What can I feed my Blue Spot Toby?

[pygo1]

I got a sweet lil Blue Dot toby/orangetail fiji puffer a while back and he has shown to be quite a picky eater. Doesn't go for pellets or wafers as expected. I purchased a variety of foods from the super market(clams, shrimp, and scallop). He ignored the clam and scallop, but loves the shrimp. So, for the past few weeks, pretty much his only food has been cut up frozen shrimp. He has nipped at a couple corals, nothing too bad, but I want to keep him fat and happy to prevent that in the future. Every so often, I can get him to nab a couple pellets(I have to hold them between tongs like the shrimp, he wont eat them free floating), but this is not a sustainable way to feed. I picked up a jar of Easy Masstick by recommendation of a friend. Unfortunately, only my lawnmower blenny and blue dot goby seem to like that stuff. The clowns and puffer will barely pick at it. They seem to be attracted to the smell of it, but don't eat much of it. By shaping it into a lump, rather than flattening it on the glass, I was able to get the puffer to bite a chunk out of it today, but he ended up spitting much of it out and didn't go for more. I'm going to buy some more frozen mysis or some other cubed food since I've been out for a while, so hopefully that'll work out.

What I would REALLY love, is to find a room temp stable food to feed the puffer so I don't have to run to the freezer every day. He doesn't seem too interested in any pellets, but maybe I can find a small wafer type food that'll interest him.. I think the small size of the New Life Spectrum pellets is a turn off for him. My theory is that something akin to a gummy bear would be great since it is stable at room temp, but somewhat mimics a meaty texture. However, things like agar, gelatin, repashy, etc. all need to be refrigerated, so that defeats the purpose. For those of you with picky toby puffers, what have you tried that worked?

EDIT: I should also note that I haven't fried anything freeze fried like krill yet. If I hear some success stories on it, I'll give that a try too. Just don't want to stock up on a ton of food that my fish won't ever eat lol

 

[Uroplatus]

A few years ago I had one that I kept as the sole inhabitant in a 15 gallon (I know too small) I fed it mussels from the store along with shrimp and snails twice a month from the lfs

 

[pygo1]

A few years ago I had one that I kept as the sole inhabitant in a 15 gallon (I know too small) I fed it mussels from the store along with shrimp and snails twice a month from the lfs

ah yeah mussels might be a good option.. I can collect them locally for free too

But my main goal here is to find something that's shelf stable, ideally. If I have to stick with shrimp I will, but I'm hoping to find something simple like a pellet/gummy that he's interested in.

 

[Uroplatus]

Freeze dried?

 

[pygo1]

Freeze dried?

I'm kinda worried he won't go for them. But I guess they're worth a shot

 

[Rawsreef]

Hey I got one last week at the LFS. Not what I went in there for but it's what I came out with. Super cute little guy, eats frozen really well. I tried mixing with pellets and he doesn't seem to interested, maybe since they fell straight to the bottom instead of floating in the water column.

I'm wondering how yours did/is doing, and if you ever found a good diet for it.


Here's mine, sole inhabitant in a 20G