Picky Valentini Puffer

[Uwharrie]

I am having issues getting my little guy to eat. Have been trying Mysis. Brine shrimp. Rod's and Larry's. Seems he sometimes like the mysis but turns his nose up at the rest. The Mysis he will half the time eat and spit out. Should I look into hatching brine shrimp for him as live food? any other live food to try that will not break the bank ( I found out the hard way what he does to shrimp)

 

[ScottieB]

I wonder if you can try live blackworms?... most fish cant resist the wiggly goodness.

 

[Uwharrie]

I wonder if you can try live blackworms?... most fish cant resist the wiggly goodness.

Not familiar with blackworms. Bloodworms yes. but black... No clue

 

[ScottieB]

This might help but whichever one you can get might be worth a try.

Blood worms vs. Black worms

As the tittle states what is the difference between black worms and blood worms? Are both good to feed to fish? I can get blood worms locally but would need to order black worms.

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Squeaky McMurdo]

Zig zag periwinkles from ReefCleaners ought to last you a while. Or you can just do as I do and order dwarf ceriths and figure on replacing them once in a while. I’ve had my Valentini for almost a year and he’s such an entertaining little creature.

I sure wish he would eat asterinas! LOL

 

[WMR]

Try live adult brine shrimp & ghost shrimp. Go to the LFS & ask them to catch the smallest ghost shrimp they have, if they won’t catch them for you, ask them if you can catch them. Usually, the movement from the brine & ghost shrimp will illicit feeding. Once it starts eating, mix the frozen food with it. Hope this helps, good luck

 

[Uwharrie]

Try live adult brine shrimp & ghost shrimp. Go to the LFS & ask them to catch the smallest ghost shrimp they have, if they won’t catch them for you, ask them if you can catch them. Usually, the movement from the brine & ghost shrimp will illicit feeding. Once it starts eating, mix the frozen food with it. Hope this helps, good luck

is it possible to raise ones own

 

[Uwharrie]

Try live adult brine shrimp & ghost shrimp. Go to the LFS & ask them to catch the smallest ghost shrimp they have, if they won’t catch them for you, ask them if you can catch them. Usually, the movement from the brine & ghost shrimp will illicit feeding. Once it starts eating, mix the frozen food with it. Hope this helps, good luck

I was wondering how hard it would be to raise them myself

 

[WMR]

I was wondering how hard it would be to raise them myself

Hatching brine shrimp is pretty easy, raising them to adult more labor intensive. See if your LFS has live adult brine shrimp, if they do, buy some & gut load them with some powdered seaweed or green water(if your LFS carries that)& vitamins, then feed to your puffer. Gutload your ghost shrimp also, you can feed them any of your fish food, then feed to your puffer. Once you’ve got him eating the live foods, mix the frozen in with it, then wean him off the live. Good luck

 

[lion king]

Valentini puffers usually come around pretty easily. It's not that imperative to raise your own brine shrimp for this guy, by the time you get them going he'll likely be eating dead food just fine. Like @WMR suggested just get a portion of brine shrimp from your lfs, I get ghost shrimp 5/$1 and live black worms are pretty cheap. This should settle him in, then he'll likely start taking whatever you are feeding. Freshwater lfs usually all carry live black worms.

 

[Uwharrie]

Valentini puffers usually come around pretty easily. It's not that imperative to raise your own brine shrimp for this guy, by the time you get them going he'll likely be eating dead food just fine. Like @WMR suggested just get a portion of brine shrimp from your lfs, I get ghost shrimp 5/$1 and live black worms are pretty cheap. This should settle him in, then he'll likely start taking whatever you are feeding. Freshwater lfs usually all carry live black worms.

are you feeding fresh ghost shrimp? I have finally gotten him to eat some frozen brine. a drop of garlic juice in the mix seemed to help ( beats me why)

 

[lion king]

That would be live ghost shrimp. Im surprised it has gamen him this long to come around, these guys usually have a good appetite and are easy to get to eat. Have you seen any signs of internal parasites; stringy poo or fading color. Is his stomach fulled out and rounded, or sunken in.