Diet for Porcupine Puffer

[CDeatrick]

Hi, my name is Jake and yes, I'm wearing Khaki. I love, love krill so much, that I won't eat anything else. My humans have tried clams, jumbo mysis, chunky food, but I will only eat the krill. Any suggestions for other foods they can try?

 

[Bucs20fan]

Let him fast for a few days, Then take any meaty seafood, scallops work too. On some feeding tongs. They get much easier to work with when they have an empty belly.

 

[rmorris_14]

mussells?

 

[CDeatrick]

Let him fast for a few days, Then take any meaty seafood, scallops work too. On some feeding tongs. They get much easier to work with when they have an empty belly.

Great suggestion! We will try it. Thank you.

 

[Bucs20fan]

+1 mussels will work. Problem now is hes being picky. He has to get hungry to not be picky.

 

[CDeatrick]

mussells?

We haven't tried those yet so thank you for the recommendation.

 

[rmorris_14]

We haven't tried those yet so thank you for the recommendation.

From what I am reading "since mussels have thinner shells that puffers can crunch with their beaks. You can feed these items whole to larger puffers, or finely dice them for smaller species."
Ive also read that you have to be careful with thiaminase, which interferes with the absorption of vitamin B1. You can get around this by soaking thawed crab and shrimp in B1 supplements, available at high-end pet shops and online, or only feeding certain of these foods sparingly

Frozen fish or squid could work too.

here is a link to one of the the sites I came across https://animals.mom.com/household-food-can-puffer-fish-eat-4287.html

Hopefully some puffer experts can also chime in.

 

[CDeatrick]

From what I am reading "since mussels have thinner shells that puffers can crunch with their beaks. You can feed these items whole to larger puffers, or finely dice them for smaller species."
Ive also read that you have to be careful with thiaminase, which interferes with the absorption of vitamin B1. You can get around this by soaking thawed crab and shrimp in B1 supplements, available at high-end pet shops and online, or only feeding certain of these foods sparingly

Frozen fish or squid could work too.

here is a link to one of the the sites I came across https://animals.mom.com/household-food-can-puffer-fish-eat-4287.html

Hopefully some puffer experts can also chime in.

Thanks so much. I will check out the site.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Mine always liked little neck clams. You can get them in the seafood section of most grocery stores. They will be on ice, but should still be alive. I take and bust a small hole in the shell (about the size of a sharpie cap) and then plan in the tank. Tis will allow for the puffer to gnaw and bust up the shell while getting the clam. You can also store them in your sump, as opposed to the fridge. I probably have 6-7 still alive in my sump after a few months of not needing them anymore lol. In addition, this will also wear the buffers teeth (beak whatever you want to call it lol) down and keep you from having to trim them later.

 

[CDeatrick]

Mine always liked little neck clams. You can get them in the seafood section of most grocery stores. They will be on ice, but should still be alive. I take and bust a small hole in the shell (about the size of a sharpie cap) and then plan in the tank. Tis will allow for the puffer to gnaw and bust up the shell while getting the clam. You can also store them in your sump, as opposed to the fridge. I probably have 6-7 still alive in my sump after a few months of not needing them anymore lol. In addition, this will also wear the buffers teeth (beak whatever you want to call it lol) down and keep you from having to trim them later.

Oh? Good to know, thank you!

 

[CDeatrick]

Well, we haven't gotten the long neck mussels yet, but did try some squid (he didn't like it) and today picked up some feeder snails which he ate right up!