Golden puffer not eating
 

I got a golden puffer a week ago. It was supposed to be in someone's 150 gallon tank for 2 yrs. It is about 8.5" long. Due to its behavior I have a feeling that it may have never been in a tank and may be wild.

It's in a 180 gallon predator tank with a small peaceful green spot puffer, a lg snowflake eel, and a lg zebra eel who only come out of their tunnels to eat shrimp every 3-4 days. Huge skimmer that works for up to a 600+ gallon tank and water tests great, with 25% water changes every 2-3 weeks.

It is supposed to eat squid and silversides but it seems to have no clue what food items are- whole shrimp, squid, silversides, half shell clam. Off to the Asian market today for some live food.

What size and type of live food would be best to buy? I know there are mussels, clams, crabs...not sure what sizes to get for this size fish and what it most likely may eat.


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Ghost shrimp at local fish store should work.. Definitely clams on half shell should get job done.. By the garlic extreme and put that on there as well..

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A fish that size could protest food for several weeks before taking to prepared foods. I suspect the puffer could eat a whole raw shrimp or something similar as far as size goes. Squid and scallops seem to be the most enticing foods to offer to get a feeding response. Garlic may or may not help, its more of a smell trigger in the water to let the fish know food is present than a appetite stimulant IMO. Something live is the best option but isn't something you want the puffer to depend on for its sole food

lol, garlic, say what?

Thanks for the feedback.

So far no luck in getting him to eat and it's been 12 days. Tried live oysters, clams, and mussels on the half shell. Squid, shell on shrimp, small blue crab legs, fish, silversides, small krill, all haven't worked. Either have live emerald crabs.

I'm going to the asian market today to see if they have small live blue crabs or anything else to try. Will pick up some ghost shrimp too. I'll also try garlic on what I've been offering to see if that helps.

Getting worried. Fish looks healthy just will not eat. I've even fed the little green spot puffer close to the golden puffer to try to show him the stuff I've offered is edible.

I agree and never use the crap but some think it's a must have...

I'm assuming it wasn't quarantined.

One of the biggest reasons for quarantine is to establish a feeding protocol and to allow the fish to feed without pressure. From the initial post, it sounds like there is a lot of feeding pressure in your tank.

Can you remove the fish and isolate so that you can work with it? I agree on the food choices so far, fresh shrimp or clams should do the trick.

He was in QT but wouldn't move and just tucked his tail and fins. He stayed basically immobile while he was there. And wouldn't eat. I thought a tank environment may help him. He swims in the tank and looks better.

There isn't any food competition. The eels eat every 3-4 days and stay in their tunnels all of the time. The small green spot puffer eats and is full and doesn't bother him. So the golden puffer has many hours of time by itself with all the different food options. I leave the food for him in and change it every 3-4 hours or so.


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You can try some fresh clams from your local supermarket.

Does it even look at the food? I had a black dog face that wouldn’t eat initially. Live shrimp got the job done. I wouldn’t advocate this long term, but a small crawfish might do the trick as well.

He went over and looked at the live clam and mussel on the half shell. Didn't look at the silversides, crab, and other options.

He did take a tiny bite out of a scallop yesterday but then for lack of a better description bucked back opened and closed his mouth several times like he was choking or heavily coughing. Not sure why he did that. Any ideas?

Trying again today with more scallops, this time soaked in garlic guard.


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What kind of live shrimp did you use?

ghost shrimp

Everywhere I've called has been out of ghost shrimp. I'm picking up peppermint shrimp on Saturday to see if that perhaps can work.


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This sounds ridiculous but try the large hikari algae wafers. Mine has eaten squid and some silversides but loooooves those wafers.


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I just dropped in some algae wafers. Will try it and see if it works.


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Maybe try treating him with prazi, maybe he has worms?

Did he go after the wafers?


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No, he didn't go for the wafers. I may try force feeding in a bit if live peppermint shrimp will not work. I haven't seen any worms and don't want to stress him out more. His skin and everything looks good he just won't eat.

Well got the peppermint shrimp. This was not what I had in mind.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...6cf7829f94.jpg


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Ha!
Too funny.

Killing me. I wondered if that would happen. Had a black dog face do that once.

I had a very similar situation with a dogface (Arothron as well) puffer. It didn't eat for over a month and ended up getting really skinny. I tried all sorts of things, including live crayfish and nothing worked. Eventually, it did begin to eat frozen mysis. Once it began eating those it started to eat anything and everything I threw in the tank. It took a month but he plumped up and grew much larger over the next couple years. I didn't see mysis listed so give those a try if you haven't yet! The crayfish will also be a worthwhile option.

Jumbo mysis, is a favorite with my puffers...

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I think it was actually the crawfish that got my black dog face going now that I think about it. Worth a shot.