Fiji blue spot puffer Skinny and krill

[drmantistoboggan]

Hi guys, I got this Fiji blue spot puffer about a month ago. It shipped looking like this and I’ve been feeding it a mix of krill, mysis, lfs chunky blend and clams on the half shell soaked in selcon. He’s become addicted to the krill, and I’ve been trying to ween him off. LFS said to starve him for a while and then offer new food. My question is, is this guy too skinny to afford to starve out a while? What can I do to get him off krill and eating right. Here’s a picture, ignore the red Cyano, fighting that right now too.

 

[Johniejumbo]

IME it’s rather difficult to starve them really. However I wouldn’t starve it. I would just off the foods you want it to eat at you normal feeding times until it decides to eat it.

 

[drmantistoboggan]

IME it’s rather difficult to starve them really. However I wouldn’t starve it. I would just off the foods you want it to eat at you normal feeding times until it decides to eat it.

Thanks! Would you say he’s skinny though? I’m unfamiliar if that’s how they typically look or if their belly should be more rounded

 

[Johniejumbo]

Kind of hard to tell in the picture. Looks plump enough from that angle. They shouldn’t have a concave belly. My valentini puffer is chunkier looking than that one. It’s a frikin pig though lol.

 

[Johniejumbo]

Just out of curiosity why are you getting away from krill? You just want a more diverse diet?

 

[drmantistoboggan]

I read that krill is like “crack” and long term can lead to lockjaw. I want him to eat more of the clams on the half shell to file down his teeth too.

 

[Johniejumbo]

Gotcha. Yeah I don’t feed much krill. As for the teeth. Every few months I’ll get a small cuc order from reefcleaners and I’ll make sure to get a good number of dwarf cerith snails. My puffer just love snacking on those. It tends to get a mouth full of shell when getting at them. I’ve only had mine for a little over a year so time will tell if that’s enough I suppose.

 

[lion king]

Here's the real scoop on krill; krill contains thiaminese which binds vitamin B1. A vitamin B1 deficiency will prove deadly. Some krill in the diet is no problem, but for it to be a dominant part of the diet it will be deadly. The problem with some fish they will get "addicted" as it would be, or they will just not eat anything else.

A blue spot puffer is mostly known to accept a variety of foods, but please, do not starve him. Just feed other things until he comes around. If he skips a meal or two, no biggie.

Another thing to look for is internal parasites, they are very prevalent, and this fish does come in with them frequently. It sounds as if he has been eating well; as long as he has a well rounded out torso and there are no signs of stringy poo, he should be fine.

 

[drmantistoboggan]

I don’t intend to “starve” him I intend to just not feed krill for about a week. I’ll give him access to other meaty foods and if he doesn’t eat them within a week I’ll give him krill to make sure he’s eating. Thank you for all the help!