The Puffer Forum

Doe's any one else's fahaka refuse b/w's?? Mine doe's and i can see why lol-I think they may be ok, for a smaller fish, but not soo much for these big guys. I think it's too small to chase. I tried my guy on it and he flatly refused. He want's the good stuff ie; big foods that he can crunch. I guess this is why 'Survivor' is so thin as that's all they feed at the shop. And that's why he's so thin.Oh well not to worry i will fatten the little guy up with good foods, vitamins and worming.Just wanted to know if anyone else's fahaka eats them.I tried as a treat only and my guy would not even look at it. river-7

Mine rarely bothers with anything small

My fahaka actually eat em. Maybe he's still small I guess, bout 6 inches. He loves them, even if they fall into the gravel he manages to find them and slurp them...are you using red frozen blod worms or the dried ones in a small container?

I use frozen ones, mine stopped eating them at about the size of yours, he will sometimes take the odd one but on the whole ignores them

Never kept a fahaka but our Mbu would peck at them well into young adolescence. "Gotta' try to eat everything".

I have big holes in my worm feeders, from Filbert biting at it to get the worms out faster! I usually buy a dozen feeders at a time.

Hi: all, i use frozen and he just refuses even with garlic and vita-chem which i soak everything in and i don't blame him but i would like to see him try at least-maybe i will try one day when he's really hungrey. He loves live food and everything else. And 'Survivor' at the shop hates them too. So thus that's why 'Survivor' is so skinny plus ip's. That is all they get at the shop where i go.I think that is all the shops feed as it's cheaper for them-but damages the fish. Any comments very interesting to hear from diff; people-who use them successfully. river

Why not use fish market foods? Far cheaper and offers a better selection with much better crunch available?

I use live bloodworms for many young or smallish fish, but never bother for larger fish. it is a waste of money and provides zero crunch factor.

RTR; I agree-i really don't believe in them for giant species just more or less wanted to see if anyones puff eats them. My guy is very young and big and he likes crunchy foods that are good for him and loves live foods. I believe in a lot of quarentined live foods as he loves the chase lol. I try to provide eveything that is whole and i really believe in live as i think they get a lot of benefit from them, he chases them until caught. It may take him a day but he gets them and of course i use frozen where neccessary, along with vita-chem and some garlic[although not neccessary for him] Thanks for your responce RTR; river

I have no issues with predators being given live food to chase and capture - I think it is good for them and great exercise, which captives need and frequently do not get enough of in tanks. Searching for and chasing food items is a good thing in my mind. But blood worms do get out-grown pretty quickly and are unfortunately great pollutants. Live ones can establish in the substrate, and dead ones just rot in nooks and carnies - which makes them a water problem. Puffers are such sloppy eaters.

RTR; +1 -I agree 100% thanks for your response.My guy kind of swoops in soo fast when food is around, but put in b/w's and he like yours and Bertie's; ignore them. I suppose it's not much of a challange for them. I think these big guys need a lot of mental stimulation to keep them happy, and i keep thinking of diff; ways to stimulate him. If anyone has some suggestions on this please chime in this thread. As 3-4-peeps have a lot more to offer then 1-thanks to all for your response. river

If you want to feed your larger puffers worms, use night crawlers or earthworms.

+1 If you dont wanna go dig for worms or want to pick up a large supply all at once year round just go find a local sporting goods store that sells them as live bait. I just bought a container of some at Walmart that are sold out of a little fridge in the sporting goods section for around 3 bucks. The ideal ones are the ones containing 30 worms and the worms themselves are the perfect size for a puffer to munch on.

my local supermarket sells worms year round esp in the ice-fishing season. I never though of using them for my soon to be bought puffers, though.