Spiny Box Puffer

[BellaD]

Hey all. I'm in a bit of a predicament. My boyfriend came home with a Spiny Box Puffer for our 125 FOWLR tank. I was ecstatic at first seeing as they are such cute fish, however he informed me that the fish store he got him from was feeding him live Rosie Reds. I was immediately concerned.

Well my fears have come to life as I can not get him to eat frozen food. I had a similar experience with a small Lionfish I had purchased that ended up sadly dyeing.

Anybody have any tricks they have used in the past to get this little puffer eating? Thanks so much.

 

[tangtime]

You can try a silverside on a skewer, wiggling it a bit to imitate some movement.

 

[BellaD]

I was actually thinking that myself. Since he was eating live fish maybe a more fish-like frozen food would entice him more than the krill and mysis I have been trying. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[tangtime]

Or you can also try a shrimp but try not to make that it’s only food offering as they are not a great nutritional source but puffers love shrimp

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

This looks like a striped burrfish. In my exhibit in the National Aquarium, our Community Tank has 3 or 4 of these guys. In terms of how to train them on frozen foods, I'm not sure what to say there. They eat literally every food we feed to our Community Tank, even food they're not supposed to eat. We hand-feed nori to our filefish, and the burrfish come and steal the nori out of the filefishes' mouths.

Ours eat clams out of the shell, krill and minced shrimp. How big is yours? If he's a little smaller, keep in mind the food will have to be correspondingly small. I would try every frozen food you can get your hands on. Eventually, you should find something he likes. A feeding pole isn't a bad idea to make the food seem more lively. If you can't get it to eat something after 3 or 4 days, then maybe get some live food to make sure it doesn't starve.

 

[Mr. Limpid]

Keep in mind this fish has a beak for a tooth, it need food that will keep it filed down. There a plenty of threads on the food they need to keep this beak from causing problems. Good Luck, I away's wanted to try one.

 

[tangtime]

Keep in mind this fish has a beak for a tooth, it need food that will keep it filed down. There a plenty of threads on the food they need to keep this beak from causing problems. Good Luck, I away's wanted to try one.

They will chew on snail shells or the rock, it doesn’t actually need special food for such.

 

[Mr. Limpid]

I have a Trigger that bits at the sand chews it then spits it out. But I do feed it shrimp and clams on the half shell.

 

[Fennel]

I have one, that we just got, that won't eat. It bites at the glass, is in quarantine right now and is not too thrilled about a smaller tank. I use latex gloves to do anything in the water as stressing as all this must be for the little thing. Adorable when it isn't biting at me. It's like, krill, little thing, chomp that. Raw shrimp poses a vibro risk, which is no good... How many days can it go without eating?

 

[lion king]

I have one, that we just got, that won't eat. It bites at the glass, is in quarantine right now and is not too thrilled about a smaller tank. I use latex gloves to do anything in the water as stressing as all this must be for the little thing. Adorable when it isn't biting at me. It's like, krill, little thing, chomp that. Raw shrimp poses a vibro risk, which is no good... How many days can it go without eating?

These guys many times need live food to get them started. Ghost shrimp are the best option. Depending some will wean to dead food after a couple live feedings, while some can be difficult. Clams and scallop on the half shell may get their intetest at some point.

 

[Ghstbstrgrl]

This is an old thread, but ours is a heffer and has been since day one. Only thing is he is bougie and will only eat if he is hand fed, by myself in particular. I feed hom blood worm cubes once a day and he gets frozen brine shrimp 2x a day that you have to break up into small pieces because once it is thawed he refuses to eat it. Have had him since he was a 2in long baby and have had him 5 months and he has about tripled in size