Porcupine puffer still refusing frozen foods after 3 weeks.

[atp0726]

I have had a porcupine puffer for 3 weeks now and it has been somewhat of a draining experience trying to get him to eat anything other than ghost shrimp. If I could go back and do it again I would have waited until he was eating at the LFS (I bought him the day after he came in).All the porcupines I had seen were voracious eaters so this was not my concern. The first 4-5 days he didn't eat and got extremely skinny with a concave stomach, hunchback and was very lethargic. Finally, I got him to eat some small freshwater snails and then purchased a few ghost shrimp which he attacked voraciously. Advice from the LFS was to basically starve him until he eats. I felt this may work on a puffer that had some meat on his bones but mine seemed to be literally wasting away. My plan was to feed gut loaded ghost shrimp until he gained some weight, which worked incredibly well and I began to notice a different fish, becoming the liveliest fish in the tank. I decided it was time to wean him off the ghost shrimp and after 5 days he still has not eaten. He has started to looking thinner (not like he was the first I had him) spends most of his time in the rocks or up in the corner of the tank and though he still comes to the front during feeding he does not have the vigor he had when he was on hefty diet of ghost shrimp. Can anyone tell me how long he can go without eating and any ideas of foods or things I can try to get him eating? Here is what I have tried thus far using tweezers to make the food seem alive which usually gets him to bite but quickly spits the food out like a little kid being forced to eat Brussel sprouts.

-Prawns with and without garlic
-Krill
-Clams on the half shell and strips
-Sea weed
-Shrimp
-Calamari
-mysis
-silversides
-Scallops

 

[saltysue]

Since he is so adamant about live food have you considered just letting him eat the ghost shrimp rather than letting him starve and die ? If he were mine i would let the poor guy eat his ghost shrimp since he will die soon if you dont. Its not like you didnt try to convert him. Once they get a sunken belly its likely to go off food forever and weaken beyond where he could come back. Feed him something now, even ghost shrimp .

 

[chris864]

porcupine pine puffers don't eat frozen food you might wanna stick with the live food

 

[Frankie]

I would keep trying the mysis. Are they the large ones or small?

I would not let the fish go longer then 7 days without eating. so feed well one day with ghost shrimp and then nothing but mysis for the week. Hopefully he will come around soon. I would not try other foods. Be consistent with the Mysis for right now.

 

[Midnight]

yeah I would feed live and mix a very small amount of mysis in with it. Maybe you will get lucky and he will start to eat both then you can slowly start removing the live and just feed mysis. Good luck hope he comes around and starts to eat both for your pocket book and for his health.

 

[sasquatch]

to catch the great white you have to chum, its a stinky job haha, try soaking a deli shrimp in some beef blood maybe? work up the feeding frenzy and slip in some dead food, crazy glue a cricket to some krill