Spiny Box puffer wont eat

[brian]

I've had him for about 5 days , very active but i can't seem to get him to eat anything. I've tried shrimp , squid , some of the brine and mysis shrimp i feed other fish and theres a few snails in his tank he doesn't even look at them. Water parameters seem to be reading fine 0 ammonia 0 nitrite and like 5-10 nitrates. Anyone have any ideas to get this little guy to realize its food?

[OraLacerta]

You could try to make food more appetizing by tying a piece to the end of a string to simulate movement. I've done that before to get a GSP to eat frozen Krill. How big is he?

[brian]

he's about 3 inches. I have moved it around in the tank with a skewer and he just doesn't seem interested.

[Pufferpunk]

Give him a little time. Puffers can pout for quite a while, when moved to new conditions. You can try adding guarlic to it's food and/or tank water. Try Garlic Guard or Garlic Extreme.

[sassiegemstone]

It took mine about 48 hours to eat. If you can offer it some blue crab.

When the salinity reached 1.020 my boxfish really started eating. I feed mine three times a day.

Is yours wild caught or from a LFS?

Here is a link so you can learn about your boxfish. I'm glad to know someone else has one now. They are cute awesome creatures.

http://animal-world.com/encyclo/marine/ ... edburr.php

[sassiegemstone]

Try feeding it with smaller pieces of food. That is what my Spiny Boxfish prefers.

Mine won't eat the shell to the shrimp but if I leave bits of the shell in the tank does nibble on it from time to time. I actually deshell the shrimp before she eats it.

[Pufferpunk]

He won't eat thru the shell to get at the meat? that would be much better for the teeth. I would think if really was hungry...

[sassiegemstone]

It was the only way I could get her to eat.

Now this morning I dropped a shelled piece in and she finally ate through the shell to get to the meat. I guess she just had to get used to being in a tank instead of the river.

[Adam_J]

I have dealt with this carribean native 'many a times before and I must say that this species, Chilomycterus schoepfi, is a most frustrating specimen......When I do see them, they are marketted as a more suitable specimen than the common porc. puffer because of their smaller mouth and overall legnth; unfortunately I must say that this is not the case. While it is smaller the C. schoepfi is not suited in my experience/opinion for captivity at all:

**They do not handle capture well
**They do not handle shipment or movement of any kind well
**Very susceptible to a multitude of parasites and illness
**...And as you have seen first hand...time, after time they refuse to eat...


To be honest there is a good chance that specimen was doomed to perish far before it ever reached your LFS. Now take all that and combine the fact that all puffers in general don't take copper treatment well and.....you get the point...though honestly the behavior of the animal sounds typical not like the copper is causing it...then again depends on the copper level, if its low....like it is in most LFS....probablly not that much of a factor....LBAOP treats all of their in comming fish with copper...except butterflies

I would try some fresh market fair such as scallops, fresh meat from fish that contain alot of fatty/amino acids like salmon or halibut or even crustacean meat....wouldn't soak it in garlic though I prefer something like zoecon or even better selcon...In my experience they aren't to bright or motivated at chasing down live fish, snails ehhh....don't seem to interest them to much either, to be honest id it's live they would prefer something like starfish or crabs, even shrimp....but those aren't cheap or renewable food sources generally speaking.

...to sum it up, the animal may be doomed...and as heartless as it sounds, normal and not suprising.....my soultion, let that one be an example to you that the rest should be left in the ocean

Adam Jackson

[sassiegemstone]

Mine was wild caught and has been thriving till today. She was eating yesterday and now she has not eaten at all today.

[Adam_J]

Yours would be an exception... not the rule, my post still refers to the majority of them placed in captivity.

[Adam_J]

And they are all wild-caght, no reports of the aniamal spawning and raising the fry exist as of present.

[brian]

Well I've gotten him to eat alittle over the past few days. Maybe he will work out if not then there's really not much else i can do for the little guy. I will avoid purchasing another thats for sure.

[Puffer Queen]

Deworming of these puffers is essential for long term survival.

I would agree with Brian 100%

[Pufferpunk]

Brian? You mean Adam?