Pea puffer foods

[chkltcow]

I got a Pea Puffer last week and he's acclimating well to his new home. My only problem is that he's a VERY picky eater. In the store, they said they had fed them with Vibra Bites, and suggested that and some ramshorn snails as a treat. So I now have a ramshorn farm in another tank, but this little guy WILL NOT touch Vibra Bites. I've tried holding them in tweezers or even my hand and he'll come hit at it, then spit it out. If I just put it in the tank and let it sink, he ignores it completely. The only things I can get him to eat are ramshorn snails and frozen bloodworms. I've tried Vibra Bites, frozen Brine Shrimp, and frozen Mysis Shrimp as well.

Any other suggestions on foods to try with this guy? I'm okay with buying frozen bloodworms, but those cubes they come in are like a single person having to buy all their groceries through a restaurant wholesaler. It's just overkill, and I have to keep cutting the blocks down to a size I can feed him with. Something a little more manageable sure would be nice.

 

[vanalisa]

I got a Pea Puffer last week and he's acclimating well to his new home. My only problem is that he's a VERY picky eater. In the store, they said they had fed them with Vibra Bites, and suggested that and some ramshorn snails as a treat. So I now have a ramshorn farm in another tank, but this little guy WILL NOT touch Vibra Bites. I've tried holding them in tweezers or even my hand and he'll come hit at it, then spit it out. If I just put it in the tank and let it sink, he ignores it completely. The only things I can get him to eat are ramshorn snails and frozen bloodworms. I've tried Vibra Bites, frozen Brine Shrimp, and frozen Mysis Shrimp as well.

Any other suggestions on foods to try with this guy? I'm okay with buying frozen bloodworms, but those cubes they come in are like a single person having to buy all their groceries through a restaurant wholesaler. It's just overkill, and I have to keep cutting the blocks down to a size I can feed him with. Something a little more manageable sure would be nice.

?

I'm afraid you will have to keep stocked up. I have pond snails in my, "farm," too!
Carnivorous little creatures.
@eatyourpeas
Got anything to add?

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Pea Puffers do like live snails. You can create a pest snail tank pretty easily. I don’t suggest adding the snails in the puffer tank, because they could over eat.

Get a small 1-5 gallon tank and add some BRH or pond snails in there.

 

[chkltcow]

Yeah the "snail farm" is a 2.5g I've had lying around for over a decade. It's been acting as a holding tank for plants that I didn't have room for in my tanks. Now it's full of snails, and hopefully more snails breed in there... quickly.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Yeah the "snail farm" is a 2.5g I've had lying around for over a decade. It's been acting as a holding tank for plants that I didn't have room for in my tanks. Now it's full of snails, and hopefully more snails breed in there... quickly.

I can’t get rid mom my snails, as they are breeding to fast, you can’t get snails, because they are breeding to slow. Can we trade?

 

[eatyourpeas]

?

I'm afraid you will have to keep stocked up. I have pond snails in my, "farm," too!
Carnivorous little creatures.
@eatyourpeas
Got anything to add?

I feed mine live bloodworms, mosquito larvae, snails, amphipods. They will not touch anything that is dead.

 

[chkltcow]

I feed mine live bloodworms, mosquito larvae, snails, amphipods. They will not touch anything that is dead.

Hrmmm..... funny enough, I could probably get mosquito larvae. A few weeks ago I pulled some plants out of my pond to put in a different tank, and a few days later I saw what looked like white cat hair floating in the tank. Then I realized the "cat hair" was wiggling.

The next morning, I saw a few flies on the surface of the water that couldn't figure out how to get out of the lid and figured out what I was dealing with. I ended up getting a Betta that day and he went to town on whatever wiggling larvae was left.

So while it's not a route I want to go..... that's another one that's open to me, I guess. Fortunately mine eats frozen bloodworms though

 

[eatyourpeas]

So while it's not a route I want to go..... that's another one that's open to me, I guess. Fortunately mine eats frozen bloodworms though

That is good. You'd still want to offer a variety of foods. If they get used to just one kind and you ran out, they'll go on a hunger strike, silly bits.

 

[chkltcow]

That is good. You'd still want to offer a variety of foods. If they get used to just one kind and you ran out, they'll go on a hunger strike, silly bits.

YUP! That's why I'm experimenting and seeing what else he'll take. Really wish he'd eat frozen brine shrimp since the rest of my fish in other tanks do, but he treats those the way I treat broccoli.

 

[eatyourpeas]

but he treats those the way I treat broccoli.

Or I peas...