I need a little help. I bought a porcupine puffer a couple a days ago. I brought him home and he seemed to be happy swimming around and investigating things. The only problem is that I can't get him to eat. He ate a piece of squid but spit most of it out. That's about it, he'll look at the food but wont go after it. The only thing that really catches his eye is the yellow damsel I have in there. He seems to really want that. I made sure he was eating before I brought him home. He ate at the store. Any ideas?
new puffer not eating
- Thread starter lopezpm12
- Start date
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G
Guest
Guest
Hes probably still stressed, give him time. Another thing to try is to get a feeding stick, and impale a piece of shrimp then move it around. They will usually chase after it, since it appears alive. You can see this as he chases your damsel. Either way let him settle in longer. Good job making sure he was eating though 
S
steve-s
Guest
You can also try to chop up the food so it's a bit smaller. Fish can have trouble with larger food particles and will often spit it out if that's the case.
Cheers
Steve
Cheers
Steve
I just recently got my puffer and I found that he likes the frozen mysis shrimp. Somebody else had mentioned frozen mussel but my would go for it either. The puffers at the store I work at get live food mostly but i did try some freeze dried krill but this guy had no interest.
Good luck
Christina
Good luck
Christina
Anemoneman
Aquarium Advice Addict
Mine will eat scallops, chopped into bite size pieces. He will eat frozen frill but only sparingly. Seems to like fish, chopped into bite size pieces. Ate a feeder gold fish once (just for fun). I would try to remove the damsel - he's definitely puffer food. He will also eat my homemade frozen food. How big is he? They are normally voracious eaters, pigs even.
HoopsGuru
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I see these fish for sale in a ton of petstores with limited information. I hope you are aware that these fish will require a tank in excess of 100g. At the same time, their personality is worthy of providing large accomodations. As mentioned, give it time and cut the food into small pieces. Puffers are known for carrying internal parasites so keep a close eye if this behavior persists or gets worse.
I have a rather large porcy that can be a picky eater from time to time. I usually feed my fish frozen shrimp and most everyone in the tank doesnt care what kind of shrimp it is, but the porcy doesnt like white shrimp (he prefers brown).
If his appetite doesnt come back find out what and how he was eating at the store ad try to duplicate it. If they were feeding live you might have some work to do to get him to eat frozen, but its not that hard to do with a little patience.
If his appetite doesnt come back find out what and how he was eating at the store ad try to duplicate it. If they were feeding live you might have some work to do to get him to eat frozen, but its not that hard to do with a little patience.
Everyone thanks so much for all the responses. On the way home I stopped and got frozen brine and krill. I got home and put a little brine in the water which quickly got him off the filter sponge where he perches himself like a bird. All the other fish were going for the brine but not him. So I tried the krill but as he came for it the trigger beat him to it. Well he chased the trigger down and took it from him as he held it. I held another for him and he came and got it. He is eating well now. I feed him 2 krill a day and he eats a little squid that gets away from the other fish. I guess I just got scared cause the last puffer I had about 2 years ago died on me. It was doing fine for about 6 months and one day it just stopped eating, it would hide under a rock and that was it. Thanks again
nahla
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
My porcupine puffer has not eaten for almost a week now, and before that it was a pig, it would eat krill like crazy, but now I haven't a clue what the problem could be. Someone once told me that if their teeth grow to big then they will not be able to eat. Has anyone else ever heard of that?
nahla said:
If I recall you mentioned in another thread that he would take the food then spit it out. If thats the case then its probably not his teeth. The reason they become a problem is that they get so large that they cant get food past them to eat it.
I think you have something in your water thats causing his food strike. Lighting, temperature, salinity, trates....something that hes not liking.
HoopsGuru
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Krill is not the best food either, I would feed a good mixture of seafood including fresh chopped seafood like shrimp, squid, scallops, clams, etc. Krill can be mixed in with this rotation, but should not be the main foodsource.
Kohan Bros.
Aquarium Advice Freak
try myst shrip to get him started or other live feeders and switch over frozen once acconulated
Kohan Bros.
Aquarium Advice Freak
to get most fish to start eating try myst shrimp or live food to get them stared then start feeding frozed once setled in its new home also feed your puffer shell fish to help thwm control the growth of their beak like teeth
Kohan Bros.
Aquarium Advice Freak
try feeding myst shrimp 2 get them started once setled in its my home start feeding frozen again also because of their beak like teeth you should feed them shellfish with the shell to wear down their teeth
