The Puffer Forum

I have a juvenile porcupine puffer, and he seems not to want to eat anything besides brine shrimp. I know his diet must be varied and I also know that if he is consistently fed the same thing, he will only want to eat that. So i really need to break this habit! The LFS said they were feeding their porkies all kinds of food, what you would expect in a porky's diet basically. His appetite is great, he is a healthy and charming little guy. Just super picky :/ Does anyone have any thoughts?

Here are two articles that may help you Have you dewormed him yet? If not that would be a good idea and then once in good health you'll have the option of fasting him which often works to get them onto new foods.

library/feeding/feeding-your-puffers/
library/feeding/problems-feeding-your-puffer/

library/hospital/internal-parasites-pre ... treatment/

Love your avatar!

Flutter wrote:Here are two articles that may help you Have you dewormed him yet? If not that would be a good idea and then once in good health you'll have the option of fasting him which often works to get them onto new foods.

library/feeding/feeding-your-puffers/
library/feeding/problems-feeding-your-puffer/

library/hospital/internal-parasites-pre ... treatment/

Ah, thanks Flutter! Very useful information. I'm thinking maybe he's just being finicky since I've had him for only a week. He at least tastes the food but then spits it out and ignores it. Is there any harm in deworming him if I'm not convinced he has worms? If it won't hurt him it sounds like something I'd want to do as "an ounce of prevention."

Pufferpunk wrote:Love your avatar!

lol, thanks Pufferpunk. I thought it was too cute myself x) Incidentally, my porky's name is Punky... hehehe.

It won't hurt him and most do have them as they come from the wild.

Cool, thanks. Then I'll start with that, and just have a little patience. I'm not in any hurry, I just was afraid maybe something could be wrong, and it's always good to know what direction to go in. He's a tough little puff, we'll get there. Thanks!

I have only had mine a few weeks ! Mine eats gut loaded ghost shrimp, This week I put a crayfish ( on a string ) in which worked out pretty good , So So with the emerald crab! LOL But mines only really wanting live food but I have tricked him into biting clam meat cuz I feed him with my hand most of the time ! But there are some good ideas in the puffer library!

thanks, Chuck. I'll give the string a shot and maybe try some of the food you're feeding. I feed Punky by hand typically too. He took to that really quickly. But he's just so stubborn! I'll read the puffer library, and today I'm going to get dewormer for him.

Be careful with feeding from your hand. They'll learn that hands = food and that's not a good thing when they're larger and you're trying to work in the tank. Even the little ones can hurt, especially when they bite a more sensitive spot like your cuticle.

Yeah for sure. As he grows it could definitely become an even riskier prospect.

Yeah I just feed him while hes little ! But on the other hand as he gets bigger the food will get bigger so well see ! LOL

That's a big 10-4, Flutter. Those shell-crushing beaks that pufferfish have work pretty darn good on your skin, too. The most painful fish bite I've ever had (aside from my cousin's bluelined trigger) was from Camille. You'd be surprised by just how much that small mouth a toby has can open up.

PuffMommy, your porker might not be used to taking dead food yet. You could try feeding him frozen food at the same time as some live foods, like ghost shrimp. Otherwise, you might just have to play hardball with him a bit; he won't starve to death though, don't worry.

Flutter wrote:Be careful with feeding from your hand. They'll learn that hands = food and that's not a good thing when they're larger and you're trying to work in the tank. Even the little ones can hurt, especially when they bite a more sensitive spot like your cuticle.

Funny thing is he got me today but didnt hurt ! hes only about 2 inches!

Wait until he gets about 10 inches long, then get back with me.

chuckfriedrice wrote:Funny thing is he got me today but didnt hurt ! hes only about 2 inches!