Need help converting porc puffer from live food

jsbull · Feb 10, 2017

I have a porcupine puffer that's on transfer 3 of TTM and doing well. He is clearly hungry and will try anything I give him, but he always spits it out. I put some live feeder fish in last night and he got all excited and slurped them down. So, he is eating.

So far, I have fed him scallop, PE Mysis, chunk of prawn, and put half shell clams in the tank. In each case he tasted it, but spit it back out.

Any advice on how to get him to swallow fresh or frozen food?

Just look at that cute face!

I don't want to stress him too much during TTM and the first week in the DT, so I don't want to try total starvation until he's better acclimated.

94Roarge · Feb 10, 2017

I'm not a huuuge help, but that s one cute face! Following along

lion king · Feb 10, 2017

Keep doing what you are doing, you want him to settle in and be healthy. They usually will adapt to eating a variety of food pretty easily. just remember some of these guys are so fresh from the ocean they are confused. My last puffer took a while to really get in the swing of eating dead food being dropped in the tank. Ghost shrimp are some of the safest and best live feeders if you have to continue.

Lionfish Lair · Feb 10, 2017

One thing you can try is freezing some of the feeders and offering freshly thawed. Once they take that well, you can move on to other things.

elfda · Feb 10, 2017

I also recommend ghost shrimp.
After he gets use to eating them, start holding them in tongs or something.
Then pre-kill or stun a shrimp (flick to the head?) and offer with tongs.
Eventually start offering other, dead things in the tongs.

That's what I'd do, anyway.
But I also love hand-feeding my animals. [emoji178]

Also: omg he's so stinkin' CUTE!!!

jsbull · Feb 10, 2017

The LFS got some krill in and he ate it up. I'm guessing that was what the distributor was feeding him. Now I have to figure out how to get him off of krill, which is apparently not very nutritious.

Lionfish Lair · Feb 10, 2017

Krill is nutritious, it's just that a single food item doesn't cover everything one needs.

jsbull · Feb 10, 2017

Lionfish Lair said:
Krill is nutritious, it's just that a single food item doesn't cover everything one needs.

So, from what I read, that's basically the same issue. I feed my rhinopias several different things, krill is not one since I hear fish will build a preference to it.

Do you think soaking the krill in Vita-Chem is good enough, or do I need to try to convert it to other foods in addition?

lion king · Feb 10, 2017

How long have you had him, I haven't seen much issues with these guys eating a variety of food. Keep offering him what you've been doing and he'll start to eat it.

Lionfish Lair · Feb 11, 2017

I would definitely switch it up from just krill + additives. Krill has gotten a bad rap and is a pretty good food when used in rotation, but you are right about fish preferring it. Krill has earned the nickname "Fish Crack" because of how some fish will take it and only it. I wouldn't give your puffer any right now and work on him eating a more well-rounded diet first.

jsbull · Feb 11, 2017

lion king said:
How long have you had him, I haven't seen much issues with these guys eating a variety of food. Keep offering him what you've been doing and he'll start to eat it.

He's in the middle of TTM 3, so about a week and a half. I just don't want to stress him too much until he's in the DT and comfortable. He's too cute to risk killing.

Lionfish Lair said:
I would definitely switch it up from just krill + additives. Krill has gotten a bad rap and is a pretty good food when used in rotation, but you are right about fish preferring it. Krill has earned the nickname "Fish Crack" because of how some fish will take it and only it. I wouldn't give your puffer any right now and work on him eating a more well-rounded diet first.

At this point, I'm just glad he's eating. It was over a week without him eating anything, and he was trying everything. Just spitting it out. I'm thinking I'll get him in the DT, then try to convert him to other stuff. The two things he's eaten so far are freshwater feeder fish and krill. Neither are good long-term options. Once I get him through TTM, I'll work on getting him to eat other food. I still have my fuzzy that will only eat mysis and ghost shrimp, so I guess I'll try to get both to eat fresh seafood at the same time.

I really appreciate the help and advice.

Lionfish Lair · Feb 11, 2017

I agree with your plan.

Have we talked about training your fuzzy before?

jsbull · Feb 11, 2017

Lionfish Lair said:
I agree with your plan.

Have we talked about training your fuzzy before?

Nope. I haven't been too worried since he's been eating mysis. I figured I had time.

My first step was to train him that food comes from the baster. He's there now. But he likes to spit out what's not mysis. He's so fast at rejecting it!

elfda · Feb 12, 2017

jsbull said:
But he likes to spit out what's not mysis. He's so fast at rejecting it!

Brat! [emoji23]

cu455 · Feb 16, 2017

Since he is taking the food in and spitting it out, I would just keep and he should eventually take it.

You can also try this.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/training-a-fish.190226/

Bloody.Knuckles · Feb 18, 2017

My Porcupine Puffer was larger when I got him, but he still spits out food then takes it back into his mouth; common fish thing. Your guy just may be a little small right now and will take a bit longer to adapt. A week or two isn't long enough to panic IMHO, keep up the good work.