth issue but may give me some time to get the snail colony to multiply before he eats them all and give him a variety in his foods.

I am wondering if any kind of freshwater fish would be okay for him to eat or if things like zebra muscles would be okay.

Any other ideas or suggestions as to where to find puffer food would be greatly appreciated.

[sevenyearnight]

My GSP very much so enjoy mussels

[Dadof4]

Yeah, eh? We're in the same situation finding food for the winter, I'm in the middle of Wisconsin and seafood is hard to come by now. What I do is I have the butcher specifically order jumbo shrimp, oysters, mussels and clams in the summer. I tell him why I need them and specify that they need to be uncooked. I then prep and freeze them for the winter. Try Black Worms, they tend to be a treat. You can also use frozen brine shrimp.

[zookey]

What are black worms and where might I find them?

[purplecandle]

AT most walmart there are 2 frozen seafood sections. One has fishsticks and such, usually in the same vicinity as frozen pizzas and icecream

The other frozen seafood section is by the meat department. In some walmarts there is actually a seafood department, but that is rare. Typically in the meat department (at the end or the beginning of all the fresh meat) There is a small stand alone freezer that houses mostly raw seafood and some cooked, mostly raw. Usually it is full of shrimp, scallops and mussels as well as whole raw fish.

Did you check both frozen sea food sections?

[zookey]

In the WalMart here they only have the one.... near the end of the Pork and Beef cooler.... it starts with frozen fish sticks and the like then the rest of the "seafood". Most of it is nothing more than cooked and/or prepared shrimp and stuff. They did have raw scallops and some very large shelled shrimp. But that is all they stock. I did ask an associate (not that they know everything, but he was stocking the shrimp).

I will check out the other two grocery stores in town and see if I have any better luck.

One more question though... do the raw shrimp need to be de-veined? Or will that not hurt the puffer?

[Mac Myers]

De-veining isn't necessary. Some of the detritus will be more nutritious than the flesh itself. The problem with large shrimp and the like is that many of the nutrients in the food is in the complete animal... not just the tail meat or whatever. Especially if it's cooked.

[zookey]

I thought all puffer food was to be RAW fresh or frozen.... did I misread something along the way?

[Flutter]

You are correct, the food must be raw. As for fish, I know that tilapia is an extremely healthy food for fish. I haven't tried feeding the plain fish itself but we used it in the food we made.

[zookey]

Do you make a food for your puffer? I have heard of gel food for freshwater fish, but didn't think a puffer would really go for something like that. Is there a post around in regards to home made puffer food?

[Flutter]

We made it for discus but feed it to the puffers too sometimes. We froze it into sheets and then thaw it out.

[lesleyanndunn]

i feed frozen scallops to my fahaka
he loves them!

[Pufferpunk]

All my puffs love scallops. Does anyone know why they're always sold without the shell?

[zookey]

From what I was reading earlier... the only reason I can think of as to why they are always shelled is because the shells are sold as decorations and in the crafting trade. They do have some very attractive shells.

Glad to know that the scallops are an option for my puffer.... and if he doesn't like them at least I do. They will not go wasted! haha

[Mac Myers]

My 15.3 cents again. Maybe because the meat to shell ratio is so low that you'd have to buy 15lbs for 1 person?
I've only collected wild bay scallops but a 3 foot duffel bag full gives you about a quart jar of meat. They are also kind of a pain to shuck. Plus the bacon wrap doesn't flavor them correctly in the shell.