Puffer Tips?

[silentcivilian]

So I have a porcupine puffer, and ive encountered a small problem. He is a pig.. A giant pig.. infact, its difficult to feed other tankmates, more so the stonefish of my tank, and sometimes the eel gets tricky to feed too.

Anyone have anytips for getting puffers to chill out a bit so I can feed my other fish? I mean tonight I think he ate 20 small and midsized silversides in my pledge to get my stonefish to eat at least 2.

 

[jjk_reef00]

lol how big is your puffer?

 

[AlexS95]

I have the same problem... I have honestly considered taking him out and putting him in a 5 gallon bucket during feeding so I could feed my bottom-dwellers.

 

[rayn]

Any way you could put up a temporary wall? All it needs to be is a piece of acrylic that would slip into the tank to hold the puffer on one side. Feed the stone and remove.

 

[silentcivilian]

Puffer and stone are about the same size, 7" long 3-4" across?

I could try a wall of some sort im sure.. My biggest concern is overfeeding the puffer and over polluting my tank because he a sloppy eater like all puffers are. If it wasnt for coral snow and nitrate killers my tank would be a algae factory.

 

[Recty]

Feed twice at once... put one piece of silverside in the top side of the tank far away from the other fish you are having to target feed. Once the puffer goes to that side of the tank, then quickly get a piece down to the stonefish or eel, use a feeding rod or something of that nature so you can quickly get it down and not have to just rely on it slowly sinking.

Keep feeding the puffer at the top on the other side and he might not even notice other fish are being fed elsewhere in the tank.

 

[namxas]

You're finding out what "food competition" is first-hand.

I agree with Recty...feed both fish at once, and use the food as a decoy to get the puffer away from the stoney. We do the same thing with our blotched anthias trio...they will pick food off the stick before you can feed the scorps, so we either smack them with the stick or feed them their normal food in the water column while the other fish are being fed.

 

[Irenicus]

What I did was gave my Porc a large peice of food to work at and fed the others on the opposite end. Watch him work on a mussel or big shrimp, that will keep him busy. Just don't forget to remove the excess food when done.

 

[anbosu]

I herded the puffer with a net while feeding the other fish. Ultimately they are such pigs there isn't really too much you can do.

 

[Flaring Afro]

My green spotted always eats 4x what the others eat combined. He is a very active swimmer always moving about quickly and he isn't exactly as efficient of a swimmer as my wrasse gliding around.

I have 2 methods depending on foods. With most frozen food I defrost it on a plate instead of in water and drop it into the water in little clumps multiples at a time. Not only do they fall too fast for him to get to them all before the fish that stay low can, but when he gets to one he tears it apart and goes after the next big clump leaving all the tiny pieces that exploded from the clump for the others.

The second is I bought the frozen "gum drops" and just plop it in the tank and it floats around and he keeps tearing it apart but ignores the small pieces for the big piece that's left.

So I guess you could try to feed more foods that disperse when bitten. Though your tankmates are larger so they might not like to go after the scraps either...

 

[EdKruzel]

The use of a feeding stick is right on the money for your eel and stone, but your puffer should be getting small clams and mussels. Take a hammer and give it a single crack across the shell and then drop it in the tank. The shell will provide needed calcium and help keep its teeth/beak worn down. You can also use hollowed-out coral skeletons (hammer corals work well). Stuff them with shrimp and drop in the tank. While your puffer is busy, feed the other fish.

 

[bigred16]

Get some raw shrimp, cut it in half give him a large chunk at a time, this should give you a few seconds to feed others, if he eats it to quickly make the piece bigger. Also try some small smelts for the stone fish, might be a little more filling than silversides and a bit better for him.