The Puffer Forum

I have been reading up on Pea Puffers and will be traveling to a town ~5 hours away in a couple of weeks where I can get pea puffers. Probably won't be able to cycle my tank enough before then so I may wait for a future trip to get them.

I live in a rural area so, having someone I can trust to feed them correctly is not going to happen. Will they eat Hikari Vibrabites or starve themselves to death if I am gone for ~3 weeks?

Next for routine feeding, I can get fresh shrimp (people eating shrimp) from the local grocery store but, not fresh shellfish. Crabs and Crawfish are available sporadically. Can I manually dice these up for Pea Puffer variety foods in their diets?

How do I raise the various worms and snails that they like? I am thinking I could probably buy some starter "stock" from the fish store ~5 hours away but, I don't know if that is a possibility. Snails are probably pretty easy to source but, I don't know how to breed them.

In Summary, basically, I am worried about feeding Pea Puffers things they will eat:

• What to do on Vacation?

• How to grow 'live' foods for them to eat?

• Will grocery store 'fresh' seafood diced up be a good treat for them to balance out their diets and keep them healthy?

TIA,
Sid

Hi Sid,
I wouldn't be too concerned with snails, their teeth won't be an issue.
I use a small Cuisinart to chop my fish foods into bite-sized pieces. Usually for earthworms, people shrimp & freeze-dried foods I buy from Amazon. Walmart sells an insect-based food in the aquarium dept. I soak foods in VitaChem from Amazon.
https://www.pufferfishenthusiastsworldw ... vancoricus

Pufferpunk wrote: ↑Tue Jul 02, 2024 8:56 am & freeze-dried foods I buy from Amazon. Walmart sells an insect-based food in the aquarium dept.

Thanks for the WELCOME!

Do the Pea Puffers normally eat Freeze-Dried foods? I have read various online things that say they won't.

I was considering some Hikari Vibrabites but, several YouTube videos I watched showed them spitting them out or just watching them fall for the clean-up crew to enjoy.

Are those insect-based foods from the Reptile section? I saw several Tetra options for Cichlids, Goldfish, and others at my local Walmart in rural Texas along with some freeze-dried brine shrimp and mealworms.

sidpost wrote: ↑Sat Jun 29, 2024 8:51 am I have been reading up on Pea Puffers and will be traveling to a town ~5 hours away in a couple of weeks where I can get pea puffers. Probably won't be able to cycle my tank enough before then so I may wait for a future trip to get them.

I live in a rural area so, having someone I can trust to feed them correctly is not going to happen. Will they eat Hikari Vibrabites or starve themselves to death if I am gone for ~3 weeks?

Next for routine feeding, I can get fresh shrimp (people eating shrimp) from the local grocery store but, not fresh shellfish. Crabs and Crawfish are available sporadically. Can I manually dice these up for Pea Puffer variety foods in their diets?

How do I raise the various worms and snails that they like? I am thinking I could probably buy some starter "stock" from the fish store ~5 hours away but, I don't know if that is a possibility. Snails are probably pretty easy to source but, I don't know how to breed them.

In Summary, basically, I am worried about feeding Pea Puffers things they will eat:

• What to do on Vacation?

• How to grow 'live' foods for them to eat?

• Will grocery store 'fresh' seafood diced up be a good treat for them to balance out their diets and keep them healthy?

TIA,
Sid

Pea Puffers need live or frozen foods, so for vacations use automated feeders with frozen options, and yes—diced grocery shrimp or crabs can be occasional treats while raising snails and worms at home ensures a steady diet.

Personally, I wouldn't get pea puffers if you're regularly going to be away for 3 weeks at a time. Some individuals will accept foods like Vibrabites or frozen foods, but many are picky and prefer live or frozen prey. Leaving them unattended for that long is risky, especially if you don't already know what foods your particular fish will accept.

For routine feeding, chopped shrimp, mussel, clam, crayfish, and other seafood can be offered as occasional treats, but I'd try to build their staple diet around live/frozen foods such as bloodworms, blackworms, daphnia, brine shrimp, and snails.

Snails are actually the easiest live food to culture. Bladder and ramshorn snails breed readily in a small container with a sponge filter and regular feeding. Worm cultures vary in difficulty, but microworms, grindal worms, and white worms are all commonly cultured at home.

Most importantly, cycle the tank fully before buying any pea puffers. Since you're making a 5-hour trip to get them, I'd wait until the tank is mature, you've got a reliable food source established, and ideally a backup plan for vacations. It'll save a lot of stress for both you and the fish.

~2 year old thread, so a bit OBE.