The Puffer Forum

My dwarf puffers won't eat, i have only put in blood worms, but they are the only food i have access to right now, they are only around 2 weeks old and the last time i saw them eat was a small peice of shrimp i threw in

What do their stomachs look like? Are they sunken in or look slightly rounded? If they are sunken in, they may have intestinal parasites and will need to be treated. If they look normal, slightly rounded, then they're eating when you aren't watching. DPs are notoriously shy, especially in the first couple of months. You can also try soaking the bloodworms in tank water with some garlic in it before giving it to them.

well it got stuck in my filter for about a week while i thought it was dead

Your DP got stuck in your filter for a week? I hope you've covered your intakes better. How many DP's do you have? Tank size/parameters? How long have you had them... you said they are 2wks old but did you mean you've had them two wks (since at 2wks old the fry would still be TINY and not something you'd have been able to purchase in a LFS etc). Are you trying to feed frozen or freeze dried blood worms? Mine LOVE live blackworms, but will now take freeze dried or defrosted bloodworms as well. You could see if your LFS would give you any very small pond snails, mine also go nuts for those anytime I toss one in from my other tank.

Sorry, i got them two weeks ago, they are in a 2 1/2 and i am trying to feed them frozen blood worms, and i think i have the filtration covered, i think i will be moving them to an empty ten gallon i have, i just need to buy a filter for it

Ok, did you cycle the tank before you added them? Puffers don't do well in uncycled tanks. What are your water parameters? You should not have any ammonia or nitrite readings before you add them. Either cycle the 10 gallon first or use BioSpira.

Is that 2 1/2 gallons or liters? Big difference. How many fish do you have in it? What's the decor look like? They need LOTS of plants and other decorations, either live or artificial (I use silk).

Again, what do their stomachs look like? Are they sunken in? That's very important information.

As I said in my previous response, try thawing the worms in a little tank water with a couple of garlic slices in it. Garlic is an appetite stimulant.

Sometimes it just takes them awhile to settle in. Mine didn't eat for about the first month that I got them.

Try to see if you can find a LFS that carries blackworms. Most puffs that I havn't seen eat never turn these guys down...

my dp that wasnt in the filter has started to eat the blood worms but i havent seen the one that was in the filter eat them yet, i dont think he is aware they are in there

In the filter as in sucked up the filter?

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well it got stuck in my filter for about a week while i thought it was dead
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Figure 8s

yeah i found it and a feeder fish i had for my other fish in there

Do you have a cover for the filter?

no, i just kinda stuck it into the gravel

what do you mean cover

What kind of a filter is it?

a really small tetra 3i in tank filter that uses a pump

Sticking the intake of those filters in the gravel limit the flow of waste flowing up and in the filter. IME I have found those filters designs are not constructed to support small fish life...